Ranked Elo Changes

[shapesifter13]

Hi Townies!

I come to you today to explain the Ranked ELO changes that went into effect with the release of Town of Salem 2.0 this past weekend.

What was wrong ?

As many of you have pointed out, the ELO calculation hasn't felt quite right for quite some time now. As we get reports of specific cases we double check the math to see if everything is working as intended.

In our latest pass on the ELO algorithm, we noticed something off. Really off. The amount of ELO people were losing was calculated incorrectly. People were losing the amount of ELO they would have won, had they won the match. This is not how the algorithm is supposed to work. Ideally when facing an opponent of vastly higher skill you should win a high amount and lose a low amount. Conversely that opponent should win a low amount and lose a high amount. This was not happening.


What effect did it have on players ?

As a result of this miscalculation there has been a "Rich Get Richer, Poor get Poorer" dynamic that has developed.

If you were low ranking, you were losing way too much ELO against high ranked opponents making it very hard to climb out of the low ranks.

If you were high ranking you were losing way too little ELO against lower ranked opponents, making it very hard to fall from the higher ranks.


What can we expect going forward ?

As of Town of Salem 2.0, this calculation has been fixed.

As games are played over the days, weeks and months ahead people at the extremes of the ELO spectrum will most likely drift more towards the center. This will be a natural rebalancing period. Higher ELO players may find this a bit frustrating, losing more ELO than they are used to. Lower ELO players will find it easier to get up to a rating that more accurately reflects their skill. After the growing pains of this new fix people will find themselves in a more appropriate ELO range and thus facing opponents closer in skill.

In the end, while this may be disappointing to some players, we believe it will create an overall better experience in the Ranked play system.

We would never have found the ELO issues we've fixed over the years if it wasn't for the constant vigilance and passion of our players. We thank you and encourage you to continue to submit bugs and suggestions related to ELO so that we can continue to refine the Ranked rating system. We are also grateful for your patience. Making any change to the ELO calculation is something we take very seriously. While fixes may appear to come slowly we assure you that correct ELO calculations are a top priority.

As Town of Salem - The Coven releases this Tuesday, we are already hard at work on the next chapter of Town of Salem and we hope to provide our dedicated Ranked players with some love, in the not-too-distant future. (No, I did not just promise you anything :P )


Check out the newest update relating to this here!: http://steamcommunity.com/app/334230/discussions/0/1290691937728773134/