Nobody Plays 1v1 Ladder Anymore?

I noticed on sc2 ranks that the number of players who did 1v1 ladder from last season decreased drastically. I think 1v1 ladder is a really good place to have fun and compete, so why do you think this is happening? I've also noticed a lot of my friends stopped playing the game, so I'm wondering why players are leaving.

Season 6: http://sc2ranks.com/stats/league/all/1/all/0/142
Season 5: 770,000 (link unavailable)
Season 4: http://sc2ranks.com/stats/league/all/1/all/0/141
Season 2: http://sc2ranks.com/stats/league/all/1/all/0/130

Problems discussed in this thread:
1. bad chat interface
2. ladder is too stressful
3. no automated tournaments like in wc3
4. custom games are too hard to find
5. missing a social aspect (feels empty)
6. no good replay analysis in-game to help determine improvement
7. too much cheese

Potential Solutions:
1. change this back to sc1 or wc3 chat interface
2. gain something from playing ladder games, such as getting points to purchase items like in LoL (encourages casual players to ladder)
3. have automated tournaments for different leagues, and vary the tournament's game type
4. have a custom game lobby, or an additional match making system
5. this goes along with improving the chat interface, finding custom games, being able to do automated tournaments, finding clans, etc.
6. have a replay analysis (something is better than nothing), it's more convenient to have one that you can use in-game than having to use something like sc2gears
7. make games that are shorter worth less points

Here's a great thread that addresses many of the problems we've discussed here: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=308482

Patch 1.5 (Blizzard plans on enhancing the chat interface and custom game lobby): http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/4592755/Developer_Update_with_Game_Director_Dustin_Browder_-3_12_2012

Changes to Matchmaking: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/4811890/Upcoming_Changes_to_Matchmaking-4_6_2012

Season 7 has started!

Update: Fixed season 3 to season 2

Poll: Why have you or your friends lost interest in starcraft 2?

still play the game (1227)

33%

laddering is too stressful (996)

27%

moved on to other games (DotA, LoL, etc.) (531)

14%

starcraft 2 just isn't fun (450)

12%

don't like bnet 2.0's interface (261)

7%

takes too much time (260)

7%

3725 total votes

Your vote: Why have you or your friends lost interest in starcraft 2?

(Vote): laddering is too stressful
(Vote): don't like bnet 2.0's interface
(Vote): starcraft 2 just isn't fun
(Vote): moved on to other games (DotA, LoL, etc.)
(Vote): still play the game
(Vote): takes too much time

Last edit: 2012-04-10 23:57:53

BeeNu February 13 2012 23:02. Posts 615

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I don't have ladder fear I have ladder apathy, my goal with laddering was to always reach Masters league, once I reached that I just lost most of my incentive to keep laddering. :O

I've been preferring to just play PeepMode maps and screw around instead.

Last edit: 2012-02-13 23:03:42

EggYsc2 February 13 2012 23:03. Posts 612

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I think there was a really big spurt of
"i wanna be the next best player"

they realize they cant do it(for X reasons)
and become a casual player at best

Sated England. February 13 2012 23:04. Posts 3358

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Your season 3 link goes to season 2. Season 3 had less players than season 4 according to SC2 Ranks.

... But the drop from 1.8M teams to 700K teams is a bit worrying!

EDIT:

Just realised that being in Diamond means that I am in the top 12% of SC2 players. Go me? Lol.

Last edit: 2012-02-13 23:06:50

EU Masters Protoss Playing For Team SC2Improve ~ www.sc2improve.org ~ "I'd rather play a strategy that is worse but that I feel confident in than play the better strategy not really feeling it and not being 100% behind it" - Grubby

Silentenigma February 13 2012 23:05. Posts 1002

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Because it is not fun to play against abusers BM ers alliners.

Last time I played 99 percent of my games were 1 or 2 base allins(was mid masters).It is almost impossible to play a standard game...I would much rather to play custom games against similar skilled people.

ZAiNs United Kingdom. February 13 2012 23:06. Posts 3465

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Because the game is too hard for most casual players.

hahaimhenry Canada. February 13 2012 23:07. Posts 367

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because people have school!

hzflank United Kingdom. February 13 2012 23:08. Posts 1057

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On February 13 2012 23:05 Silentenigma wrote:
Because it is not fun to play against abusers BM ers alliners.

Last time I played 99 percent of my games were 1 or 2 base allins(was mid masters).It is almost impossible to play a standard game...I would much rather to play custom games against similar skilled people.

I really dislike this mindset, and I think it is the cause of a lot of the bad manners that I encounter on the ladder.

I dont think there is any such thing as cheese or all-in. Aggressive strategies are a very important part of the game. I have noticed that the idea of cheese does not exist with koreans, and perhaps this is an important part of why they are so good.

chestnutcc India. February 13 2012 23:08. Posts 429

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Ladder phobia should be a documented phenomenon. Living it right now TT

PS: Yeah, people who imagine themselves to be the greatest macro players if only they could get past the cheese and all ins irritate the hell out of me. Its ladder phobia disguised as strategic xenophobia.

Last edit: 2012-02-13 23:10:41

Shockk Germany. February 13 2012 23:08. Posts 2267

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Shameless plug: Maybe it's not ladder anxiety or insufficient motivation causing dropping players numbers, but the general lack of social features and feeling of community in the game?

Last edit: 2012-02-13 23:09:38

Kui United Kingdom. February 13 2012 23:09. Posts 88

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A lot of terran players including myself are having an insanely hard time in high diamond --> low masters, the number reflects it. And, it's not a new game anymore. Some people don't like games.

"I told you I was ill." -Written on Spike Milligan's Gravestone.

Mattchew United States. February 13 2012 23:09. Posts 5120

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The game is older and new games are coming out. Also losing is tough. Also arent the seasons shorter?

There is always tomorrow nshs.seal.

mrafaeldie12 Brazil. February 13 2012 23:10. Posts 534

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I guess it is because the lack of community the game has.

"..it all comes thumbling down thumbling down thumblin down"

HallBregg February 13 2012 23:11. Posts 123

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I found playing customs is much more enjoiable than lader. You can practice the same mu several games in a row, adjust your play, and just improve a lot more. Lader is too random. Just my 2 cents

proves and pilons

B.I.G. February 13 2012 23:11. Posts 2040

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for me personally it started becoming more of an obligation rather then somethiing fun to do on the side. I dont have the time to play every day and I dont feel like laddering when I feel im gonna fail... so yeah that kinda kept making the situation worse..

DannyJ United States. February 13 2012 23:12. Posts 3710

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Well i can think of a few reasons, but the MASSIVE drop from last season to this one is pretty crazy. It's not like season 4 was that long ago.

Edit: oh or are the stats divided up into just patches and not exactly seasons... not sure how much that's effecting the numbers.

Last edit: 2012-02-13 23:14:40

Herper February 13 2012 23:12. Posts 426

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I think that sc2gears records each match that has happened since it went live
over time, it will get higher since season 5 just started.
But, it could also mean that the time frame in which a particular season occurs could greatly influence the number of recorded matches. Like maybe some people have exams coming up or are on vacation, etc
Many variables need to be taken into account.

Rustug February 13 2012 23:12. Posts 1024

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The ladder is fine, I can still easily find matches when I hit the "Find Match" button.
As for the BM, those people disappear as soon as there is a new game to troll. Just ignore them.

It's natural that things decline. It will pick-up again when the expansion hits.

Also, don't make this a self-fulfilling prophecy by convincing people something is wrong.

Finding owns weakness is a positive thing. *Lim Yo-Hwan

Joseph123 Bulgaria. February 13 2012 23:14. Posts 1120

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1. Perhaps add maps that are worth playing, how am i supposed to ladder a lot when there are 7 maps from which I've banned 3, so I'm playing the same maps over and over again and I don't even like them
Solution: add more maps + more bans.
2. Battle.net is a lonely boring place, all you can do is click find match button and that's all I do. If you want to get involved, you can do that, but that requires a lot of time and effort outside the game to find the people to do so.
Solution: Fix battle.net
3. There are no statistics about your games, just some boring match history that requires so much time to open anyway
Solution: Add more features to 1v1 statistics, I can't think of all of them, but statistics about every maps, every bo, every race, etc.. No, I don't want to use Sc2gears for that.
4. How am i supposed to keep on playing when i get 10 pvp's in a row? I don't care that "this is your luck" or something, I don't have all the time in the world to click the find match button, so if I play 10 games, I want them to be against all races.........................................?
Solution: Fix that.
5. The division system is completely retarded, there isn't a real way to compare yourself to your opponent and to all the people.... Just no comment, you are top1 master in one division, but in other you're like top25. Seriously? What is the point in that? The whole statistics are meaningless, you don't get any information about your skill improvement.
6. Things that compare you to other players such as apm are completely ruined by absolutely no reason, good job Blizzard -1 thing that can compare you to other people.
I can continue, but there is no point, they have shown no intention in making battle.net a place that you can do anything else other than pressing "Find match" and then using 3rd party programs for statistics. So people like me who wanna play maybe 20 games a day are gonna play a lot less, because there is nothing to keep us continuing to play after a long series of pvp's or just nothing happening, just staying at one place, no way to guess after this 20 games, did I improve or not? Did my MMR jump high or not? Of course I'm not able to understand that, because of bonus pool. Well done.

Last edit: 2012-02-13 23:14:30

EggYsc2 February 13 2012 23:14. Posts 612

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On February 13 2012 23:10 mrafaeldie12 wrote:
I guess it is because the lack of community the game has.

im guessing team liquid is not a community.