The Numbers Don't Lie.
The following is less of a list and more of a discussion about the current state of the game while giving some credit where it's due so far this season.
Okay so by now I think we can all agree that the new rating system has really revolutionized a lot of things about our game. A big thanks to Dip and Odoacer for their work on this project. If anyone else was involved I am forgetting, sorry! We can now run about three CTAs in the time it used to take to simply pick a captain. Blowouts are a rare occurrence now and overtime losses are becoming quite common.
Thanks to this system, we finally have a great tool to measure player development and the overall skill pool. As we continue to use this system, it will become more refined. However, I hope to some day see a rating system that considers both the community's opinion, a council (that the community appoints) and CTA/league statistics (which perhaps the council could consider as part of their job instead). This brings me to the basis of my post. I am going to take a look at this season's CTA statistics and offer a brief analysis/commentary of the active players on the game right now. We have a lot of active 1900s, but sometimes the 1300s on your team make more of a difference.
Wins, some may argue, are the only stat that holds any weight. At the end of the day on any game, the victor gull the spoil. This statistic used to be a little skewed on Armor Critical in my opinion. When CTA first started up, there were a lot of 4 map games being run because of their popularity. Obviously when you're playing in game where only 1 of 4 teams can win, the chance of getting a loss rises considerably. I can't speak personally on the season before this one, but in my experience over the last two years this game has definitely shifted into a 2 team game type. The most popular map right now is Hectic, getting sometimes 5 hosts in a single day. Because of this shift in map styles and our improved rating (draft order) system, I feel WINS and ROUND WIN RATIO are among the most important stats a player can strive for. Let's take a look at our current leaderboard this season.
One thing I like to point out about the statistics is the importance of games played. I think playing 50 or 60+ games and maintaining a statistic is obviously much more impressive than 20-30. But right off the bat you have to give credit where credit is due. This season, Fiya and Castiel have above and beyond found a way to win more than the other players currently participating. Castiel's percent is tied with Agent, who is obviously no slouch himself and I consider highly underrated. But with over 100 games played each, keeping a win percentage like that is something that cannot be simply ignored. Next on this top list is another player who is underrated and that's Venture. Taking up two spots in a row (so a combined games played of 70+ at the same win%). The last player in the top 10 who doesn't get enough recognition is ChippedSpear. A player who has been improving over the last few weeks, somehow finds a way to win. Whether it's just being aware of when to rotate someone out of the corner on hectic, eating shrapnel on money regen or rushing to hit the switch on bait – these players bring that special something to their team and continue to win on a consistent basis.
Not to discount the rest of the top 15, the only other players with a considerable amount of games played are Lunu, ElAsesino and myself all hovering at around 60%. Say what you will about what it takes to win games, but at the end of the day the players who win the most have accomplished the most.
Now, onto another interesting statistic – round win ratio. I feel that this stat can be out of the hands of the player at times, such as when a stomping occurs. However, players who can maintain a high ratio over a good number of games played deserve recognition for doing so.
At the very top of the list, you have to give some respect to him despite the low numbers of games played. Kenf333 is has by far won the most rounds out of the games he's participated in. and its by a fairly wide margin considering. However I think the real credit is given to dip and venture here. Playing in 40+ games and winning 25% more rounds than you lose is nothing to scoff at. Again, some familiar names (which obviously makes sense given the link between these two stats) pop up with Fiya, Lunu, MUAHAHA, Castiel AND tobiashi putting in a staggering 100+ (158 tobi!! ) games and still winning a ridiculous about more of rounds than they lose. Lunu here is the tough luck loser though, as his overall wins rank is far below that of fiya's. Either that or that ugg wearing tom brady lover is just a really lucky mf. Further down the list we see two entries from Agent (aka SAM) and Endo. Endo is another candidate on my 'underrated' list and someone I'm always happy to see “fall” to my team. Shout out to akma for being in both the top 15 wins and round ratio but on different names.
Now, onto the stats that are a whole lot more within the control of the pilot. I liken WINS and WIN % to a pitcher in baseball. It's a team effort, but your individual performance can go a long way to helping secure the decision. The batter's stats are almost completely on the batter's shoulders. The influence from your team (Who's on base? How many outs?) can impact these final numbers but a majority of the burden is on the batter's to product. The same can be said for the pilos you see on the following lists, which you will notice are eerily similar to the game's 'top player' lists!
KD ratio.. probably one of the oldest stats to ever be counted after wins. GP is going to come into play here just like before, because like anything else .. larger sample size is more impressive. But right off the bat it's a familiar name at the very top, and like seasons passed, it is tobiashi on top and the fact he's done it over 158 games is just the cherry. Moving down we see Sebek, DreAm, the mystery man Dormin and for the third consecutive list, Agent. Of these four I really think there's only one person who doesn't get the credit they deserve as the other two are almost always on a 'top players list' in the last 3+ years. Moving down the list further we see typical top list frequenters ElAsesino, Unreal (with two names cracking the top 15), Turbo, Odoacer and Dario. In fact, of the entire top 15 listed, the only players who aren't in the 1800 or higher rating bracket are myself, Agent, wispeel and Fudorm.
And onto the last stat, perhaps meaningless out of the context of the type of maps played we have Damage Ratio.
The top 4 players here need to have a mention simply because of the length of time they've maintained the place they're at. I wouldn't say Odoacer, ElA or tobi are known for being 'overly passive' players. ElA used to be but he's become arguably the 2nd best active CTA player behind Drue (perhaps even better than him at this point) and the fact he's kept such a high DR is actually pretty impressive. Gotta give a shout out to Fudorm for leading this cat with 117 GP but I think that it's a little bit of a hollow accomplishment and you aren't quite in that tier of player yet. Moving down the list we see for the 5th time, Agent. Sebek is just ahead of him but both have a small number of games played for this list so take these ranks with a grain of salt. DreAm makes another appearance here and makes a solid final showing by being in the top 10 for both KD and DR and doing both at nearly 100 games. An interesting note here is that Unreal, Drue and Akma all have two names on this list with just about the same ratio. Rounding out this list we see myself and Dario despite only 35 games played. Again, the list of players on this list not in the 1800+ rating is rather short. Myself, Agent and Fudorm.
Armor Critical is a new kind of game than its ancestors, and in order to be considered a top player now you need to be able to thrive in a plethora of maps, styles and situations. I think this is how the game should have always been. Awareness has become more important than ever as maps range in size, pen time and weapon damage. Considering all of this and the stats I've been going over for awhile now, it is difficult to argue against the current rating list. These players are pretty damn accurate, at least in a tier sense. If you don't already know how the system works, not every one who is a 1600 is a 1600. It ranges from 1600-1699 and changes daily, explaining the moves up and down. Even though I know this is how it works, I still consider the rating system as a tier because it's hard to argue a 1950 is more useful to his team than a 1948 and so on. I attempted to go through each tier and offer insight, but there's not a lot you can say in general about a lot of these. Just a few spots need to be corrected near the top, a little more attention given to the middle and more playing time for those in the bottom to see what rises to the top.
Perhaps next time I'll through the rating system and try to offer a “Overrated/Underrated” list. But I would like to maybe partner up with someone for their input before releasing this.
UPDATE YOUR DRAFT SHEETS ALL THE TIME!! The more we do this and the more people we rank the more accurate it's going to become! Thanks for reading.