Always given opponents far higher ranked than me

[wrldtrvllr]

It's pretty frustrating to find that pretty much every single game I play, I am at a table with two players who are both far higher ranked than I am. It means it's almost impossible for me to win any games, and probably detracts from their game too. I have set the controls to never play people ranked far from me, but it clearly doesn't work. What am I supposed to do to get a decent game?

[NotSoWonderfulPlays]

It is always frustrating to lose streaks of games. But I would say we all can learn from the games we played. If you lost against highly ranked players, please try to see the replays especially in sights of them. I learned a lot from such a way. I managed to earn top 20 in arena and top 5 elo. Please go for it.

[SportsClown]

In 7 Wonders luck plays an important role and past a certain not very high level the differences between players are small. For example, I am not a top player or anything, but I won a lot of games against 1st overall players and often lost in games with 2 bronze players. You can also see that top players which play a lot have their rankings fluctuating a lot. This role of luck is easy to understand: for example, if you are Gizah and you don't get either of a timber yard or a caravansery, it is likely to be a long game, or if you play science and in the second or third age all green cards are on the same hand. Close games are often won by getting a good guild on the first hand in the third age.

It looks like your win percentage is 25% - at that level your opponents are not a problem. You need to improve your game. You need to understand:

1) Basic strategies for each wonder: what to do and how does it depend on your opponents. For example, a lot of players mechanically play the B side of their wonder. However, in 3 players Gizah should usually go A and military if there is no Rhodos. Similarly, Rhodos should usually go A and hide green in the second age, if there is a Hali and no Gizah; Olympia should often go A if there is no Rhodos, but there are green wonders etc.

2) Transitioning between strategies in the second age: for example, if you are getting badly blocked on green as Hali, you should know how to smoothly switch to red and blue; looking on which guilds could be good for you and acquiring corresponding resources etc.

3) Basic blocking moves: such as for example, hiding to prevent Rhodos and Gizah constructing their final stage, hiding one of the grey resources as Alexandria B etc.

You can start by reading the guides by RedPorper on BGG and by Pistolero here. Then watch videos by Wonderful Plays on Youtube. Just through this you will easily get your win rate to over 50% and will win a lot of games against top players. After that, to improve further, you need to count cards, so you know what is coming in the next hand to decide when and what to hide/play: this is very important for green and red in general and for any strategy in the third age.

[dschingis27]

Of course getting better is one way to get more wins.

But if you want a practical tip that works right away:
Don't play Arena Mode! If you play Simple Mode and restrict opponents to your level, you WILL find opponents at your skill level.

When you set "never play people ranked far from me" in Arena Mode, you restricted your opponents to Elite league and of course you will get opponents which are usually very good. Currently there is no way to restrict opponents by skill level within Elite league. If you want more matches at equal skill level, simple mode is the way to go.

[wrldtrvllr]

It looks like your win percentage is 25% - at that level your opponents are not a problem. You need to improve your game. You need to understand:

That's nonsense. Of course the opponents are a problem. I just started playing this game a few weeks ago. Take a beginner player and match them against beginner players and you will get games that all players can enjoy. Take a beginner player and match them against players far better than them and you will get poor quality games for all. And I am only getting poor-quality games. I played ten games yesterday, my Elo rating was 150-170, and every other player was ranked higher than me. Here are how my 20 opponents break down:

100-200: 1 opponent
200-300: 5 opponents
300-400: 12 opponents
400-500: 1 opponent
500-600: 1 opponent

That makes for a very poor quality game experience.

[MoiMagnus]

It's pretty frustrating to find that pretty much every single game I play, I am at a table with two players who are both far higher ranked than I am. It means it's almost impossible for me to win any games, and probably detracts from their game too. I have set the controls to never play people ranked far from me, but it clearly doesn't work. What am I supposed to do to get a decent game?

Did you report the fact that the option doesn't work as a bug? This is unlikely to be the intended behaviour. At worst, you should be unable to find a table if not table matches your filters, but your should never be put on a table if you put NEVER.

[Tulivuori]

Did you report the fact that the option doesn't work as a bug? This is unlikely to be the intended behaviour. At worst, you should be unable to find a table if not table matches your filters, but your should never be put on a table if you put NEVER.

He is in Elite, so he won't be able to limit arena games from good opponents. Using that option makes him only avoid the bad ones. It's not a bug, it's just that arena is designed stupidly.

[MoiMagnus]

Did you report the fact that the option doesn't work as a bug? This is unlikely to be the intended behaviour. At worst, you should be unable to find a table if not table matches your filters, but your should never be put on a table if you put NEVER.

He is in Elite, so he won't be able to limit arena games from good opponents. Using that option makes him only avoid the bad ones. It's not a bug, it's just that arena is designed stupidly.

Oh, ok, I missed that he was talking about Arena. I though he was complaining about simple games.
If that's Arena, then yeah, then that's by design.

[dschingis27]

@wrldtrvllr. Hope you have seen my comment. "Don't play Arena Mode! If you play Simple Mode and restrict opponents to your level, you WILL find opponents at your skill level." This will fix your issues immediately.

Not sure why you think it is a good idea to compete in Arena Elite league if you consider yourself not experienced at the game. Yes, the Arena system is a bit weird in some respects.

[wrldtrvllr]

@wrldtrvllr. Hope you have seen my comment. "Don't play Arena Mode! If you play Simple Mode and restrict opponents to your level, you WILL find opponents at your skill level." This will fix your issues immediately.

Not sure why you think it is a good idea to compete in Arena Elite league if you consider yourself not experienced at the game. Yes, the Arena system is a bit weird in some respects.

Yes I saw that suggestion. I could do that but isn't the whole point of a league system to set people of similar level against each other? Also I did not simply decide to compete in the elite league; like everyone, I started at the bottom of the league system and got promoted to it.