Arena Suggestion

[tbhp]

So, this is mostly unrelated to the thread.

But, I am going to post it anyway, became .... well, this might be the most brutal game ever.

https://boardgamearena.com/archive/repl ... s=87790301;

Here is what was at stake:

Before the game started, I was at Elo #1.

But, you cannot "backdoor" the achievement for Elo #1. You cannot get the achievement by falling into Elo #1 when the current Elo #1 loses. You need to finish a game and still be at number 1.

I jokingly said to the #1, a buddy of mine, "So, I just need you to take a brutal loss to a low rated player."

Sure enough, fate intervenes! He somehow ends up with a time forfeit accidentally; and I find myself in Elo #1 in my favorite game.

He even messaged me, "So, that happened. Go for it!"

(Again, remember, even though that put me at Elo 1, I still need to complete a game and not lose.)

So, All I need to do it complete one game and win. Against any player. So, I start a random arena game. Just give me a weak opponent !! Or give me a winning hand. Not to be. I had to battle with La Palme against Nishinoshima. (That's bad).

Uh oh. My opponent is Averleigh, who knows how to play. This won't be easy.

I battled, I fought, I battled until the very end. I was way behind. Facing a seemingly insurmountable lead. Many players would have conceded.

And nevertheless, on the last turn, I thought I had it. Down 60 points, I had an 80-90 point final turn.

Alas, it was not enough. I lost. BY ONE POINT. 231-230.

If I had one more sprout. Just ONE MORE SPROUT. I win, and I gain world Elo #1, and probably lock up Arena #2.


Undoubtedly the most heartbreaking loss ever in my history on BGA.

That sounds like an epic game, even though it ended badly for you.

I still remember the games that got me top 5, top 3, top 2, and top 1 in Harmonies. I was so anxious about losing them and, like you, I knew that I needed a win to validate the trophy, that it wasn't enough to just temporarily hold the position.

The quest for those Elo trophies can be a harrowing challenge on its own. The constant checking what the others are doing, the handling of your games and making sure you are on track to win in all of them...

When I got #1, I was waiting for an opponent to make the final move in the multiplayer game that would get me the trophy. At the same time, the player who was #2, just a few points below me, was playing real time games and it was possible they would get past me before the player in my game made their move. It was certainly a huge relief when I saw them finally log on and complete the game.

I see you are not far from the top spot again. I hope you'll get another chance at it in the future and get it this time.

Your experience reminds me of this game:

https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=752684830

This was the final of a 150+ players tournament, one of the most prestigious there is, and I was facing one of the best players of the game, and previous Arena champion too. I had myself recently became world leader and I was one of the only 4 players to ever reach Master rank.

The game was extremely close, it kept switching back and forth on who seemed favorite to win it. Then towards the last few turns I thought I had it, and on my final turn I calculated that there was something like a 1 in 50 chance that my opponent would get the roll they need on their last turn.

So I clicked to complete my move, having sort of already won in my mind, because when you have a 98% of winning, it feels like it would be totally insane if it were to not happen, right? Except that it did, they got exactly the combination of colors that allowed them to win.

What is even crazier is that like in your case, the score difference was only 1 point. 110 to 109.

But it gets even crazier than that. A few minutes after this happened, as I was still flabbergasted by the whole thing, I realized something... I realized that if I had arranged the tiles differently on my last turn, I would have scored 110 too. And I would have won the game on the tiebreaker (which is number of animals).

In the midst of the excitation of realizing I had a 98% chance of winning, I didn't take the time to think properly and didn't realize that there was an option that secured me a 100% chance of winning.

It's like fate saw my mistake and decided to make me pay the consequences.

I still consider this game the greatest game I ever played on this site, despite missing out the opportunity of beating one of the best players of the game in the final of one of the most prestigious tournament.

One of the great things about this site and the games and competitions on here is that it offers us those incredible stories and historical moments, just like real sports can.

[FrankJones]

But it gets even crazier than that. A few minutes after this happened, as I was still flabbergasted by the whole thing, I realized something... I realized that if I had arranged the tiles differently on my last turn, I would have scored 110 too. And I would have won the game on the tiebreaker (which is number of animals).

In the midst of the excitation of realizing I had a 98% chance of winning, I didn't take the time to think properly and didn't realize that there was an option that secured me a 100% chance of winning.

Anytime a game is lost by 1 point, I assume something could have been done differently.

I actually could have scored 100 points on my final turn instead of "only" 96. That would have won. I didn't find it even upon review - a friend did.

But, yes, anytime we have a 98% play, it's always good to look for the 100% play.

[tbhp]

Anytime a game is lost by 1 point, I assume something could have been done differently.

I actually could have scored 100 points on my final turn instead of "only" 96. That would have won. I didn't find it even upon review - a friend did.

But, yes, anytime we have a 98% play, it's always good to look for the 100% play.

A lot can be done in Harmonies to counter an opponent who seems to be ahead, although in the ending stages, the boards get restricted and it becomes easier and easier to read the situation.

When playing your final move, it’s just a matter of listing all the options your opponent will have and assessing the probabilities that they will get what they need. This is a mistake I definitely never should have made. The irony being, if it was a less important game, I very probably would have secured the win. I tend to think of every possibility even when I’m very likely to win. But because of the impatience of winning something so major, I just went for the click and be done with it and get the trophy. I shouldn’t have, haha.

[Ceaseless]

I'll maintain that Arena allows very little mistake, because once you get to the top of the ladder wins against most opponents don't give you many points. For every loss against a lower rated player you definitely shouldn't have lost against, that's something like 10 games you will have to win against regular opponents to get back to where you were. And if you fail again before getting back there, you'll fall down even further. This is a format of competition that is particularly harrowing for the player and requires you to constantly perform to even hold on to your position. There's a reason it's called "arena".

It's a major pairing flaw of Arena resulting in regular rating actually having more competitive filters available, though you lose Arena's biggest perks in forced pairing and format lockdown. While top players can be frequently stuck with rating gaps due to the lack of players around at their level, Arena's poor filter makes it worse than it should be. It's not necessarily more difficult, since in exchange for the increase in game count requirements you lose out on opponent quality, but it can be a lot more tedious. Though whether it be Arena or regular rating the rating system usually has an advantage over tournaments due to their larger sample size.

[tbhp]

I'll maintain that Arena allows very little mistake, because once you get to the top of the ladder wins against most opponents don't give you many points. For every loss against a lower rated player you definitely shouldn't have lost against, that's something like 10 games you will have to win against regular opponents to get back to where you were. And if you fail again before getting back there, you'll fall down even further. This is a format of competition that is particularly harrowing for the player and requires you to constantly perform to even hold on to your position. There's a reason it's called "arena".

It's a major pairing flaw of Arena resulting in regular rating actually having more competitive filters available, though you lose Arena's biggest perks in forced pairing and format lockdown. While top players can be frequently stuck with rating gaps due to the lack of players around at their level, Arena's poor filter makes it worse than it should be. It's not necessarily more difficult, since in exchange for the increase in game count requirements you lose out on opponent quality, but it can be a lot more tedious. Though whether it be Arena or regular rating the rating system usually has an advantage over tournaments due to their larger sample size.

Plus like I said in the Elo thread, some people may do well against other top players but lose surprisingly often against lower rated opponents (maybe due to inattention, or maybe they need the challenge to perform, or maybe their style just fits countering top players better). Those players are going to be disadvantaged in Arena.

Being paired with different Arena scores is helpful when you are starting out and this gives you opportunities to get a lot of points fast. But it becomes the opposite problem when you are nearing the top and you'd rather just be paired with only other top players and see how it goes.

Regarding tournaments having smaller sample sizes, well, that's just the nature of different competitions. In a tournament people who you may not have expected to win may win it, because you just need to win a succession of games to get there. Same as any team has some chance of winning the world cup. It's not really a flaw and more so a feature of the competition.