Board Game Arena

Somehow scoring arena games needs to be changed so as to not impact ELO. Players have no control over who they play. Get a string of low ELO opponents and your ELO gets trashed when your dice and cards are the awful. Case in point: I've lost over 150 ELO in 3 weeks of arena play. My dice have been worse than awful against all opponents including several sub-200 players.

My two cents:
You might not want to hear this, but your case in point says your ELO was to high.
If you are paired with lower ELO opponents you are expected to win (and gain little)
If you lose, you lose big. As you have experienced.

Now you have an ELO that fits your level better and if you are paired to someone with similar ELO you are more equally paired.
If you win you will gain some ELO. If you get paired in arena to someone with a much higher ELO and win, you will rise quicker.


Of course you could lose a match with bad dice and cards, that happens to all of us. But you describe a fall over three weeks, so I am assuming that was not in one match?

You're right...I'm a lousy player. Beating players in the with 300+ ELO was just a fluke.

I bow to your greatness.

And you probably play the game where you wait and wait. Not like they really had to fight. That is the fun in the game. Trying to fight like they had to. Not sitting back during a Caen campaign. Watching some "excellent" players wait and wait is unfaithful to the spirit of the game. Victory by boredom. War games are meant to be played like war.

I am sorry if I have offended you. That was not my intention.

I did not say you were a lousy player, I merely stated that ELO is there to set up opponents of same strength.

Stating that your wins against 300+ are not a fluke could equally be applied to the wins against you where you lost your ELO.


Then you assume I have a certain playing style and me being unaware of history and historical fighting strategy and tactics.
That might be true, or not, but I fail to see what that has to do with this discussion.


I get your frustration playing against players who hang back. But Memoir’44 is still a game and I feel every player is free to approach the game however they feel like. The rules do not state you have to play a certain style. You might not like some playing styles, but they might be very effective for the game of Memoir’44.

It is my hope you will keep on enjoying Memoir’44 against players that do give you fun. On BGA and in real life. Maybe we could even meet in a live tournament here or there.

Username longbeardsc appears to no longer exist...

Anyway. My opinion is to not worry about ELO. You may go 3-1 and end up with a lower ELO.

The ELO system does not seem really suited for a game with high randomness like Memoir'44, especially when players with a huge difference play.
It sure gives a rough information about a player's level, but it's less meaningful that in more deterministic games.

I totally agree with you. If I have ELO in the 300 and above range I would prefer to play either someone who is as high in ELO or higher. I have also experienced losing many ELO points when I accept the challenge of players lower 250 or lower. If you have bad cards and also bad dice all your experience means nothing if a average player has good cards and good dice.

FrankPepe wrote: ↑27 May 2025, 02:55 I totally agree with you. If I have ELO in the 300 and above range I would prefer to play either someone who is as high in ELO or higher. (...)

You can set those limits yourself with the little door icon on the top right of the game settings. And the settings stay until you change them.