Board Game Arena

I am a top 100 player. I don't think I am the best player by any means but I'm decent at the game. I like to play arena and possibly more than half the time I am being matched with 100 elo bronze players. This is not fun for either of us, I'm going to win by 30 plus VP most games. I don't get any better playing against these players and its boring. I feel like when I am matched against them I just lose an hour of my life until the game is over. I'm sure it's not fun for them either. Not to mention as far as climbing arena ranking you got close to no rank for beating someone in bronze or silver or even platinum. I understand the wait time will be longer and I am completely fine with this. Would rather wait a longer time then play against someone new at the game. Can we fix this somehow maybe next season? I just want to play against players of similar skill level to myself.

I have not played much arena lately, but I previously played a good bit of Arena in 3 card games in which I am top 10 in two of them (Spades and Open Face Chinese poker) and fairly well rated in the other (Hearts).

When I played Arena, it matched me with players similar to my arena level rather than my Elo, which, since I was only starting out in Arena, meant bronze tier players, often of very low Elo.

I found it frustrating, especially given the high variance of those 3 card games, so I stopped.

If there's a way to play arena games and be matched against similar Elo players regardless of Arena ranking, I am not aware of it.

I haven't tried it, but I heard if you go to play now, choose arena, and hit the settings cog and only match with player of my level, that will at least restrict matchmaking to those in elite. While not perfect since there are plenty of low elo players in elite, it does help your problem.

CapitalDecay wrote: ↑26 June 2025, 23:41 I haven't tried it, but I heard if you go to play now, choose arena, and hit the settings cog and only match with player of my level, that will at least restrict matchmaking to those in elite. While not perfect since there are plenty of low elo players in elite, it does help your problem.

Interesting. So, a bronze player can just skip right to play against elites? Thereby gaining a lot more Arena ranking points and getting to elite more quickly? When I was playing Hearts without using that technique, it was this endless slog through 5 or 6 different tiers (Hearts being a popular game, it seemed like there was one new tier after another that wasn't yet elite.)

Sorry, should have been more clear, I said elite because I was assuming he was in elite (said top 100). But it will go to what ever arena level you are at. So bronze with bronze. Or you can do +/- 1 level too.

CapitalDecay wrote: ↑27 June 2025, 01:18 Sorry, should have been more clear, I said elite because I was assuming he was in elite (said top 100). But it will go to what ever arena level you are at. So bronze with bronze. Or you can do +/- 1 level too.

I assumed the OP meant top 100 Elo. When I play Arena, if I am in the elite league, my games are against Elite league players, as you noted.

Click "PLAY NOW" on the top of the page, click on the gear button to the left of the game, selects settings to restrict your matchmaking, and click the "Play now!" to queue a game.

You will still run into weak opponents, but your chance of facing a strong player is greater. My winrate versus 300-500 elo is only slightly better than 500-700, but I get punished way harder for a loss, so it is in my interest to play stronger opponents if I care about climbing the leaderboard.

I am playing with that filter enabled, and it doe snot work. I am in Elite League and getting opponents from Bronze.
I assume game tries to find player with my ELO and my division, but it failed, it find whatever it can (real time format). In turn based format it seems works better.

dessp7 wrote: ↑28 June 2025, 14:45 I am playing with that filter enabled, and it doe snot work. I am in Elite League and getting opponents from Bronze.
I assume game tries to find player with my ELO and my division, but it failed, it find whatever it can (real time format). In turn based format it seems works better.

See https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... 23#p214323. You need to use the correct tab and set it to never instead of just not-preferred. Then it will work.

Also you have to start the game from Play now, otherwise the filter doesn't apply