- Joined
- Sep 12, 2018
- Messages
- 340
- Reaction score
- 455
- Points
- 63
- Age
- 24
- Location
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
Before I do anything else: This post is not about individual ratings of variants on the tier list. While some individual ratings will be mentioned as examples, this post is first and foremost a constructive piece of feedback on the general structure of the tier list, how the ratings function, and how those aspects can be improved.
The official SGM tier list has made a comeback, and it needs help. While it will be the place of others to go through the accuracy of the variant ratings themselves, I wanted to take some time to give feedback on the flaws of the current tier list structure and some suggestions on how to improve on them.
The Flaws:
1. No separate category for support variants
This can cause confusion for newer players as to why certain supports are ranked as highly as they are when their damage is mid or needs long buildup (offense suggests things like damage output or general individual value instead of the team value supports provide).
2. Not enough context behind certain ratings
Bloody Valentine is rated SS in rift offense, likely for the value she provides against Tainted PWs. However, the SS is so generic in its condition (a dominant character in a mode and considered the best of the best) that a newer player might think she crushes every fight/matchup in the whole of rift only to get timed out by a bulkier team that Bloody Valentine was never able to carry fully against. There are other examples of things like this within the list as well, such as for the aforementioned supports or Mean One being rated SS in PF despite her performing like an A or B tier variant in any matchup that has zero buffs going around and thus no way for her to use her SA.
3. Lack of individual vs team support context
Most of the bleeders fall into this category. They get rated rather low in PR due to the existence of the bleed conversion mod within NM that makes bleeds useless by themselves. However, these low ratings fail to account for curse support existing as a strategy to enable bleed despite the bleed conversion. There are quite a few other variants that have individual vs team support situations that can change how viable they are, such as barrier users having or not having a Starlight Rose on the team.
The Solutions
1. Add at least one support category. This is the most obvious one, it allows support value to show through and lets the offense ratings be based on individual performance (damage/utility) on point.
2. Add some explanations to each variant rating (say a paragraph explaining a variant's strengths and drawbacks) to give context to said rating. Not only will this give the needed context to each rating, but the explanations can also be a jumping off point for further list critique and refinement.
3. Clarify if characters are being rated individually or with full team context. This can cover for things like the curse support for bleeders in PR example or for other support engines (such as rating a barrier user with or without Starlight Rose).
The official SGM tier list has made a comeback, and it needs help. While it will be the place of others to go through the accuracy of the variant ratings themselves, I wanted to take some time to give feedback on the flaws of the current tier list structure and some suggestions on how to improve on them.
The Flaws:
1. No separate category for support variants
This can cause confusion for newer players as to why certain supports are ranked as highly as they are when their damage is mid or needs long buildup (offense suggests things like damage output or general individual value instead of the team value supports provide).
2. Not enough context behind certain ratings
Bloody Valentine is rated SS in rift offense, likely for the value she provides against Tainted PWs. However, the SS is so generic in its condition (a dominant character in a mode and considered the best of the best) that a newer player might think she crushes every fight/matchup in the whole of rift only to get timed out by a bulkier team that Bloody Valentine was never able to carry fully against. There are other examples of things like this within the list as well, such as for the aforementioned supports or Mean One being rated SS in PF despite her performing like an A or B tier variant in any matchup that has zero buffs going around and thus no way for her to use her SA.
3. Lack of individual vs team support context
Most of the bleeders fall into this category. They get rated rather low in PR due to the existence of the bleed conversion mod within NM that makes bleeds useless by themselves. However, these low ratings fail to account for curse support existing as a strategy to enable bleed despite the bleed conversion. There are quite a few other variants that have individual vs team support situations that can change how viable they are, such as barrier users having or not having a Starlight Rose on the team.
The Solutions
1. Add at least one support category. This is the most obvious one, it allows support value to show through and lets the offense ratings be based on individual performance (damage/utility) on point.
2. Add some explanations to each variant rating (say a paragraph explaining a variant's strengths and drawbacks) to give context to said rating. Not only will this give the needed context to each rating, but the explanations can also be a jumping off point for further list critique and refinement.
3. Clarify if characters are being rated individually or with full team context. This can cover for things like the curse support for bleeders in PR example or for other support engines (such as rating a barrier user with or without Starlight Rose).
