Some thoughts about climbing ranked...

Hey all! I've been feeling somewhat stuck at my current elo (1450ish) and after talking to people at various elo's recently, I realise I'm definitely not alone in this.

Many of us have played 100's of games (many games a week) but cannot seem to get beyond a certain rating, and I just wanted put an idea out that I don't think I've seen many people talk about and to get some feedback.

Firstly, I think it's important to note that if you're playing at above an ~800 level, your probably better than the vast majority of AOE2 players who only play single player/custom games. The closer you get to the top of any given field, the harder it will be to climb higher, so for those struggling with confidence about their rating. Remember you are already getting close to the peak simply by being on the ranked ladder.

This being the case, most people playing ranked are playing for the competitive component, with a desire to improve and to climb up the ladder, and the average skill level is slowly increasing overall. So a 1300 today, better player than a 1300 this time last year.

We see this at the very top level, with small improvements to gameplay still occuring like quick walling etc with the desire to be at the top, this feeds down the ranks.

So, if the overall level is increasing, and the average player on the ranked ladder plays at least a few games a week and tries to improve their gameplay, how can you climb?

Well I think everyone who plays ranked is trying to climb, but most don't do anything apart from playing themselves and watching pro players/their favourite streamers.

If you aren't doing any more than this, then you can't expect to climb in rating. You will improve, and you'll be a better player as you play more games, but you won't climb to a higher rating as everyone around your elo will improve aswell.

I suggest that to climb in elo, you have to improve faster than everyone else who is just playing, and this can be done by finding (via watching your recorded games) and focusing on specific weaknesses you have and improving them individually.

In no particular order this could be things such as, dark age timings, standard build orders, unit counters, unit compositions, economy management, understanding the state of the game and whether to go aggressive or defensive, micro, and many others.

Anyway, sorry for the long wall of text and any formatting issues, this was written on my phone during lunch 11.

I'm interested to hear people's thoughts, and I'm going to test this out when I get back into ranked to see if I can finally crack 1600 :)