How to hit a 1600 rating!

[Valkyria]

"Discuss the ever-evolving vortex of strategy inherent in the meta-game here."

Someone has just taken a old strategy to new extremes. Read on to see how you can effortlessly achieve a 1600 rating.

As of the time of this post, the top rated Reborn battler has an OU rating of 1534.

If you've held a rating of 1400 or higher, you'd know that when you reach that threshold, most rated battles have +2, -30 variations, or even +1, -31 variations. This means that should you win the battle, your rating will increase by 1 point. If you lose the battle, your rating will drop by 31 points.

You can imagine how difficult it is to ladder once your rating becomes high. Not only will you mostly battle other talented trainers, but your win/loss ratio needs to be at least 15:1 just to break even.

You're placed in battles you cannot win no matter how flawlessly you play, whether it's a bad team matchup, a series of important crits by your opponent, or a string of misses by your pokemon. This is why laddering at the top is so difficult.

NOT.

You see, earlier today I was on a new account (~1050 rating), testing out a team I had just made, when I was placed in a +82, -8 variation battle. My opponent at the time had a rating of 1284. Oh, it was a good battle, and he was clearly very skilled. Yet the battle got to a point where I was in a no-lose scenario. Then, for the first time in 2 months, I was disconnected from the server.

Oh well, it was a new account, and ratings didn't matter much on it. I logged back on, tested the team out against several other players in ranked matches, and became convinced that it was a solid team. I transferred the team to my main account and logged out to work on a class assignment.

A few hours later, I logged back on and began laddering with my new team on my main account. The instant I clicked "Find Battle", I was matched against the player I disconnected against earlier.

Something was unusual though.

This was a +17, -15 variation match, instead of the standard +2, -30 I'm used to. In the span of 3 hours, the player had gone from a rating of 1284 to over 1500. I couldn't believe my eyes. He was good, but no better than several other talented players I've battled on Reborn. Unfortunately for this player, I knew his entire team, having fought it earlier on a different account. He, on the other hand, had no idea that account was mine.

This battle was not even close. On the verge of 4-0'ing him, a player joined the battle, spammed a wall of text, and I was disconnected for the second time in 2 months.

If you're not convinced this player is related to the disconnects, answer me this:

1. We were both in the same battle. Why was he not affected?

2. These incidents took place during a time where all ongoing battles were being attacked by a spam disconnector. Tournaments rounds were being disrupted, moderators were advising players to turn spectators off, and to not do ranked battles. With a rating above 1500, he would be losing 30 ratings every time his battles were targetted. Yet he continued to ladder non-stop.

So, the secret to breaking a 1600 rating? Have a friend disconnect your opponents! If you're a good battler, you'll never be caught because you'll only have to resort to this when you're just about to lose.

Keep Reborn pristine. Do not tolerate those who DC for ranks.

[Noivy]

I've never really cared for the ladder system, mostly because of the fact that 50% of my teams are test teams and have little value in the Metagame. However reading this makes me want to try my hand at it.

Mind you, you wont be seeing me do alt laddering. I'd rather be honest with my skill.

Edited June 9, 2012 by Listar Iostone

[Cyrus]

>Caring about laddering in Reborn.

Now I know that we have new members who actually battle. But seriously? This is rage quitting in a nutshell. But more douche chill.

But I believe this is a case of cheating, the equivalent is boosting by tac inserting with a friend in MW3 Fuck I need to get The Witcher 2 soon.

But don't care that much, let him be top on Pokemon. Just do a douche chill (don't know how to do in Pokemon battles,) back to him. But if it's a friend combo, just PM the admins the names and they will do something. Might be revising and trying a new team so I can actually try to be good at Pokemon.

[FraRPetO]

I used to do ladder, then some people tried to copy some of my team and tactics, then I stopped laddering and now I just use Find Battle with random test teams with disabled ladder xD

also, too many rain teams stopped me to laddering, i couldn't just take it anymore, same team over and over again

[Valkyria]

When the PBC first came back up ~4 months ago, I was laddering there. The reason I now choose Reborn over PBC is because the mod Acid Trip (who was ranked #1 in Wifi OU at the time) kicked and banned me right before I was about to beat him in a ranked battle. I will never return to that disgrace of a server.

It's incredible how one individual can so badly tarnish the reputation of a community.

[Duster]

Yeah I'm in the same boat. I climbed all the way up to 6th on the server then lost 3 games in a row due to hax and I got really frustrated because I dropped to 15. Extremely angry I created a new team and after a some adjustments I climbed back up to about 9. THEN in the past 3 days I've lost to hax, luck, and just some poor battling on my part and I'm now at 30. I've probably only lost 8 games in the past 3 days. Ughhh the rage I tell you! I think I'm going to give on laddering and try to have some fun, I've been thinking about a mono normal team that looks pretty fun to play.

So I apologize for my rant, I just had to get that off my chest XD

[Valkyria]

That's completely true. No matter how carefully you build your team, no matter how well you read your opponent's next move, there will always be battles that you simply cannot win.

This is why I'm convinced this player rose from below 1300 to above 1500 (in 3 hours!) through illegitimate means.

Btw, I have every monotype team and they're totally fun. Send me a message if you ever want to monotype.

[Amethyst]

I've heard that a lot about PBC's mods. It's quite disappointing.

Anyway, in regards to the matter at hand, I had Nyu extract all of the user in question's battles for the day. Several of his battles were spammed by Doj, surprise surprise, but they were not always to his direct advantage. He wasn't d/c'd by the zalgo characters most likely because his machine is not vulnerable to them (not everyone's is, and we're not sure what makes the distinction).

The person in question DOES seem to be a talented battler, winning all of his battles for the day except for two. Many of the battles he won were by forfeit, but in most of those cases he was indeed in the winning position.

Ultimately, as I've already told Valkyria, there isn't any evidence to support that he is deliberately doing this.

I would, however, advise caution to be aware of these sorts of tricks in general in case someone does decide to try it. If users are found crashing others to win battles, ... or for any reason, really, it'll warrant a ban.

[Valkyria]

Amethyst > Acid Trip

This is the first time I've ever heard of "zalgo characters", and I was definitely unaware that some computers had immunity while others were vulnerable. For this player to fearlessly ladder at a time when DC attacks were rampant is very unusual. How does he know his computer has the immunity? If he ever did disconnect during a ranked battle, his rating would plummet ~30 points (takes about 10 wins in a row to recover from).

It could be a coincidence. I'll keep an open mind. Should I DC against the same player again though, I'll be much less convinced.

[Yuki]

I'll keep an eye on this too.

For reference, spamming zalgo characters ("Zalgoing" someone) is something that was actually really popular by certain multi-banned individuals on reborn a few months ago. Sucks that it's back, but all we can really do for now is lay down some more range-bans and ban some more proxies.

Zalgoing doesn't really do anything to my computer for whatever reason, and it may not for so-and-so, but it definitely causes issues for a large chunk of people.

If you see anything unusual going on, contact a staff member.

[Neo]

The best way to tell if you're immune is to get spammed by it. Zalgo is meant to fuck with your computer by it not being able to recognize the multiple languages at one. Your best in the event on a Zalgo attack is to not touch the windows during the initial freezing. I'd also recommend alt+tabbing out to another windows. After 30 seconds just come back and play as you were.

Only you can prevent Zalgo attacks!

[Kiozo]

Indeed. My experiences with Zalgo attacks have 90% of the time left me logged in, actually. There's another attack, not sure if it's also the same thing, but similar at least, where if you highlight a blank area, you disconnect too. Do note that it might also have to do with the internet connection as well, because mine was particularly weak when I disconnected.

Also; while the odds of you winning every battle are short to none, you do have the means to win every battle. I'll leave you to study and find it for yourself, because experience is the best way to learn. Good luck.

[Valkyria]

Batl Skard

Posted Today, 07:51 PM

"Also; while the odds of you winning every battle are short to none, you do have the means to win every battle. I'll leave you to study and find it for yourself, because experience is the best way to learn. Good luck."

No, trainers do not have the means to win every battle. The best way to expose the fallacy of your statement is through logic. If Player A and Player B are in a battle and both make the best moves possible, one of them will win and the other will lose. Suppose Player A wins and Player B loses. Under your reasoning, Player B was supposed to have the means of winning every battle. How could he have won this one? He already made the best moves possible. There is nothing else he could have done to win this match. You see, when both players perform optimally, something still has to give.

For every winner, there is always a loser.

Edited June 10, 2012 by Valkyria

[Phazer]

I'm in Safe Mode.

[Maelstrom]

Batl Skard

Posted Today, 07:51 PM

"Also; while the odds of you winning every battle are short to none, you do have the means to win every battle. I'll leave you to study and find it for yourself, because experience is the best way to learn. Good luck."

No, trainers do not have the means to win every battle. The best way to expose the fallacy of your statement is through logic. If Player A and Player B are in a battle and both make the best moves possible, one of them will win and the other will lose. Suppose Player A wins and Player B loses. Under your reasoning, Player B was supposed to have the means of winning every battle. How could he have won this one? He already made the best moves possible. There is nothing else he could have done to win this match. You see, when both players perform optimally, something still has to give.

For every winner, there is always a loser.

You are assuming that both players make the best moves possible. It doesn't happen that way because much changes. status changes, crits, predictions that come through or fail. And that assumes both players know what these 'best moves' are. And you have the ability to change your team around to meet the challenges presented by different people.

It is possible, but like he said, highly unlikely. There are all sorts of computations where one or the other is the victor. It is not static and set like the math formula you assume.

[Valkyria]

Maelstrom, all you're doing is strengthening my case. Due to the inability to predict misses and crits, it's not only possible, but very likely over a series of battles that a player making optimal moves will lose to a player who makes mistakes. Thus, even if one knows and executes the best moves possible, he is still far from invincible.

Furthermore, you neglect to answer how Player B could have possibly won the battle in the situation described above.

Changing your team can rememdy one particular weakness, but it inevitably opens up another. Your argument would mean something if you knew what the "challenges presented by different people" were ahead of time, but as you don't, your argument is invalid. Your final statement is the best. You openly acknowledge that a variety of unpredictable factors influences who wins and loses, yet you somehow argue that it's possible for someone to manipulate these odds to win each and every time.

Yes Maelstrom, battling is not static like a math formula. This is exactly why you're undebatably, irrefutably wrong. If it were like a math formula, crits and misses would be predictable, and one might be able to win every match. In short, Pokemon is not a solved game. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solved_game

[Clouds and Puddles]

Are you talking about me? I remember there was a span of battles where someone would constantly spam Zalgo characters at me and my opponent. I don't think i've laddered from 1300-1500 in 2 hours before, though, so i don't know. Anyways, there seems to be less Zalgo attacks now . And the way to get to 1600 is to abuse shadow tag chandelure. Seriously guys, it's broken! There's a discussion about its place right now at http://www.pokemonreborn.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2341&st=20

[Noivy]

Shadow Tag Chandelure has NOTHING to do with anything in this thread.

Going around and spouting it is only going to make people disagree with your thoughts.

But yea. I occasionally watch ladder battles, I've seen a DC/Forfiet only once last few weeks, but Im still a little wary of the fact that someone has broken 1600.

Edited July 16, 2012 by Listar Iostone