PSA - Getting 1320 in LA Seasons (Inc. a Recap of Underlying Fundamentals)
There was quite a bit of discussion about getting the Mythical Materials (1320 pts) during the last season, so I figured I'd share my experience for anyone deciding if it is worth the effort.
First the TLDR: If you can meet or beat a 51% Win-Rate, you can hit 1320 pts with your daily 10 plus one daily refill, for a net expense of 280 gems, minus any refills you pick up from Hard Sintanos.
Here's the long version for your reading enjoyment:
Some LA Fundamentals (Feel free to correct me if I mistate something):
- At the outset of Live Arena, there were Bots in Bronze & Silver, but since the introduction of the first LA Season, there have been Bots in Gold. Lose three in a row, and your next fight will be a Bot.
- Off Season, LA Matching is based on your Rank Points on the General Leaderboard, but you can be matched with anyone within your Tier, and possibly up/down a Tier.
- In Season, LA Matching is based solely on your Rank Points on the Seasonal Leaderboard. Your General Rank Points & Tier are not factored at all, which can lead to some serious mismatches, especially in the first week of each Season.
- Thousands of High End Players did not engage with LA until (1) The addition of the Daily LA Milestones & 5 Win Chests and (2) The addition of LA Season Rewards. Therefore, LA Rank Points on the General Leaderboard are far more indicative of how early a player engaged with LA than they are of actual LA Skill.
- The Conventional Wisdom is that the LA Matching Algorithm does more than match on points. It actively pushes players to a 50/50 win rate, meaning that fights become tougher the more you win and easier the more you lose.
Compared to the average Raid Player, I am highly engaged with LA: Currently 19,675 Pts @ Rank 3881. However, I did not become an every day LA Player until the time windows were expanded and the Daily LA Milestones & 5 Win Chests were added. Since then, I have earned the Daily Chest the vast majority of the time, but I still did not engage in LA enough to hit 1320. Two seasons ago, I decided to go for 1320 around mid-season. Making up the extra points with only two weeks to go was grueling, and I wasn't sure I'd ever try for 1320 again.
However, when last season came around, I decided that I would go for 1320, and that I would push from Day One. My Typical In-Season Win-Rate has been 55%-60%, but last Season was rough, probably due to the rapid influx of Mercurial Builds. (Nerf Mercurial!) My Win-Rate Last Season was a meager 51% on 420 fights.
So, why does this matter?
An LA Season is 28 Days long and 420 fights is exactly 15 fights per day, so if you can meet or beat a 51% Win-Rate, you can hit 1320 pts with your daily 10 plus one daily refill for a net expense of 280 gems, minus any refills you pick up from Hard Sintranos.
