Dungeons And Dragons Online: PvP Leaderboards in the Demon Sands

The official site has some news about PvP and PvP leaderboards:

Hi Everyone!

So while you're excited for the impending launch of The Demon Sands, you've probably been thinking "Gee, as awesome as this PvP system sounds, I really hope I can track my progress as compared to my peers and contemporaries. Is Turbine adding some kind of PvP Leaderboard feature?"

The answer, my friends, is a resounding "Yes!"

It's our pleasure to announce the launch of a web-based PvP Leaderboard (and a redesigned website to boot) with the release of The Demon Sands. Gloat over the public display of your complete and utter dominance in the PvP arenas!

How It Works

So how does it work? Well, as you participate in PvP matches, we're keeping track of a lot of data - who was in the match, who won the match, who killed whom, etc. Once a day, we'll be taking this data and sending it over to our web servers, along with a new field representing your total PvP Rating (more on this later).

When you load the Leaderboard, you'll be able to view character rankings and statistics per server and per date (All Time, Current Month, and Last Month), and you'll be able to filter on Class, Race, and Match Type (All, Deathmatch, or Capture the Flag). You'll be able to sort the rankings by Rating (the default), Wins, Kills, Flags Captured, or Flags Returned (these last two aren't options for Deathmatch rankings for obvious reasons).

What's more, you'll be able to type in the name of a character to find them on the Leaderboard, although it's important to note that characters won't be listed until they've participated in at least one match.

Rating Explained

The system DDO uses to calculate PvP Ratings is based on the popular ELO rating system. Everyone starts out with a rating of 1000, and your rating goes up when you win and down when you lose. Your actual performance versus your expected performance determines the exact amount of rating points you gain or lose in a match.

If that last sentence was a little unclear, here's a little more info: When you participate in a PvP match, the system looks at your rating, your team's rating, and the opposing team's rating in order to determine how likely you are to win (expressed as a percentage). If you and your team have a higher rating than your opponents, then the system expects you to win. Conversely, if you and your team have a lower rating than your opponents, then the system expects you to lose. If everyone has the same rating, then both sides have an expected 50% chance of winning.

(If you have a higher rating but your team has a lower rating than your opponents, or vice versa, it gets complicated. But rest assured that we've taken steps to ensure that you don't have to worry about losing a bunch of points because you got stuck with a lower-ranked team.)

When a match concludes, the system compares your team's match result (win, loss, or draw) with the expected result. If the result matches the expectations (e.g., you beat a team with a lower rating), you'll see a smaller rating change, while if the result is against expectations, you'll see a larger rating change.

Other Important Notes

• Kills, Flags Captured, and Flags Returned do not factor into the rating formula. The rating system only cares about Wins, Losses, and Draws.
• A rating of 1000 is the status quo, no matter how many matches you've played. Your Wins, Kills, Flags Captured, and Flags Returned will continue go up over time, but your rating will always be centered around 1000.
• The amount of points you gain or lose scales with your level. Lower level characters will generally gain fewer points when they win but will lose fewer points when they lose.
• The biggest change you can ever expect to see for a match between two high-level teams is a gain (or loss) of about 20 points. If everyone in a high-level match has the same rating, the winners should expect to gain 10 points and the losers should lose 10 points.
• If you go more than a month between matches, and your rating is above 1000, your rating will start to decay at a rate of about 1 per day until it gets back to 1000. Participating in a PvP match stops the decay.
• The system tracks ratings and statistics separately for Deathmatch and Capture the Flag match types. Your composite rating is the average of your Deathmatch and Capture the Flag ratings.
• Due to the complexity of the rating formulas, we may choose to adjust the system after evaluating its real-world performance. We'll let you know in advance of any changes.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading, and we look forward to seeing you in The Demon Sands!