Tournament players vs. Randos
In general, what's the skill level jump between the two? I'd like to try tournament play, but A) I don't have more than an hour of free time per day and B) I have an ego to think about and don't want to get shredded consistently. I win roughly 75-85% of my matches against random players, is that a good stepping off point?
perhaps start challenging not the top rated tournament players? maybe those at the 1200 range
I think Soullord is saying that you could joing the League and check how you do against some experienced players with say 20+ games played at various ratings. Robotentertainmentfans.com
Its a reasonable idea. Nothing says you need to play a ton of games just because you join the league. Most never do that.
Personally I'm on my 2nd league game
@cityzun For what it's worth, I'm constantly getting my ego shredded on the tourneys here and in the League. But they are gracious winners which cannot always be said about Randoms.
And none of us will "offer advice" in-game unless asked - which I find refreshing.
And most folks here know about the Start- 3AP fairness "rule" so your guaranteed starting out leveled (e.g. Randy TF2 challenges you and gets the Shaolin map and takes all 5 of his AP. Hard to convince him about League data showing that its not fair and he should re-challenge and not be so greedy).
But most of all, you can rely on a game to finsih, no matter how long it takes from either side. And I usually get in about 2-3 rounds per game per night (about an hour or 2 each day) and maybe a few bonus pawn-pushes in the morning. If the folks here know that a RL issue is going to keep them gone more than 5 days, they'll likelt resign before keeping you hanging. They'll also offer you an option if you explain the same to them.
It's challenging group and fair-minded group. And some styles will be much different than randies, but some times they're just pioneering what becomes doctrine later on in the Wild.
Hope that helps. And yeah - challenge me as it says in my sig. Guarantee we're prolly about the same caliber and it'll be close and not humiliating at all.
A few of the regulars here are very very tough *Cough*"Tabby"*Cough* so be careful who you challenge :)
What? No way - there are many here who can and do clean my clock. I'm upper intermediate in strength, if anything. The trouble with getting better is that you learn exactly how bad you are. :)
As tabby has shown me :( haha
translating a lot of folks are even tougher than Tabby so you have been warned....
In general, what's the skill level jump between the two? I'd like to try tournament play, but A) I don't have more than an hour of free time per day and B) I have an ego to think about and don't want to get shredded consistently. I win roughly 75-85% of my matches against random players, is that a good stepping off point?
Randoms are, well, random, so unless you play tons of games against them, you could do better or worse than someone else of the same skill level. But, in general, the better players on this forum would tend to win 90%+ against randoms. But there is a wide range here as well, and people of all skills (well, not literally all levels, since terrible players dont tend to find this forum) participate in tournaments.
Your probably, being honest, not going to beat a top guy like Trip, and conceivably you might struggle against the top 3rd of folks participating (folks that will tend to win 90%+ vs randoms), but beyond that, I dont think anyone can say. You'll probably win some and lose some, and learn some in the process. As long as that can be fun for you, then why not?
Being honest, this isnt chess, and even top players shoot themselves in the foot from time to time or get bad draws. There is always a chance.