Yeah I would classify skilled play as an action that if mistakes are made the task is failed. Now this could mean failing to kill your target or I think more universally accepted dying. But let me clarify JUST surviving is not considered "skillful" play. Tanks that do no damage and just heal definitely aren't good at the game (as @xylena_lazarow said the skill floor for healing and survival is pretty low in this game, depending on your setup).

Since being in a ball group allows an individual to make A LOT of mistakes and still succeed, 11/12 of the players are generally participating in a low skill activity, with the ball lead generally having to take on shot calling which is a bit more difficult.

I also have experience fighting MANY individuals outside of a ball group (with their solo setups on) and I can say with confidence that not a single individual player in a ball group has ever stood out as being an exceptional player. I'm sure there are but I can say with confidence it's the minority.

xylena_lazarow wrote: »

Jsmalls wrote: »

I also have experience fighting MANY individuals outside of a ball group (with their solo setups on) and I can say with confidence that not a single individual player in a ball group has ever stood out as being an exceptional player. I'm sure there are but I can say with confidence it's the minority.

So? In a 12v12 between the ball and a dozen 1vXers, I'm putting my money on the ball. Teamplay is a different skillset. There's a world of difference between competitive balls that run tight while dropping bomb after bomb, and mid balls that just heal blob. Sure I can generally win the 1v1s but that only matters if I'm chasing down their speeder. A lot of ball players I know are also high end competitive PvE trifecta players.

I would only put my money on the ball group because of coordinated sets.

If the 1vXer group was given the option to coordinate that, id put money on the 1vXers.

It's funny cuz I ran in a Guild that was legit just 1vXers. We all solo healed etc. This was in Ravenwatch at the time but over and over and over we beat the ball groups that would come into the campaign. More than often 2-3x our numbers.

But this was in Ravenwatch where there are less carry sets.

xylena_lazarow wrote: »

This game unfortunately has no ranking, no ladder, no ELO, no competitive infrastructure at all. Each faction on PC/NA GH would seem to support 1-2 competitive ball groups that often share players, since no individual ball plays as frequently anymore. I'd say the skill ceiling for running crown, designing comps, and executing bombs is very high.

The skill ceiling for healing and survival is pretty low though, I regularly see individual ball players make terrible positioning mistakes, only to face tank everything anyway and get back to their ball because they have a million sticky heals still on them. Even good balls get away with so much bad play thanks to all the overpowered healing.

Battlegrounds has MMR ranks. Has since the beginning of it being implemented.

Generally speaking the strongest groups will have both a strong leader and good individually skilled players who understand positioning/timing. The leader is able to focus better on making calls and less about telling players what to do individually.

Essentially if you have low skilled players and a low skilled leader the best change you can make is to improve your leader.
If you have higher skilled players and a bad leader the players can tend to ignore the calls or die by following them.

in the pure 'ball group' vs '1vXer group' if the 1vXer group had no experience of group play and didn't have a leader (i.e. they were actually 1vXers and didn't group before) they would 100% die. If they had the same quality of leader as the ball group they would likely have a 70-80% chance of winning vs regular ball group players who don't play outside of raids.