This thread is for the discussion of a weapon tier list based upon the results of tournaments posted on this site. The goal of this tier list is to create a way for players to easily understand what weapons they will need to understand and adapt to in order to compete at a high level.
Weapons will be ranked numerically according to calculations that will be discussed and finalized here. This is because I believe the easiest and most accurate way to discover the prevalence of a given weapon in the metagame is to look at statistics showing how often it appears and how successfully it competes with other weapons. For this thread's purposes, opinion-based or theoretical qualifications for a given weapon's place in the tier list will not be used. This is to avoid personal bias and errors. What we're discussing here is a system of placement that will output the ranking of each weapon for us, not the rankings themselves.
To start, I'll include my own proposed system below. Remember that this is only a proposal; the point of this thread is to finalize the system of placement for the weapons, so feel free to critique my own idea or offer and explain ideas of your own.
I plan to keep discussion in this thread open for about a week, after which we should be able to come to a consensus and move on to the next step of the process. For now, this thread only pertains to how we should calculate the ranking of each weapon. Remember to include your own suggestions and critique the methods of others.
Weapons will be ranked numerically according to calculations that will be discussed and finalized here. This is because I believe the easiest and most accurate way to discover the prevalence of a given weapon in the metagame is to look at statistics showing how often it appears and how successfully it competes with other weapons. For this thread's purposes, opinion-based or theoretical qualifications for a given weapon's place in the tier list will not be used. This is to avoid personal bias and errors. What we're discussing here is a system of placement that will output the ranking of each weapon for us, not the rankings themselves.
To start, I'll include my own proposed system below. Remember that this is only a proposal; the point of this thread is to finalize the system of placement for the weapons, so feel free to critique my own idea or offer and explain ideas of your own.
This calculation will include 2 numbers that will be used to compute the overall rank of a weapon: frequency of appearance and frequency of success.
Frequency of Appearance: How many times a team includes at least one of a given weapon.
EX: There are 32 rounds played over the course of one tournament. The total number of times that a team included at least one Bamboozler in their lineup is 4. The frequency of appearance for the Bamboozler is 4 / 64, or 0.0625. ( 32 matches x 2 teams per match = 64 )
Frequency of Success: How many times a team using the given weapon wins the round.
EX: Out of the 4 instances in which the Bamboozler appeared, the team including it won 3 times. The frequency of success for the Bamboozler is 3 / 4, or 0.75.
Now that we have frequencies for appearance and success, we can calculate the total value of the Bamboozler. To do this, we multiply the two scores together. This means that the Bamboozler's value is 0.0625 x 0.75, or 0.046875 out of a maximum of 1. We would then take this number and multiply it by 100 and round it out for a nice presentation, giving us a final total value of 4.69 out of a maximum of 100. However, actual calculations would take into account more than one tournament.
These calculations would be done for every weapon and its variant, the only exception being chargers with or without scopes. For example, there would be one category containing both the Splat Charger and Splatterscope, and a second category for the Kelp Splat Charger and Kelp Splatterscope.
I propose this method because it accounts for both how often players will be playing against the weapon, as well as how good the weapon itself is. If you're facing a certain weapon constantly in the metagame, regardless of its merit as a weapon, you will have to learn to counter it in order to win your games. The system also addresses the different ways a weapon is used. If a weapon is used often and wins just as often, you know it's definitely a threat and needs to be respected. If a weapon appears often but rarely wins, that means it may be difficult to use for many players, or that some other weapon in the meta is preying on a weakness it has; however, this still means you will need to be able to deal with it yourself. On the other hand, a weapon that appears rarely but wins often when it does is potentially a strong counterpick against certain strategies. Understanding why it's being used will be key to knowing how to beat it. Finally, weapons that appear rarely and also win rarely are likely bad or completely unfamiliar to the playerbase at present, and therefore aren't significant in an evaluation of the metagame until they see more play.
This system only tells us, through huge chunks of competitive player data, what ranking a weapon has. It doesn't tell us why it has that ranking. That's not for the ranking system to figure out. That's our job as intelligent, humanoid squidkids.
Frequency of Appearance: How many times a team includes at least one of a given weapon.
EX: There are 32 rounds played over the course of one tournament. The total number of times that a team included at least one Bamboozler in their lineup is 4. The frequency of appearance for the Bamboozler is 4 / 64, or 0.0625. ( 32 matches x 2 teams per match = 64 )
Frequency of Success: How many times a team using the given weapon wins the round.
EX: Out of the 4 instances in which the Bamboozler appeared, the team including it won 3 times. The frequency of success for the Bamboozler is 3 / 4, or 0.75.
Now that we have frequencies for appearance and success, we can calculate the total value of the Bamboozler. To do this, we multiply the two scores together. This means that the Bamboozler's value is 0.0625 x 0.75, or 0.046875 out of a maximum of 1. We would then take this number and multiply it by 100 and round it out for a nice presentation, giving us a final total value of 4.69 out of a maximum of 100. However, actual calculations would take into account more than one tournament.
These calculations would be done for every weapon and its variant, the only exception being chargers with or without scopes. For example, there would be one category containing both the Splat Charger and Splatterscope, and a second category for the Kelp Splat Charger and Kelp Splatterscope.
I propose this method because it accounts for both how often players will be playing against the weapon, as well as how good the weapon itself is. If you're facing a certain weapon constantly in the metagame, regardless of its merit as a weapon, you will have to learn to counter it in order to win your games. The system also addresses the different ways a weapon is used. If a weapon is used often and wins just as often, you know it's definitely a threat and needs to be respected. If a weapon appears often but rarely wins, that means it may be difficult to use for many players, or that some other weapon in the meta is preying on a weakness it has; however, this still means you will need to be able to deal with it yourself. On the other hand, a weapon that appears rarely but wins often when it does is potentially a strong counterpick against certain strategies. Understanding why it's being used will be key to knowing how to beat it. Finally, weapons that appear rarely and also win rarely are likely bad or completely unfamiliar to the playerbase at present, and therefore aren't significant in an evaluation of the metagame until they see more play.
This system only tells us, through huge chunks of competitive player data, what ranking a weapon has. It doesn't tell us why it has that ranking. That's not for the ranking system to figure out. That's our job as intelligent, humanoid squidkids.
I plan to keep discussion in this thread open for about a week, after which we should be able to come to a consensus and move on to the next step of the process. For now, this thread only pertains to how we should calculate the ranking of each weapon. Remember to include your own suggestions and critique the methods of others.
