I Played Starcraft Nonstop To Master League - A Few Points
I played a ton of SC2 when it came out in 2010 and watched all the pro zergs. After some time I reached master league in wings of liberty. I didn't play much heart of the swarm because I was disappointed in the changes. I returned to SC2 for legacy of the void and cheesed my way back to master league in a couple of weeks.
Fast forward ten years later and after playing some 2v2 with a friend I thought I would speedrun to masters again. Boy was this a different experience. I hope to save one or two people some headaches getting back on the ladder.
#1 - There are people above the matchmaking system, you are not randomly playing who is online in your area
I was matched against accounts that never made an effort yet maintained an mmr over 4000. Accounts such as "wasting time" left at the beginning of nearly every game and played joke games intentionally losing.
I was also matched against accounts that did not have a rank. These accounts had recent match histories with far more than the 5 games required to be placed and often had skill significantly beyond the diamond/master league I spent most of the time at.
These people were employed or connected to the company running the game who were outside the matchmaking system interacting with people in the ladder.
#2 - Use an alias, I received significant targeted harassment
When I first played the game 16 years ago I thought someone finding your real life identity from your online information was a joke. So my tag includes my real name.
I was matched with disposable accounts using tags that referred to events and relationships in my real life.
An alias would not completely prevent targeted harassment because of people above the matchmaking system who had information from previous games, but it would help prevent real life references on the ladder and consequences of your actions on the ladder in real life.
#3 - Many people on the ladder will attempt to short circuit your brain
If their brain is too small and diseased to win honestly many players will use mind games starting with their tag to reduce your mental capacity.
These players coincide strongly with "leavers" who quit many games in a row so they can trounce people below their skill level. Think about how easy it is to prevent and what kind of insane worldview the company running SC2 must have to keep that loophole.
#4 - The bonus pool is powerful
I did next to nothing aside from playing SC2 while climbing to master league so my bonus pool was always empty, but if you play less frequently it helps you climb in less time and a lower win/loss ratio.
This helps to maintain an ecosystem of amateur competitive players and incentivizes people to remain loosely connected to the starcraft scene as a part of their life. More of the healthier aspects of players lives filter into SC2.
#5 - The default server setting is "Best Match", change it to your region
I found myself getting matched in less than 2 minutes with people literally on the other side of the world. Playing with that delay is not playing the same game.
#6 - I was commonly matched against the same race many times in a row
Race distribution is heavily skewed toward terran in lower leagues and much more evenly split in higher leagues according to SC2 Pulse. Despite the near even distribution of races at diamond/masters I would commonly match against 5 terrans in a row then 5 protoss in a row. Only once did I play many zergs in a row but it was literally 10 matches.
This is good for hard specific practice, but bad for enjoying the game and developing fundamental skill. I do not know why it appeared to be so nonrandom.
#7 - Capital ships are real strategies now
Battlecruisers and carriers will actually beat you if you are surprised by them on even footing unlike 10 years ago.
#8 - Expect to lose for a while to terran playing a city builder in over 30 minute matches
To conclude,
I won 4 placement games and lost 1 placement against a master league player. I was then placed in silver league. It took me 1600 games to climb to master league, and it was far more difficult than it was 10 years ago when you just had to have one good cheesy strategy for every race and the will to win. Now you have to play as if you are in an endless series. I cannot recommend the starcraft 2 ladder for old or new players.
See you when starcraft 3 comes out!