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Stats Tables Don't Add Up


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#1 Alphaeus

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Posted 06 December 2017 - 12:04 PM

So, in another post I pointed out to new Mechwarriors that they can develop their play skills and track their progress using the stats pages on their profile (see point 5 of this forum post). There's just one problem: the numbers on the stats pages on MWO website profile don't add up.

Study Method

I copied all of the text on my Mech Stats page, pasted it into a text editor, copied it from there and pasted it into MS Excel for analysis; no values changed, only formatting was removed.

I cleaned up the data (I have no idea where the Time Played column came from, but it's always wrong so I remove it when I do this analysis), including reducing the 'mechs listed in the 'Mech column to just their 'mech codes (e.g., "KDK-SB" for my Kodiak Spirit Bear, etc.).

Findings

My first inclination is to audit the totals that appear on the Base Stats page of my profile, since I look at those stats regularly. I totaled up all my wins and all my losses... annnd then I discovered that somewhere my stats are incorrect: the wins and losses listed on the Base Stats page don't add up to the same number of wins and losses listed next to the 'mechs listed on my 'Mech Stats page. My win/loss ratio number on my 'Mech Stats page added up to 2317/2840 (81.58%). (I know; I sorta suck. But I love the game, though, and I'm sure I'd be better at it if I weren't playing on a dated HP laptop.) On my Base Stats page that number appeared as 2312/2795 (82.72%). Basically, the Base Stats page is inflating my win/loss ratio just slightly because it's missing some wins and some losses. If you're doing the math, you've noticed by now that the Base Stats page isn't accounting for 50 matches that I've played (total of wins and losses on Base Stats page is 5107; on the 'Mech Stats page it's 5157).

More perplexing still is the fact that on the 'Mech Stats page my wins and losses don't add up to the total in the Matches Played column for some 27 of the 76 Battlemechs I've piloted. I can't decide if I'm missing Matches Played or if I'm missing wins and losses. The total of all of the Matches Played across all 'mechs I've piloted is 5209; the total of all wins and losses for all 'mechs I've piloted is 5157; and the total of my wins and losses listed on the Base Stats page is 5107. WHICH IS IT??

I'll get to why this matters, but first I have to point out that there's also slippage in my XP earnings stats. My Base Stats page says I've earned 4,171,643 XP since I started playing MWO; the total of all XP earned across all 'mechs I've piloted, as listed on the 'Mech Stats page, is 4,245,380. This means that, based on my Base Stats total of matches played and my Base Stats wins and losses numbers my Base Stats Avg. XP Per Match number is correct. One of my goals is to drive this number above 1,000. The problem is, the Base Stats numbers look incomplete, which means that, depending on which total match number and total XP number we used, I'm averaging anywhere from 800 XP per match to 831 XP per match. Again, WHICH IS IT??

Implications

Here's the problem. When the website doesn't report accurate stats, players who have spent MC or cash for Champion 'Mechs can't tell if their 'mechs are actually earning the advertised extra XP. Also, the website doesn't even report C-Bills earned by 'mech on the 'Mech Stats page, so I have no idea whether my Hero 'Mechs, Loyalty Variants, and Special Variants are actually earning 30% more C-Bills than non-Hero/Loyalty/Specialty 'mechs of the same chassis. How can we make play decisions--and in MWO, those amount to purchasing decisions--if we can't be sure we're getting the results we want??

And this is to say nothing of the stats' use as ranking metrics. If some 50 or 100 or my matches are just not accounted for in my Base Stats, how do I know that I'm being ranked correctly when there's competition play or a leaderboard event?

Conclusion

The up-shot is this: MWO/Battletech is a 'crunchy' game cosmos; that's why many of us love it. PGI knows that, which is why we get new 'mechs' loadout stats well before the early adopter deadlines, why there is so much data available about our gameplay, and why the UI of the game includes so many popups full of info on damage totals, discharge times, heat points, etc. If we can't trust our stats pages, how do we know whether the game is working the way it should be?

Please fix this, or at least explain the squiffy numbers.

#2 Arend

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Posted 09 December 2017 - 12:28 AM

View PostAlphaeus, on 06 December 2017 - 12:04 PM, said:

So, in another post I pointed out to new Mechwarriors that they can develop their play skills and track their progress using the stats pages on their profile (see point 5 of this forum post). There's just one problem: the numbers on the stats pages on MWO website profile don't add up.

Study Method

I copied all of the text on my Mech Stats page, pasted it into a text editor, copied it from there and pasted it into MS Excel for analysis; no values changed, only formatting was removed.

I cleaned up the data (I have no idea where the Time Played column came from, but it's always wrong so I remove it when I do this analysis), including reducing the 'mechs listed in the 'Mech column to just their 'mech codes (e.g., "KDK-SB" for my Kodiak Spirit Bear, etc.).

Findings

My first inclination is to audit the totals that appear on the Base Stats page of my profile, since I look at those stats regularly. I totaled up all my wins and all my losses... annnd then I discovered that somewhere my stats are incorrect: the wins and losses listed on the Base Stats page don't add up to the same number of wins and losses listed next to the 'mechs listed on my 'Mech Stats page. My win/loss ratio number on my 'Mech Stats page added up to 2317/2840 (81.58%). (I know; I sorta suck. But I love the game, though, and I'm sure I'd be better at it if I weren't playing on a dated HP laptop.) On my Base Stats page that number appeared as 2312/2795 (82.72%). Basically, the Base Stats page is inflating my win/loss ratio just slightly because it's missing some wins and some losses. If you're doing the math, you've noticed by now that the Base Stats page isn't accounting for 50 matches that I've played (total of wins and losses on Base Stats page is 5107; on the 'Mech Stats page it's 5157).

More perplexing still is the fact that on the 'Mech Stats page my wins and losses don't add up to the total in the Matches Played column for some 27 of the 76 Battlemechs I've piloted. I can't decide if I'm missing Matches Played or if I'm missing wins and losses. The total of all of the Matches Played across all 'mechs I've piloted is 5209; the total of all wins and losses for all 'mechs I've piloted is 5157; and the total of my wins and losses listed on the Base Stats page is 5107. WHICH IS IT??

I'll get to why this matters, but first I have to point out that there's also slippage in my XP earnings stats. My Base Stats page says I've earned 4,171,643 XP since I started playing MWO; the total of all XP earned across all 'mechs I've piloted, as listed on the 'Mech Stats page, is 4,245,380. This means that, based on my Base Stats total of matches played and my Base Stats wins and losses numbers my Base Stats Avg. XP Per Match number is correct. One of my goals is to drive this number above 1,000. The problem is, the Base Stats numbers look incomplete, which means that, depending on which total match number and total XP number we used, I'm averaging anywhere from 800 XP per match to 831 XP per match. Again, WHICH IS IT??

Implications

Here's the problem. When the website doesn't report accurate stats, players who have spent MC or cash for Champion 'Mechs can't tell if their 'mechs are actually earning the advertised extra XP. Also, the website doesn't even report C-Bills earned by 'mech on the 'Mech Stats page, so I have no idea whether my Hero 'Mechs, Loyalty Variants, and Special Variants are actually earning 30% more C-Bills than non-Hero/Loyalty/Specialty 'mechs of the same chassis. How can we make play decisions--and in MWO, those amount to purchasing decisions--if we can't be sure we're getting the results we want??

And this is to say nothing of the stats' use as ranking metrics. If some 50 or 100 or my matches are just not accounted for in my Base Stats, how do I know that I'm being ranked correctly when there's competition play or a leaderboard event?

Conclusion

The up-shot is this: MWO/Battletech is a 'crunchy' game cosmos; that's why many of us love it. PGI knows that, which is why we get new 'mechs' loadout stats well before the early adopter deadlines, why there is so much data available about our gameplay, and why the UI of the game includes so many popups full of info on damage totals, discharge times, heat points, etc. If we can't trust our stats pages, how do we know whether the game is working the way it should be?

Please fix this, or at least explain the squiffy numbers.


The Problem is, that under Mech Stats, Quikplay, Factionplay and Scouting is countet for the Stats of the Mechs, but Base Stats and Leaderboards counts only Quikplay!





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