New puzzle algorithm = slot machine…

Did they sacrifice serious rating evaluation for the sake of keeping players playing like in a slot machine…? It’s the same philosophy as player’s league, with those “tiers” to advance. And I get it, it’s fun to play advancing levels. But here this seems to have devalued completely the puzzles ratings of players. With the user being able to choose difficulty, and always getting 5 rating points for solving easy puzzles, players ratings feel now kinda useless. As already many people noted, they only reflect how much time you spent playing, not your ability.

Edit: Maybe the ratings do balance out in the end at higher ratings. Remains to be seen. Although it does feel a little odd to let players choose difficulty and have them in the same leaderboard. I get that theoretically ratings should balance by losing many points if you fail to solve a much lowered rated puzzle than your current rating and not so many points when the puzzle is closer to or higher than your rating. Still feels it’s simply easier (although more boring) to get a higher rating by playing easier puzzles (with difficulty set as Standard, instead of Hard or Extra Hard).

I agree with you about the slot machine part, but I disagree with what you are saying about lower rated players. You completely ignored the fact that lower rated players get also the harsh minus points & ignored the fact that people can get better with practice aka doing a lot of puzzles.

My biggest problem with puzzles is not seeing the target objectives (I use mobile). That would help a lot.

My rating has been stuck between 2100-2300 soon for a whole round of the tier system. It does really feel like a slot machine at this point so that comparison is correct.
I first got 2300 on Crystal level (that felt great, but now it is just getting repetitive) and soon I am back to Crystal with almost the same rating. Basically it makes me want to stop when I get to exactly 2300 because I am afraid of loosing it again. Last time I was stuck it was between 1100-1300, so it seems to happen every 1000 for me at least.

Also last round the bug that adds extra points that cause the level step to loop started at Elite level so I am switching to the classic version after Crystal just in case it isn't fixed by now (if I feel like continuing, doing puzzles is getting so frustrating).

@DareTower, you should try Puzzle Rush instead. Very well thought over, much more enjoyable experience, and the results do correlate to your abilities.

Thanks for the tip, I will try that out! I have tried it before but I kind of forgot about it. I think it is a good time to stop doing the normal puzzles. I got 2300 elo back and the bug is also back in Crystal level making the steps loop.

I'm hoping to incorporate what I have learned by doing all those puzzles in future chess games. The only minus point is that every time I have done puzzles it affects my speed negatively in bullet because I start to think harder about my moves. Bullet is easier when you don't think too much and just move. Slower speed matches tend to make me feel tired. I'm not a fan of those, but if I can stay awake I would like to get better at those too.

But yeah puzzle rush is a fun idea after all those puzzles!