The way the ladder is set up just doesn't allow all players to rise to the top quickly. I won my first contest, however, my opponent has lost nearly every one his so therefore my rating is in the 1200s, in order to improve my rating I must continue to beat people that I am matched up against, however, you get matched up with people around your ranking so I'll be playing people with poor ratings too. How am I supposed to move up in the rankings if I keep playing poor competition?

On the other hand, people just starting can get matched up against higher ranked opponents and lose and have a rating over 1500 just doesn't make any sense.

I understand the ladder will fix adjust itself over time, but I think something needs to be done to fix how someone with a undefeated record could possible have rating much below 1500, and thus claw themselves to the top which will take a lot of time.

Sorry those last couple of statements didn't make much sense. I meant to say that someone who is undefeated must continually beat poor opponents and s a result their rating will barely rise, and if they happen to lose one they are screwed as it will count against them much more than if they lose to someone near the top of the ladder.

Anyways, I just won another match to move me to 2-0 and hopefully I will move up. :)

I agree it doesn't place you "quickly" - it will take probably a week at least before the rankings have any meaning at all. The ladder has been around for less than 48 hours - I know we're all excited about it and want to see everything happen right away, but unfortunately it requires time to pan out.

The good news is that the algorithm won't keep pairing you with low-ranking players. It prefers not to pair you with players you've played before, so long-term the problem you describe won't be an issue - you'll eventually play everyone near you and you'll get matches against higher players.

Oh okay, thanks for the clarification.