I am liking the idea more and more of having anonymous ladder, like you don't know who you are playing and they don't know who they are playing. Takes away me knowing I "should be" winning/losing against opponent, just allows me to focus on the game.

I've already made a post and I wanted to come back and add one more point. A big reason I don't play as much ladder is because the queue is totally dead at some times of the day for me. Like there is only an 8 hour range where I can find games consistently at my rating level, and this is during the middle of the day for me, where it is really difficult for me to find time to play.

I know I'm late to the party but since I'm mainly a ladder player I thought it would be good to give my opinions on this.
I'm about 1700 ladder 1600 global.

As far as BOs go, I strongly agree with @ThomasHiatt and @FtXCommando that BOs aren't the problem in ladder, and are mainly used as an excuse. I've never made a BO for ladder and most other players, even higher level than me, aren't sweating over them except for tournaments. We just know when to build a few more pgens when there's reclaim, ect. and how the maps play out.

Some things that keep me from playing ladder more are:
The obvious 1 on 1 aspect, I only have myself to blame. (Not Fixable)

The extreme mental taxation of managing everything after a tiring day. (Not Fixable)

Biggest Issue I always get the same player when searching multiple games in a row, I assume this is just because they are the only one in my range searching. Can be very discouraging when losing 5+ games in a row because they are around 200-300 points higher and I usually quit playing after 1-3 losses in a row to clearly better players. (Maybe fixable?)

The lack of players on queue and extreme wait times, I can’t see if they are in my rating range (Somewhat Fixable) (Implement Thomas Hiatt’s Python Client Suggestion)

Signing up if i qualify, 1557 ladder

Yeah the mapgen settings don't seem to work well at all for me, like I've put plateaus on minimum and there's still 6 plateaus, I think its busted. I typically don't like mapgen in ladder 1v1 because it creates maps that are so basic. Like 1000 mex on each player's side with no contested mexes, why would I fight until after 30 mins? The reclaim can also feel all or nothing, I either get like 400 reclaim on map or 50,000. Basically I like maps with balance to mex positioning and reclaim, which mapgen does a poor job at.

Signing up. 1600 global 1600 1v1 (My username is Glassy, lemme change that)

I prefer the old better. Like the cybran t3 land hq and the aeon one looked pretty badass before.

Same

Yeah I have the same problem

I keep getting the login screen and then an error. Or am I banned lol?

I don't use the alpha client. Believe it is every time but I'll make sure to pay more attention to confirm that @jusbeginning

When I queue for tmm and then decide I want to unqueue so I can watch a replay/join a global game, it says I am still queued even when I'm not. I have to refaf every time which isn't too bad but was wondering if anyone else had this problem and knows a fix.

Because farms is always serious @Penguin_ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I've already made a post and I wanted to come back and add one more point. A big reason I don't play as much ladder is because the queue is totally dead at some times of the day for me. Like there is only an 8 hour range where I can find games consistently at my rating level, and this is during the middle of the day for me, where it is really difficult for me to find time to play.

I watched the replay you gave and you start your spam before you get a couple t2 mex up. Try to delay those tanks at the beginning of a team game on most maps because they usually aren't worth it, you'd rather just spend the mass you spent on the factory and tanks on more economy.

Those early tanks aren't really useful because its hard to raid on that map and the acus are so strong they can counter them pretty easily for free.

Dark blue has a pretty big boost mid game when he pushes your t2 commander back before he can get enough t2 pds up to counter the gun com. He kills a bunch of tanks and structures in mid, allowing him to scoop more reclaim and pump his eco harder. He is also able to raid the few expansion mexes you have, which makes it impossible for you to get ahead of him from there.

I suggest watching Zockyzock's lessons he gave a long time ago to different players, he is one of the GOATs of FAF and is really good at explaining his reasoning for why to do things in the game. They are old videos, but the principles he teaches still apply.

Hope this helped a bit, here's the link to his channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ZockyZock

I am liking the idea more and more of having anonymous ladder, like you don't know who you are playing and they don't know who they are playing. Takes away me knowing I "should be" winning/losing against opponent, just allows me to focus on the game.