Introduction

Disclaimer: Please note that these stats or their terminology are not officially defined or created by Neopets, Inc. or The Neopets Team.

Some of you may have noticed the (new) information we have added to the Global Predictions page. As the Cup gets more and more crowded with teams, we have opted to transmit more than our predictions about a team's performance this year. As such, and after quite some deep analysis of each team's past performances, we have come up with a series of categories in which each team is rated.

Note: A team will only be rated in all of these categories after it has participated in a full Altador Cup season.

Overall Annual Ranking

This is probably the most important category. Here we take each team's final position from past years (since AC II) and create a team mean (their Average Annual Ranking). The teams are then sorted according to their Average Annual Ranking, and their Overall Annual Ranking is assigned based on their position in this sorted list. Any ties are broken according to the following rules.

The rules for tie-breaking (where a tie is defined as two means distanced by less than or equal to 0.5) are as follows (ordered by priority):

  1. The team that has ranked the highest in the past will be ranked higher;
  2. The team that has better consistency throughout the years regarding final positions (e.g. 4th, 4th, 6th, 3rd) will be ranked higher than the team with less consistency (2nd, 3rd, 8th, 10th);
  3. The team with the higher mean will be ranked higher.
  4. If there really is no other way to differentiate two teams, they will be sorted alphabetically.

Fan base

The fan base is the playing core of a team, and refers to the amount of supporters (either active or freeloaders) that are part of that team. Due to unknown exact stats, our fan base rating has a scale ranging from small to huge, explained below:

  • Small - A small supporter base means that a team has a substantially low amount of players and thus is most likely to be swept. However, this could also mean a team is closer-knit, and able to produce better results. It is also at the lower end of the popularity scale;
  • Medium - A medium supporter base usually represents a team ranging from low tier 2 to tier 5. A medium fan base team usually is less popular than a powerhouse, but us still perfectly capable of attracting good, hard-working members;
  • Large - Usually this tier represents high tier 2 teams, and some tier 1 teams. A large team has enough members to easily defy a huge team and possibly cause a surprise upset. Most of the time they aren't considered title-contenders, although some of these teams are perfectly capable of taking the top spot;
  • Huge - A team with a huge supporter base is a very strong contender for the title and the top 2 spots. They are also extremely popular.

Sportsmanship

This is where a team shines off the pitch. A mannerly and polite team will earn themselves respect from others, whilst a basher-ridden one will generally be looked down upon, even if it is excellent on the field. This rating is slightly distinct in name, ranging from Troll to Outstanding.

  • Troll - No team actually has this rating unless they go into a flurry of public bashing beyond all end;
  • Dreadful - Like Troll, it is also very difficult for a team to have this. They would need some serious bad-mouthing;
  • Poor - This rating is more common than the bottom two, and is representative of a team whose supporters aren't (most of the times) very polite about what they publicly say in a forum towards others, and have continued to moderately and randomly bash others. Either that or possessing bad reputation overall;
  • Average - An average team is one that has had and still has its fair share of bashers, but aren't that serious to cause a 'Poor' rating, or just quite spontaneously say something provocative against others. Some powerhouses usually fall into this category after fame gets to their heads;
  • Exceeds Expectations - An EE team usually has a very good slice of good and polite members, with probably very few ever making some kind of negative impact on others. Most of the teams fall under this category (usually stronger teams though);
  • Outstanding - This is what all teams should strive to be: near impeccable. Most of the time, to compensate for their small supporter base and poor results, lower-ranked teams have the best sportsmanship, which is justifiable due to their tight-knit community that are quite welcoming. For a powerhouse to earn this title is something worthy to see.

YYB/SS/MSN/SOSD Skill

Here are the approximate ranking levels for all the sports (including side games). Since we adjust our rankings based on the general performance of all the tournament teams in each sport, these may not be entirely accurate.

  • Terrible - It takes a lot of effort (or none at all) to achieve this rating. This is only awarded to a team who failed completely at that determined sport (achieving no wins whatsoever);
  • Very Low - This rating represents that a team has managed to win/draw a few games in that sport, but still is considered very bad and will fall to nearly all opponents;
  • Low - A Low ranking means a team can achieve some decent results in that sport, but on average lose most of the time;
  • Average - Not bad, but room for improvement here. Usually has a balanced ratio of wins/draws/losses;
  • Good - A team with this rating is superior to the average and worthy of respect. They aren't amazing, but manage well;
  • Very Good - Near perfection here, probably with only a bit more than 5 losses in that sport;
  • Excellent - Dominance and usually called champions of this sport. Very few, if any, losses.

Please note that the overall skill is an average of all the sports ratings. It does not include fan base and sportsmanship, those are evaluated separately.