As a lot of people have hit SR 130 and are wanting more ranks, I’ve come up with an idea that I think is pretty good. Basically, after you hit 130, you move up into officer ranks (like Reach and 3). There could be a Sergeant specialization all the way up to a General specialization. 343 could adjust the XP to whatever they want in order to make it progressively difficult, make it a full 10 level specialization or just one level, they could add in sublevels (ex. 2nd and 1st Class Lieutenant), and basically customize it the way they want. And to make this easier for them, the reward at the end of each officer specialization could be just the insignia to use as an in-game emblem. Of course, 343 could elaborate on this (like give a helmet reward at general of something) if they wanted to. They could even make it so you have to be a CSR greater than 35 or so to be a General. In addition, these ranks would be fairly realistic, because after graduating the Spartan-IV program some Spartans would certainly go on to the officer ranks. The other good thing is that 343 could elaborate on this as much as they want too: They could simple add the new levels and a few emblems in, or add in more if the wanted.
So what does everyone think? Is this a good and/or feasible idea?
I’ve never liked progression ranks. They don’t tell me anything about the player and are therefore useless. Skill ranks are the way to go.
Halo 3 had the best of both worlds: a skill rank that tied into a progression rank. Your progression rank could go up just by playing more games, but it could go up even higher by getting a higher skill rank.
With the addition of CSR, 343 could do something similar if they did decide to add more ranks.
I’m all for changing the 1-130 ranks. I like the idea of ranks but only if they’re made up of various components. A 1-50 or Recruit:Reclaimer rank is too two-dimensional. So much goes into a game, why not represent the entire breadth of a players skill?
I propose something with multiple components.
Arbitrary example: multi-letter (or number) rank.
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Each letter represents your skill in a particular aspect of the game.
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They grade out A through F, with A meaning you’re at the top of the class and F meaning you’re… well, not.
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Some components could be: slayer, objective, weapons mastery, vehicle mastery, CQC, ranged combat, etc etc. The possibilities are endless.
So, using that example, a rank of AFBC means you’re great a slayer, terrible/not applicable at objective, decent with a variety of weapons, and not the best vehicle gamer.
You could add progression in to the mix so it’s not so bland. first time players start out as Recruit/FFFF or something.