This game is not even fun anymore searching MM, you just match teams of smurfs. I wouldnt mind playing vs smurfs if the teams were around the same ranks. All it takes is one smurf gold on their fireteam and they get an easy win because everyone else on the other team somehow ends up being the same rank as the lowest rank on their fireteam.
Yea this is exactly why most of my friends and myself have changed to just playing Super Fiesta and Warzone.
I never touch the Ranked playlist or anything close to traditional halo due to the amount of smurfs ruining the competitive games for anyone who isnt onyx or champion.
Fighting 2 champions, a bronze, and a diamond when YOUR WHOLE TEAM IS GOLD is just aweful.
I really like 4v4 gametypes like HCS but its so frustrating. I wouldnt mind smurfs if they werent playing on a lower rank than they should be. Like an onyx playing on a smurf gold account then people who solo Q like myself get put into teams where some players are lower ranked and the smurfs have easy games boosting their friends.
I’ve been considering making a thread like this for a few days. The amount of smurfs playing the ranked playlist right now is absurd. It is incredibly frustrating to lose massive amounts of CSR to players that have tricked the game into thinking they are at a lower skill level then they really are. I don’t have any motivation to play ranked anymore which is really sad because I used to be incredibly passionate about it.
I completely understand there is no way to complete “smurf-proof” a game, but I wish they would at least try. Something as simple as not allowing players below the level 50 play ranked playlists would help immensely. Halo 5 is already pretty late in it’s lifespan, so it really wouldn’t effect all that many players. It honestly amazes me that Halo 5 was marketed as a highly competitive game. It has a awful lot of noncompetitive features for a “competitive game”.
Seriously thinking about taking one for the team and going out and gathering some actual data. Giving an opinion is great, but actual proof goes a lot farther.
It is very frustrating for sure, but don’t uninstall it. Josh has been saying there is a fix coming just hang in there for that. I like the 4v4 too, but I have been playing other modes lately. It kind of gives a boost in morale to get away from that for a bit.
> 2533274950162674;4:
> I’ve been considering making a thread like this for a few days. The amount of smurfs playing the ranked playlist right now is absurd. It is incredibly frustrating to lose massive amounts of CSR to players that have tricked the game into thinking they are at a lower skill level then they really are. I don’t have any motivation to play ranked anymore which is really sad because I used to be incredibly passionate about it.
>
> I completely understand there is no way to complete “smurf-proof” a game, but I wish they would at least try. Something as simple as not allowing players below the level 50 play ranked playlists would help immensely. Halo 5 is already pretty late in it’s lifespan, so it really wouldn’t effect all that many players. It honestly amazes me that Halo 5 was marketed as a highly competitive game. It has a awful lot of noncompetitive features for a “competitive game”.
I mean matching people based on the highest rank in their fireteam would help. Instead it seems they get matched based on that fake gold account they have running with them.
> 2533274950162674;4:
> I’ve been considering making a thread like this for a few days. The amount of smurfs playing the ranked playlist right now is absurd. It is incredibly frustrating to lose massive amounts of CSR to players that have tricked the game into thinking they are at a lower skill level then they really are. I don’t have any motivation to play ranked anymore which is really sad because I used to be incredibly passionate about it.
>
> I completely understand there is no way to complete “smurf-proof” a game, but I wish they would at least try. Something as simple as not allowing players below the level 50 play ranked playlists would help immensely. Halo 5 is already pretty late in it’s lifespan, so it really wouldn’t effect all that many players. It honestly amazes me that Halo 5 was marketed as a highly competitive game. It has a awful lot of noncompetitive features for a “competitive game”.
>
> Seriously thinking about taking one for the team and going out and gathering some actual data. Giving an opinion is great, but actual proof goes a lot harder.
I’ll be willing to tank my ranks to help you with data if need be. Shoot me a message.
Halo games have always been my favorite, but man are people making it hard to enjoy. I dont remember smurfs being this much of a problem in older halos ever.
Honestly I think the whole ranking system is flawed. I dont play ranked much but when I do, I range from gold 2 sometimes to gold 6. In team doubles and team arena I’ll get matched with some platinums and absolutely wreck them. Why am I still gold if I can easily hold my own against platinums let alone golds?
Im ranked Plat right now 
and i wreck legit plants but lose to smurf plats so im stuck at that rank.
> 2533274863544717;5:
> It is very frustrating for sure, but don’t uninstall it. Josh has been saying there is a fix coming just hang in there for that.
I wouldn’t count on it happening any time soon. I remember a few months ago he was talking about his new matching system implying that it was gonna be released soon and then recently he’s been saying it’s gonna be a long time from now. Now that he’s helping with the weapon tuning, HCS and I imagine H6, I think he’s being spread too thin.
Same. I’m an Onyx in slayer, and currently grinding for Champion. It’s so frustrating when I play a champ-level player when they are on a platinum level smurf and I lose.
The amount of CSR that I lose from a situation like this is insane.
> 2535409649744584;9:
> Honestly I think the whole ranking system is flawed. I dont play ranked much but when I do, I range from gold 2 sometimes to gold 6. In team doubles and team arena I’ll get matched with some platinums and absolutely wreck them. Why am I still gold if I can easily hold my own against platinums let alone golds?
It is because you don’t play much ranked. Since the new rankings remember ranks from the past season you have to just grind it out. If you really don’t deserve gold you should be able to get out of it fairly quickly.
> 2535431933064458;13:
> > 2535409649744584;9:
> > Honestly I think the whole ranking system is flawed. I dont play ranked much but when I do, I range from gold 2 sometimes to gold 6. In team doubles and team arena I’ll get matched with some platinums and absolutely wreck them. Why am I still gold if I can easily hold my own against platinums let alone golds?
>
> It is because you don’t play much ranked. Since the new rankings remember ranks from the past season you have to just grind it out. If you really don’t deserve gold you should be able to get out of it fairly quickly.
Ah makes sense. Fortunately for the golds I only play ranked when BTB or infection playlists decide to lag out and I can’t find a match so ranked golds will be spared my wrath for the most part haha.
Could people be smurfing due to the heavy aim phenomenon? If they do then it’s perfectly warranted in my opinion…
> 2535409649744584;14:
> > 2535431933064458;13:
> > > 2535409649744584;9:
> > > Honestly I think the whole ranking system is flawed. I dont play ranked much but when I do, I range from gold 2 sometimes to gold 6. In team doubles and team arena I’ll get matched with some platinums and absolutely wreck them. Why am I still gold if I can easily hold my own against platinums let alone golds?
> >
> > It is because you don’t play much ranked. Since the new rankings remember ranks from the past season you have to just grind it out. If you really don’t deserve gold you should be able to get out of it fairly quickly.
>
> Ah makes sense. Fortunately for the golds I only play ranked when BTB or infection playlists decide to lag out and I can’t find a match so ranked golds will be spared my wrath for the most part haha.
>
> Could people be smurfing due to the heavy aim phenomenon? If they do then it’s perfectly warranted in my opinion…
I feel if heavy aim is the problem ( which I have suffered with for most of this games life / has been vastly improved but still unplayable at times ) then your correct it’s justified. The advice we even got on these forums from 343 ( I forget who specifically ) was to create a smurf account. But now it’s clearly not because of this . The main chat of late has been about long wait times to find games and the poor mm in general so it’s of no surprise . Smurfs / which has always been quite a large problem is now a pandemic. I must admit I’ve given up on arena totally for now . The overtime update filled with buggy problems has made for me a already glitchy game more so. Ranked arena is just no fun like that. The whole ranking system needs an overhaul and I agree totally when your an average to good player and you come up against a team of smurfs getting team shotted instantly of spawn and totally destroyed is no fun . Then usually someone quits out so even if your making a decent fight of it then it becomes futile. The last time I played arena ( team arena ) 8 out of the 10 placement matches someone quit out so I ranked low , I’m usually mid to low diamond after placement matches nowadays I then played some games with genuine gold players and destroyed them ( so no fun for them ) but then also came up against teams of smurfs throughout so my rank didn’t progress quickly so I kept playing some more genuine golds ,plats for ages destroying them so ultimately no fun for anyone. Not for me , not for the genuine ranks ( maybe for the smurf onyx / champs but I bet they would rather find games on their main account. ) So ultimately for me playing solo in arena is no fun anymore, which is such a shame because when you do have those games of equally matched teams win or lose I really enjoy.
Too bad you cannot enjoy your favorite game mode. I have not been in those play lists since the emblem stopped, but I feel for you.
Warzone is starting to make me think of uninstalling. Played 3 games today, and got team killed in all of them.
I know these aren’t smurfs, but these players that run over other players and ruin others games are killing me more than the enemies in the games.
Its really starting to get to me, that’s why I’m here complaining if anything.
In my last game, round 4, I jumped off my sparrow to pick up some grenades and another player jumped on my sparrow lined me up and ran me over…
Every -Yoinking!- game…
A team killer…
I know they’ve re done the balance and the game is really good, its just such a shame about the community that plays it…
> 2535473388643231;15:
> > 2535409649744584;14:
> > > 2535431933064458;13:
> > > > 2535409649744584;9:
> > > > Honestly I think the whole ranking system is flawed. I dont play ranked much but when I do, I range from gold 2 sometimes to gold 6. In team doubles and team arena I’ll get matched with some platinums and absolutely wreck them. Why am I still gold if I can easily hold my own against platinums let alone golds?
> > >
> > > It is because you don’t play much ranked. Since the new rankings remember ranks from the past season you have to just grind it out. If you really don’t deserve gold you should be able to get out of it fairly quickly.
> >
> > Ah makes sense. Fortunately for the golds I only play ranked when BTB or infection playlists decide to lag out and I can’t find a match so ranked golds will be spared my wrath for the most part haha.
> >
> > Could people be smurfing due to the heavy aim phenomenon? If they do then it’s perfectly warranted in my opinion…
>
> I feel if heavy aim is the problem ( which I have suffered with for most of this games life / has been vastly improved but still unplayable at times ) then your correct it’s justified. The advice we even got on these forums from 343 ( I forget who specifically ) was to create a smurf account.
Wait, how does a Smurf help with Heavy Aim? And wasn’t there an update to deal with this anyway?
I try to stay up on what 343 posts here with Josh posting the most. I don’t recall him ever suggesting or stating outright that one should make a Smurf account to deal with long wait time, but he did mention that instead of running with a full team with a high MMR that either picking up a random or teaming up with a lower MMR friend might help with the wait times.
> 2727626560040591;11:
> > 2533274863544717;5:
> > It is very frustrating for sure, but don’t uninstall it. Josh has been saying there is a fix coming just hang in there for that.
>
> I wouldn’t count on it happening any time soon. I remember a few months ago he was talking about his new matching system implying that it was gonna be released soon and then recently he’s been saying it’s gonna be a long time from now. Now that he’s helping with the weapon tuning, HCS and I imagine H6, I think he’s being spread too thin.
I didn’t think he was actually working in all of these different areas, but just keeping us in the loop of what’s been happening. But, yeah, there seems to be quite a delay in some of the changes he’s been talking about them working on. I am looking forward to the Smurf fix as well as some fixes to the MMR.
> 2533274916419189;17:
> Warzone is starting to make me think of uninstalling. Played 3 games today, and got team killed in all of them.
> I know these aren’t smurfs, but these players that run over other players and ruin others games are killing me more than the enemies in the games.
> Its really starting to get to me, that’s why I’m here complaining if anything.
> In my last game, round 4, I jumped off my sparrow to pick up some grenades and another player jumped on my sparrow lined me up and ran me over…
> Every -Yoinking!- game…
> A team killer…
>
> I know they’ve re done the balance and the game is really good, its just such a shame about the community that plays it…
Sparrow? There’s no vehicle in Halo 5 called a Sparrow.
Ya second accounts aka smurf accounts, are a problem in Halo 5. I see them a lot too. I also think rank resets aren’t helping things either. You also have high ranking players who can’t find anyone at times so they make new accounts. Unfortunately with Xbox live policies being as they are as well, that doesn’t help matters either.
I definitely think something like you can’t play ranked until your x level will help things, but other then that I’m not sure how to solve this situation to be honest. It’s a hard one.