Competitive Skill Rating System, Good not Perfect

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

So overall, from the few hours that I’ve played the beta, I think it is fun as hell and feels really good to play. I have some issues with it though. First off, the SMG is too strong, they just need to lower its range, that is all and pretty simple enough of a problem.

The main problem I have so far is the Competitive Skill Rating System. I’m glad it is here, it feels good to finally have a proper ranking system in Halo again but the system makes it way too hard to rank up but too easy to rank down. They should at least be balanced out.

For example, I was playing earlier and my team lost a match to people who were all the same rank by just 2 kills so after the match we lost 13 points towards ranking up. The match after that, we played against people who were the same rank as us, we beat them by 16 kills and we only gained 6 points. To top it off, I top scored for my team in both games yet we all lost/received the exact same amount of points towards our next rank. It just doesn’t make sense.

It shouldn’t be the easiest thing to rank up, but I shouldn’t lose 2-3 games worth of progress towards the next rank from wins because I lost one match, especially if it is because my teammates didn’t pick up the slack. Why do I get punished or rewarded just as much as my teammates even though I did significantly better than them?

That is pretty much my only gripe with the beta so far. Overall, the balance feels great, the movement is nice, pretty much everything about it is fun to play. Aside from the CSR, the SMG (which is fun to use because it is OP, it is far too effective at range), and the armor customization screen (it is too dark), I don’t have any problems. Again, this is only from what I have experienced in the first few hours of the game, we will see what else comes up in the future.

I’d like to know what everyone else thinks. Do you guys agree with me, or am I just a huge nob who doesn’t know what he is talking about?

2

I completely agree with the skill rating. I feel because of how it is at the moment, it doesn’t accurately display how good a player is.

3

Yeah I thought the SMG seemed too powerful at range too. Then I used one and realised that at the same range I was comfortable engaging with an AR it literally did nothing. It is a better choice over the AR for the power of it but it does leave you vulnerable against targets past twenty foot or so.

4

Should do 1-50 for each division, for example:

Bronze 1-50
Onyx 1-50

and work your way up!

5

There is one last thing that I want to add to what I don’t like about the ranking system, it seems inaccurate. For example, I won all of my first 10 games to get ranked and ended up with a 11.6 KDA and received a rank of Gold 3 (which isn’t bad). What pisses me off about this is that I have seen people who have won less than 10 games and have a really low KDA but are ranked Onyx 1-3 (I saw someone who only won 5 games, had a 0.2 KDA who was ranked Onyx 2. Yeah a ZERO POINT 2 -Yoinking!- KDA and he was ranked Onyx). It annoys me how I can’t rank up because of my terrible teammates. I generally get top score 4 out of 5 matches and even then I have yet to get a match below a 1.0 KD. I just have some gripes with this rank system is all. I know it is beta, it is just a little annoying when people who are obviously worse somehow get ranked higher.

6

Absolutely agree with you there mate. I find that I am not to bad at halo 5. But I am always getting paired with a team that has players that cannot handle themselves as i can. And before i sound like someone who thinks he is better than everyone else. It must be said. As a skill system represents YOU and how YOU can handle yourself. Not how your team went. So I think that 343 has to make it personal and make the ranking system not factor in wins and losses. Or at least make it so that they don’t penalize you as much as we are penalized for loosing as of now. Maybe like 3 points per loss. I think something like that is fair. Otherwise halo 5: Guardians is amazing so far.

7

Personally I love the idea of a ranking system that is focused on wins. I don’t fully understand this current system (just barley started playing tonight and so far the game feels great) so I can’t fully share my opinion yet.

What kept me playing Halo 2 and 3 was the ranking system. It motivated people to work together and win instead of just getting rewards for arbitrary kills (CoD and Halo 4). That’s just my opinion. I also love the idea that you can lose rank. Makes the game more competitive.

8

No good at all you mean? Really get stuck with an idiot team and you are done. Have not even got to gold yet because I’ll take one step forward and then a bunch back. Ranking needs to be more personal, K/D/A should be what effects your rank. Give some of these idiots a reason not to rush in just to get a kill, only to die a second later.

9

Halo 2 and 3 penalized you for loosing but the equation did take into account if you were the MVP in your team or the handicap for both loosing and winning side. Also, the equation also took into account the rank of the people that you did better than and whom you did worse than.

The issue with Halo 3 was that it was very loose with your first few matches, so goodish people rocketed to 50 and then sold the account. In addition the equation also wanted to lock you into a rank. That cause people to get stuck on a rank that was too low for them. I got stuck at 45 and it would on occasion drop to 44 but then go back up.

Halo 2’s ranking, in my opinion, was too harsh kinda like it is now. If you loose one game you loose 2-3 games worth of wins.

I liked the way halo 3 did the double ranks. You had your skill rank which was linked to playlists. The second rank was a culmination of your wins/quits(+1,-1) + your highest skill rank to award you a rank from private all the way up to General that was displayed across all playlist.

I would like a ranking system that used Halo 3’s overall system but tweaked skill rating.

I would defiantly dislike a skill system based on only KDA because then you get campers in the back getting a few kills a game with no deaths but fail to actually contribute to fights.

10

i like how it is

11

It doesn’t even work half the time. Just a few matches ago I was with my friend and we were Onyx/Pro. We get put with a guy on our team who has never played before and he went 1-15. Why is he allowed to match us? Don’t even get me started on the amount of players I find who haven’t even been put into a division.

12

Agree with all of these comments, the ranking system is completely limited, I’m currently a tier one Onyx with a KDA of 9.5 with like 1050 kills & 500 deaths, yet I seen an Onyx tier two with -3.3 KDA,180 kills & 350 deaths, their win loss wasn’t even good either, not to mention I’ve seen semi-pro tier’s with beyond average & even poor stats, it makes no sense at all.

13

> 2533275023169910;8:
> No good at all you mean? Really get stuck with an idiot team and you are done. Have not even got to gold yet because I’ll take one step forward and then a bunch back. Ranking needs to be more personal, K/D/A should be what effects your rank. Give some of these idiots a reason not to rush in just to get a kill, only to die a second later.

I definitely get where people are coming from being pissed about losing a rank when you go +10 and the rest of your team is a bunch of dumb -Yoinks!-. As I’m writing this I just got out of a loss where one of my teammates went 4 kills on 24 deaths… seriously, negative 20?!? With a 6.6 KDA spread atm I’m not the most skilled player out there, but I should be winning more than losing (or at least winning more than I currently am).

BUT I think the solution to this problem is to party up, not changing the system. Halo has always been great because of teamwork imo. This system motivates people to get together, communicate, and work as a team. If you have a team of 4 skilled players, you’re going to win a lot of matches. Rewarding people for K/D/A that don’t contribute to wins puts the motivation in a different place, and caters to a less competitive environment.

As for the players with -Yoink- KDA who are high ranking, that sounds like something 343 needs to address. That probably shouldn’t be happening.

14

Loving the beta so far. Gameplay is fabulous (loving that B button thrust). However, i have to agree with many of these posts. The current CSR system is not working. I have an 11.0 KDA spread and am about to be demoted to Silver while i see Onyx players that are barely positive. Inaccurate player assessment aside, the current system does not encourage players (who care about their rank) to play with team mates of a lower skill level than them. This makes the game more about winning and less about having fun with your friends (unless all of your friends are halo gods). IMHO, the CSR system would be much better if it was more dependent on an individual players KD/accuracy/medals/etc…

15

K/D:3.0+
KDA: 11.+
Win most of my games

Rank Bronze…Go figure

You have scrubs in onyx and me in Bronze

16

I’m loving it. Even if it isn’t perfect, the thrill of grinding to rank up is back.

17

> 2533274910667203;16:
> I’m loving it. Even if it isn’t perfect, the thrill of grinding to rank up is back.

Grinding…? What game you playin’…The number of randoms either quitting during a match or no skill whatsoever going1 and 15 at best…I’ve had too many to deal with tonite…
SSCHHWAAAKKK 'EM…!

18

I just wanted to put out there that the KDA is not the most accurate, because I saw a guy who 320 something kills and 340 something deaths and his KDA was like a 3.3 which made me mad because my KDA sometimes goes down even when I’m going positive in matches

19

I just think Semi and Pro need to be changed. It’s so effin cheesey. I’m only Gold and will probably never reach Semi or pro but those ranks sound absolutely LAME. Change Semi to Diamond or Plat and make Pro into “spartan” or something. Similar to League of Legends, having the precious medals then a special name for the last rank ex: “Challenger”.

20

> 2533274825701861;19:
> I just think Semi and Pro need to be changed. It’s so effin cheesey. I’m only Gold and will probably never reach Semi or pro but those ranks sound absolutely LAME. Change Semi to Diamond or Plat and make Pro into “spartan” or something. Similar to League of Legends, having the precious medals then a special name for the last rank ex: “Challenger”.

Hmm… That’s kinda cool haha I can already see it in my head
bronze-civilian
silver-recruit
gold-marine
onyx-odst
semipro-Orion project veteran
pro- spartan

i think this would be cool since the skill ranks aren’t really canon, you don’t see in spartan ops or escalation, Spartan 4s going around like “woah, he’s a semi pro”. So I think this is a cool little concept to keep it a little less stale