the servers do their best to connect us to players within our region based on IP addresses, CSR, and MMR. Can a MAC address be a part of these search parameters?
example: Richard Cheese has obtained onyx a few times in different seasons. Richard Cheese decides playing against high-level players isn’t fun anymore, so he signs into smurf account Joe Blow. But, when he starts searching for a game with the smurf account the server sees the MAC address within the TCP/IP packets and says "wait this MAC address is associated with a primary halo account Richard Cheese (this would be set up when we first buy the game) and Richard has a high CSR/MMR; therefore you will be matched to these players.
This wouldn’t stop players with multiple Xboxs, or someone capable of spoofing a MAC address, but it might stop people from using multiple accounts to wreck low-level players.
I understand one reason why people use smurf accounts is to avoid long search times at the onyx/champion level, but that’s a different issue regarding population levels.
Not sure if this would work. I figure if the servers can record/register everything we do within a game, why not pay attention to the MAC address as well.
Thoughts? Is this possible? Would it wreak havoc on the servers creating longer wait times?
One thing comes to mind, my wife plays on my XBOX one, and is nowhere near my level. She would be stomped on. I don’t think that would be fair to her.
I like your way of approaching the problem!
What about if you’re at a friend’s place (a friend who is much better/worse than you at Halo) and you load your profile on their Xbox and start playing Halo 5? You’re using their MAC address but neither profile is a smurf.
Hypothetical, of course, but these are the kinds of things that have to be considered before introducing major change into the system. Do the proposed changes do more harm than good?
What if it’s another family member or friend that’s playing on the new account? Wouldn’t really be fair to them or their team if they’re low skilled and get put in a high ranking match.
> 2535433238497925;2:
> > 2533274817408735;3:
> > What about if you’re at a friend’s place (a friend who is much better/worse than you at Halo) and you load your profile on their Xbox and start playing Halo 5? You’re using their MAC address but neither profile is a smurf.
> >
> > Hypothetical, of course, but these are the kinds of things that have to be considered before introducing major change into the system. Do the proposed changes do more harm than good?
>
> One thing comes to mind, my wife plays on my XBOX one, and is nowhere near my level. She would be stomped on. I don’t think that would be fair to her.
> I like your way of approaching the problem!
These are valid points.
In the days of Halo 2, deranking was a huge issue. Bungie was able to figure that out without destroying the system. Smurfing is a different animal.
Maybe instead of using CSR and MMR we only use one. Or maybe matchmaking is determined by overall k/d for that particular playlist. I’ve seen accounts with negative 2,000 k/d in slayer and they’re diamonds because they play in parties and win a lot. Then they solo queue and get destroyed.
So what if rank was solely dependent on k/d? I guess that would bring back deranking but make it so suicides don’t affect k/d. Neither does quitting.
I dont know. I’m just spit balling. I love halo, and play a lot of solo queue. It’s annoying to be an onyx rank and get matched with negative k/d accounts, and/or smurfs on the opposing team.
I already provided a solution. Silver accounts must complete the campaign in normal or higher difficulty before playing matchmaking. New to Halo? Use this as an opportunity to learn the controls. It should discourage smurf spam.
> 2533274806559198;6:
> I already provided a solution. Silver accounts must complete the campaign in normal or higher difficulty before playing matchmaking. New to Halo? Use this as an opportunity to learn the controls. It should discourage smurf spam.
I’ve never played the campaign all the way through, and attained onyx through solo queue in the slayer playlist. Furthermore, 343 implementing seasons into each ranked playlist should provide the same effect that you mentioned (proving your worth), but it doesn’t. I’ve noticed at the beginning of each season, it’s difficult to win games due to the fact you are matched against high-level players against low-level players. It seems their algorithm doesn’t take into account your previous ranking before the new season starts.
BUT, you bring up a valid point. There needs to be something to determine your skill. That’s why I mentioned overall K/d as a solution. Then a smurf account would really have to pay attention to how much they’re dying to perfect it.
> 2533274799704440;1:
> Idea: MAC address filtering
>
> the servers do their best to connect us to players within our region based on IP addresses, CSR, and MMR. Can a MAC address be a part of these search parameters?
>
> example: Richard Cheese has obtained onyx a few times in different seasons. Richard Cheese decides playing against high-level players isn’t fun anymore, so he signs into smurf account Joe Blow. But, when he starts searching for a game with the smurf account the server sees the MAC address within the TCP/IP packets and says "wait this MAC address is associated with a primary halo account Richard Cheese (this would be set up when we first buy the game) and Richard has a high CSR/MMR; therefore you will be matched to these players.
>
> This wouldn’t stop players with multiple Xboxs, or someone capable of spoofing a MAC address, but it might stop people from using multiple accounts to wreck low-level players.
>
> I understand one reason why people use smurf accounts is to avoid long search times at the onyx/champion level, but that’s a different issue regarding population levels.
>
> Not sure if this would work. I figure if the servers can record/register everything we do within a game, why not pay attention to the MAC address as well.
>
> Thoughts? Is this possible? Would it wreak havoc on the servers creating longer wait times?
> 2533274806559198;6:
> I already provided a solution. Silver accounts must complete the campaign in normal or higher difficulty before playing matchmaking. New to Halo? Use this as an opportunity to learn the controls. It should discourage smurf spam.
You guy’s are a bit late to the party. Nothing can be done to prevent “smurfing” and if you’re honestly that concerned about it, you’re playing Halo for the wrong reasons. The people who want to smurf are usually those who just need a confidence boost because they can’t consistently play on the same level as the best.
I don’t know where this “smurfing” term started but this sort of stuff really picked up back in 2007. People were starting new accounts specifically to reach the rank of 50 then sell the account. It was a popular thing to do. Usually started with quitting several games to make the gamertag’s EXP go negative because somehow that impacted the speed of which the player would reach level 50 when playing ranked playlists. It never became a real issue. It just became crystal clear between players who actually earned their high rank and those who bought it.
> 2546678360738636;8:
> I don’t know where this “smurfing” term started but this sort of stuff really picked up back in 2007.
Supposedly, a Blizzard employee who was good in WOW used a second account called PapaSmurf and that’s why the name stuck. Others say it was started in Tribes when people’s alt account would appear in blue text or something like that and so they called it a smurf.
> 2546678360738636;8:
> > 2533274799704440;1:
> > Idea: MAC address filtering
> >
> > the servers do their best to connect us to players within our region based on IP addresses, CSR, and MMR. Can a MAC address be a part of these search parameters?
> >
> > example: Richard Cheese has obtained onyx a few times in different seasons. Richard Cheese decides playing against high-level players isn’t fun anymore, so he signs into smurf account Joe Blow. But, when he starts searching for a game with the smurf account the server sees the MAC address within the TCP/IP packets and says "wait this MAC address is associated with a primary halo account Richard Cheese (this would be set up when we first buy the game) and Richard has a high CSR/MMR; therefore you will be matched to these players.
> >
> > This wouldn’t stop players with multiple Xboxs, or someone capable of spoofing a MAC address, but it might stop people from using multiple accounts to wreck low-level players.
> >
> > I understand one reason why people use smurf accounts is to avoid long search times at the onyx/champion level, but that’s a different issue regarding population levels.
> >
> > Not sure if this would work. I figure if the servers can record/register everything we do within a game, why not pay attention to the MAC address as well.
> >
> > Thoughts? Is this possible? Would it wreak havoc on the servers creating longer wait times?
>
>
>
> > 2533274806559198;6:
> > I already provided a solution. Silver accounts must complete the campaign in normal or higher difficulty before playing matchmaking. New to Halo? Use this as an opportunity to learn the controls. It should discourage smurf spam.
>
> You guy’s are a bit late to the party. Nothing can be done to prevent “smurfing” and if you’re honestly that concerned about it, you’re playing Halo for the wrong reasons. The people who want to smurf are usually those who just need a confidence boost because they can’t consistently play on the same level as the best.
>
> I don’t know where this “smurfing” term started but this sort of stuff really picked up back in 2007. People were starting new accounts specifically to reach the rank of 50 then sell the account. It was a popular thing to do. Usually started with quitting several games to make the gamertag’s EXP go negative because somehow that impacted the speed of which the player would reach level 50 when playing ranked playlists. It never became a real issue. It just became crystal clear between players who actually earned their high rank and those who bought it.
I am late to the party, but a year ago it didn’t happen every match. Population levels are so low right now, high ranked players will smurf just to find a game, then destroy low ranked players who eventually quit the match which leads to a loss for the remaining players, and dropping in rank. I’ve started playing more social playlists because players quitting matches is out of control in slayer.
I guess the best solution is to create a game so good that 3/4 of your population doesn’t leave two years after its release. smurf accounts would be diluted with a higher population.
> 2727626560040591;9:
> > 2546678360738636;8:
> > I don’t know where this “smurfing” term started but this sort of stuff really picked up back in 2007.
>
> Supposedly, a Blizzard employee who was good in WOW used a second account called PapaSmurf and that’s why the name stuck. Others say it was started in Tribes when people’s alt account would appear in blue text or something like that and so they called it a smurf.
Interesting. I just thought it was odd that people call it Smurfing now, for whatever reason, when it’s been around for over a decade now. I guess different generations name it differently
> 2533274799704440;10:
> > 2546678360738636;8:
> > > 2533274799704440;1:
> > > Idea: MAC address filtering
> > >
> > > the servers do their best to connect us to players within our region based on IP addresses, CSR, and MMR. Can a MAC address be a part of these search parameters?
> > >
> > > example: Richard Cheese has obtained onyx a few times in different seasons. Richard Cheese decides playing against high-level players isn’t fun anymore, so he signs into smurf account Joe Blow. But, when he starts searching for a game with the smurf account the server sees the MAC address within the TCP/IP packets and says "wait this MAC address is associated with a primary halo account Richard Cheese (this would be set up when we first buy the game) and Richard has a high CSR/MMR; therefore you will be matched to these players.
> > >
> > > This wouldn’t stop players with multiple Xboxs, or someone capable of spoofing a MAC address, but it might stop people from using multiple accounts to wreck low-level players.
> > >
> > > I understand one reason why people use smurf accounts is to avoid long search times at the onyx/champion level, but that’s a different issue regarding population levels.
> > >
> > > Not sure if this would work. I figure if the servers can record/register everything we do within a game, why not pay attention to the MAC address as well.
> > >
> > > Thoughts? Is this possible? Would it wreak havoc on the servers creating longer wait times?
> >
> >
> >
> > > 2533274806559198;6:
> > > I already provided a solution. Silver accounts must complete the campaign in normal or higher difficulty before playing matchmaking. New to Halo? Use this as an opportunity to learn the controls. It should discourage smurf spam.
> >
> > You guy’s are a bit late to the party. Nothing can be done to prevent “smurfing” and if you’re honestly that concerned about it, you’re playing Halo for the wrong reasons. The people who want to smurf are usually those who just need a confidence boost because they can’t consistently play on the same level as the best.
> >
> > I don’t know where this “smurfing” term started but this sort of stuff really picked up back in 2007. People were starting new accounts specifically to reach the rank of 50 then sell the account. It was a popular thing to do. Usually started with quitting several games to make the gamertag’s EXP go negative because somehow that impacted the speed of which the player would reach level 50 when playing ranked playlists. It never became a real issue. It just became crystal clear between players who actually earned their high rank and those who bought it.
>
> I am late to the party, but a year ago it didn’t happen every match. Population levels are so low right now, high ranked players will smurf just to find a game, then destroy low ranked players who eventually quit the match which leads to a loss for the remaining players, and dropping in rank. I’ve started playing more social playlists because players quitting matches is out of control in slayer.
>
> I guess the best solution is to create a game so good that 3/4 of your population doesn’t leave two years after its release. smurf accounts would be diluted with a higher population.
I almost exclusively play Social just because games will almost always finish with all players that started and it’s not nearly as cut throat as competitive. I don’t have the patience for competitive anymore. I’m a decently skilled player and I’ve been playing since CE but don’t have nearly as much time to play as I used to. So, instead of jumping into competitive and getting stomped or angry over whatever random crap happens, I’ll go into Social, kill anything in sight and have fun. The only time I’ll play anything competitively is Halo CE
What they should do is make it so you have to grind to level 30 before you get ranked. This is also much easier to fit in with Halo 5 at its current state. Other games have done this such as Rainbow six siege and now there is very little smurfing. Also, new players still have lots to play. Warzone, firefight and all the social playlists.