Deranking and Smurfs

Games Other Halo
1

I’m getting back into H5 after taking a long break with some occasional matches here and there. After playing and practicing, I have finally reached onyx in a playlist again (Swat) but as soon as I get there I started running into people purposely losing and trying to derank. I also noticed that quite a bit of onyx players were running with a bronze teammate causing my team to be significantly worse while the bronze Smurf account gets MVP. I understand removing the safety net for rank tiers as it makes every game competitive but this has unfortunately resulted in the return of the Halo 3 deranking/boosting system. It’s frustrating having someone go 0 and 15 and losing onyx rank because of that.

Seasons are short at only two months so there is really no reason to remove the safety net. If someone is not performing than their rank next season will reflect that. As I mentioned, I took a break and was ranked Platinum when I came back where I used to rank onyx or high diamond. Removing the safety net has negatively affected matchmaking because some people would rather use exploits to rank up instead of legitimately playing the game.

2

It’s a lose-lose situation, as far as I can see it. Let people de-rank between tiers, you get more boosting and people purposely de-ranking. Don’t let people de-rank between tiers, you get more Smurf accounts. And that’s just the issue with highly ranked players. It’s apparently super hard to get games at the high end of ranks (Champions, High Onyx), which is one reason why we see smurf accounts and highly ranked players running with Bronzes/Silvers/Golds.

Now, the reason that the safety net was removed was because of people essentially being carried into tiers that they weren’t really skilled enough to be in thanks to playing with a good squad and racking up wins. So when they play alone, without being able to drop down to a tier where they may truly be skilled enough for, they’re trapped in that high level tier they don’t have any business being in at that moment.

So yeah, it’s really a lose-lose situation, in my eyes.

3

Smurfs ruin the fun.