This is IN ADDITION TO an in-game rank, not a replacement.
Having an in-game rank next to your name (1-50) is great and this system should return in Halo 5 in some form but I think it’s time to add another “overall” rating visible in-game. Here’s what I had in mind:
Across all game modes in matchmaking, all of your stats are kept track of: Total Kills/Deaths, Kill/Death Ratio, Total Wins/Losses, Win/Loss Ratio, Assists, Completion %. Using some formula, everyone is assigned a rating on a single unified leaderboard. Then, based on what percentile you end up in, you are given a rating and a logo next to your name in all matchmaking games.
My ideas for percentiles and logos:
Top 1% (99% - 100%) - Master Chief Helmet Logo
Next 4% (95%-99%) - Halo Ring Logo
Next 5% (90%-95%) - Full Moon Logo
Next 10% (80%-90%) - Crescent Moon Logo
Next 15% (65%-80%) - Skull Logo
Next 15% (50%-65%) - Grunt Logo
Anyone below the top 50% should get no logo.
My only con with the 1-50 system is that you only compete against yourself. Your rank has nothing to do with anyone elses rank. With this new rating system, only a certain % of the population can take up each rating tier so you would really have to earn a spot in the top 5% or 1%. We have never been able to compete in a leaderboard-type style in halo before which I think would be an awesome addition.
New Rating System:
- Monthly (reset after each month)
- Concrete across all matchmaking game modes (You only get 1 overall rating, not one per each playlist)
- Allows you to indirectly compete against the entire Halo population to gain the best rating tier
- Flexible allowing you to move up and down freely (not getting locked at certain ranks).
- Constantly changing leaderboards - This adds replayability making you want to achieve that higher tier that’s just out of reach or hold on for dear life to your Full moon rating.
So when you join a multiplayer game, you get an idea about how people have been playing. If you run into a team with the Halo logos, you know it’s going to be a tough match. If you run into a team of grunts, you can have fun while teabagging their corpses. Of course the 1-50 ranking system should still be in effect to balance out games. In H2 and 3, once you got that 50, all you could do is just hold on to it. After getting a 50 (and even on the road to 50) with this new rating, you would have an additional challenge to strive for.
Incentive (Why?):
Everyone’s highest achieved tier and stats for each month could be recorded in a new section in everyones sevice record allowing you to look back and see your progress after each month. Seeing how your playing improved or got worse over the monthly periods would be a fun thing to see. 343 could even add some unlockable armor or emblems or even achievements for achieving a certain tier X amount of times. For example: Achieve the Halo Ring tier 3 times. Unlocks “this” armor set or “that” emblem… or Achieve Master Chief Tier 1 time. Unlocks Master Chief Armor. Something like this would add a little more incentive to playing. There would always be something to be working toward.
Monthly Rewards-
Highest tier achieved: Get some reward based on the highest tier you achieved that month
Actual Rating at Months end: Get some reward based on where you ended up come the reset
I’m not sure what kind of rewards there could be. Help me out with that. (xp boosts or something? Will H5 even have an XP system?)
Hell. They could even publish the leaderboard so people can look at it in-game and see what kind of numbers the best of the best are putting up. And of course comparisons with friends and people around your rating should be included.
Some technical stuff:
Ratings should only be applied after something like 10 games to keep people from having 1 or 2 really good games and achieving a high tier beacuse of a high K/D. I think in order of highest weighted should be W/L ratio → Completion % → K/D ratio → Total wins → Total kills. This makes sure the most important thing is winning while not quitting when determining the rating. This is followed by K/D ratio (need a good K/D while ALSO winning to get a good rating), assists, THEN total wins, total kills. Total wins and kills should be least weighted so the people who play the most don’t have a clear advantage over people who can’t play as much.
Comments, criticisms, suggestions welcome. If you have a better idea or change to mine, post it. I will try to update if I come up with any other ideas.
I made a mock up just showing logos in a matchmaking lobby in MS Paint: http://i.imgur.com/4e400J3.png
