Ok I’m not going to go over why I think the ranking system has to be better in Halo 5 because we all know this. This is just a suggestion as to how it should be implemented. Ok I feel that the ranking system should be broken down into three completely separate styles: casual rank, skill/competitive rank, and a clan rank. Each style will take the best of previous ranking systems (Halo2, Halo3, and Reach) and put them together to make one amazing ranking system that will cater to all Halo players.
Casual Rank
I feel the casual rank should take from what reach did and combine it with Halo3’s causal ranking system. What made Reach’s ranking system good (in my opinion) was just the sheer length of it. It took forever to reach max rank. This is a good thing because it always gave you the feeling of accomplishment after each game months and months after the game came out. This was something Halo4 was lacking, most people reached max rank 1-2 months after launch. Now what Halo3’s casual ranking system did right was that it was based around winning. If you won you got an exp point, if you lost you received nothing. This I feel heavily influenced how the game played, especially when the game first came out. Everyone, regardless of the game type, went all out for the win. No one cared about K/D ratios, people cared about winning. Even if they weren’t good at the game people would still go for the oddball, or for the flag, and try to work together to win. Because winning was the difference between ranking up or staying the same rank. So how I would put all of this together is by having the longevity of Reach’s ranking system and the winning aspect from Halo3. For example at the end of the game you would receive 1000 points for winning, a rank between 1-1000 based on your in-game performance, a 5000 point bonus for winning (it would be 0 for losing obviously), and finally a slot machine point counter. Also there will be a bonus for winning streaks. Every 3 wins in a row will add a 1.5x multiplier to your overall post game score. So yes you will still rank up if you lose game after game after game. However it will just make way more sense go for the win.
Skill/Competitive Rank
The skill rank should be similar to Halo2 and Halo3’s skill based ranking system. 1-50 for each playlist, however I want it to be extremely difficult like Halo2’s ranking system was. There should also be an in game way of checking how close you are to achieving the next rank, similar to that little blue bar that was in Halo2 but better. It should be based on winning and losing strictly (except Lone wolves; 1st and 2nd place is winning), no individual ranking. Also I don’t want people to be able to jump ranks. If you’re a level 1 and you play in a lobby full of lvl 4’s and win, the most you could rank up to is to level 2. So let’s say you get a 5 point standard for winning a game, and little bonuses based on how much better or worse you are compared to your opponents. You are a level one and you need a total of 5 points (the winning standard) to achieve level 2. However like I said before you receive bonuses because you won in a lobby full of lvl 4’s. In this case since by winning you received the necessary amount to rank up just for winning (5 points) all of those extra points received for winning would be void ( if they weren’t they would probably cause you to reach level 3). I hope I explained it in a way that’s understandable. I also want the ranks to be displayed in game (on the person’s service record) so people can feel good about the fact that they just grinded out a 50 in team snipers by showing it off. And it will not only show their highest skill achieved, but all of their skill ranks (similar to how Halo4’s CSR rank is displayed on Waypoint) from each playlist. In addition to bragging rights for achieving a 50 you will also be rewarded with a playlist specific stance. So for example if you achieve a 50 in Team snipers, you will unlock a stance that shows you’re your Spartan holding a sniper aimed at the screen or something. Team objective would have him holding a flag and maybe team doubles would have him aiming two pistols at the screen. This will let people know right away that you are a 50 in the lobby (which I feel should go back to Halo reach’s user interface) and is just a cool way of showing it off.
Clan Rank
Clans are something that Halo has never really implemented properly into their games. Halo2 had it but it really never served any purpose, it was just there. I feel it should work kind of similar to Reach’s arena ranking system. Every month will be a season and after every season it will be a fresh start. Ok once a group of people makes their clan (Max amount of players: 8, Min amount of players: 4) they will have to play at least 8 games. After each game they will receive a rank as a team based on how well they performed. The rank will be based on whether or not they won, how much they won by, how fast they won, and whatever other things 343 can think of. After you finish 8 games you will be placed in one of 6 divisions based on your clan’s average rank: tin (you get this rank for just entering), bronze (top 75%), silver (top 50%), gold (top 25%), onyx (top 10%), and diamond (top 3%). Once you are placed it will be a battle to either stay in your division or to move up a division. It will work in a leaderboard fashion, and it will be displayed on waypoint. It will show what division you were placed in (what division your in will also be displayed in-game with a little emblem next to your clan’s name) and a point total next to your clan’s name. This point total will determine how close you are to moving up a division and will also determine which clans the game will try to match you up against.
So for example you play 8 games and you are placed in silver division. Once in silver division you will be given a number on the leaderboard of 50. Everyone placed in silver starts with a 50 point total, and everyone in gold starts with a 75 point total. After each game you win your clan will be awarded 3 points for winning and after each loss will be subtracted 2 points. Let’s say the person at the bottom of the gold division (who has 75 points) never plays again after being placed. Once your clan which was in silver division wins enough games and surpasses 75 points you will knock that person out of Gold into silver and replace them. Obviously based on this it will be extremely difficult to jump from bronze to diamond. Since being placed in bronze would only start you off with 25 points and you would need 125 points to get diamond. Also the people in diamond will be winning and adding to that 125 base point total meaning by the end of the season the lowest team in diamond could have as much as 200 points. The clan will be 4v4, and objective and slayer game types. Also you will only be able to input wins and losses as a clan on the weekends (Friday to Sunday night). This will stop people who have all the time in the world, no job no school, no responsibilities, from having a huge advantage over people who do not have all that time to play. At the end of the month whatever division you end up in will determine your prize. And each prize will be unique per season and won’t be offered again after that season. So maybe season one will give you a chest plate representing the division you placed in (gold chest plate, onyx chest plate etc.).
