Ok, I’m not going to be ranting or anything like that, only giving out my own opinion on this whole competitive vs casual gaming war that has been raging in this forum for the past few days/weeks.
I find myself a competitive gamer. I play to win and always try my best (except when playing with friends who haven’t played video games as much). But that doesn’t mean I like to casually play once and awhile. I love custom games and have enjoyed making and playing new maps in my gaming community.
Now, you can sort of tell I’m not fully on either side in the argument, and therefor I will be giving my opinion from a “middle ground”. I think both sides are a little on the extreme side. Those who want absolutely no ranking and just having a giant mixing pot of players: I can see where they are coming from, but I want to get paired with people around my same level. Those who want a ranked playlist up to 50 and stuff: I’m also against that because it becomes too much about numbers.
We’ve all met low ranks who occasionally kicked our -Yoinks!- at one point or another for whatever reason, and other times we get into games with a bunch of privates and whoop them 50-7. I like how 343i sees this situation. By having an “invisible” rank system, players will be matched up with other players with the same skill level. Now, obviously they haven’t spilled all the beans yet, but here’s how I think they are looking at it. For the people who want the 1-50 and say the number doesn’t really matter too much, then who cares if there is a number?
I also agree that the competitive group may feel a little under compensated, and I think you’re right to a point. I think there should be something for competitive players, like tiers/milestones that you can achieve as a player. Think of the ranks in arena, except more like another rank system. But, I think you guys are still getting a fair deal with this system as it stands. Yes there is no actual playlist for ranked matches, but you are still getting put up against other players with the same skill. Doesn’t that still make the game more intense regardless if you are all 40-45’s? Of course this system isn’t full proof, but the other wasn’t either as well.
So, I think I might have calmly ranted just a bit, and I apologize. I just see a lot of mindless hate (hello internet), and I felt the need to give out some sort of middle ground opinion to bring everyone together for a game which most of us have yet to fully experience. We should be excited for the game, not fuming on forums about stuff which we haven’t been able to test out ourselves! Have fun the way that you have fun, and thanks for reading!