Rank?

Games Other Halo
1

Rank was a hot topic with Halo 3 and things didn’t seem to get any better with Reach. Now a brand new game is coming out and the question seems to be “what is a fair way to award ranks?”

Since there was no ranking in CE, because there was no online multiplayer, everyone seemed to just enjoy playing the game. Halo 2 threw ranks into the mix and the cheating soon followed. I don’t believe it was anything special that Bungie did or failed to do, but instead just human nature. If rank exists some people want to be on top and it doesn’t matter how they get there.

Bungie used a slightly modified version of TrueSkill to attempt to help similarly skilled players get matched together but, in my opinion, made the mistake of tying rank to TrueSkill. The result was rampant boosting and selling accounts.

Bungie tried to fix that problem by forcing players to maintain their ranks in a special playlist. It appears no one likes that.

Now it’s 3431’s turn. What to do? Here’s how I feel about it:

I believe the most important thing in a matchmaking environment is to get matched with players that are on your level. Few people like to be in a game where no one else knows what’s going on, and nobody wants to be in a game where everyone else is clearly better than they are. This is what TrueSkill is designed to do. I also feel that if TrueSkill is hidden it is harder to manipulate. If people just played the game, TrueSkill would eventually work as intended and your games would always be challenging enough to keep you coming back for more. But that’s me. I play the game for the challenge.

Many of you want recognition. You’re good, and you want something that shouts out to the world that you’re good. You also want to know how far you are from the top so that you have “something to work for.” I understand and appreciate this and I’m not saying that is a bad thing.

I do, however, feel that tying rank with skill is a bad idea, simply because the concept of “skill” is undefined. Your definition of skill is probably different from mine as well as the person that posts next. W/L? K/D? BPR? Something else entirely? Can we ever agree?

In the real military, rank is based on two things: time in service and time in grade. As rank gets higher there are other elements that come into play but it’s generally that simple. Rank means you’ve been at it for a while and higher rank means you generally don’t screw things up. It does not mean you are any better or worse than anyone else that does what you do. It does mean you should know more than lower ranks.

TL;DR I believe the important thing in matchmaking is playing people that are near your skill level, and consistently defeating them will allow you to play people slightly better, and if you truly improve you will eventually be and will only be playing against the best and everyone that cares will know. Rank should just let people know how long you’ve been playing.

2

I’d say: Keep Trueskill hidden, and make sure the Ranked section of matchmaking is easy to tell apart from the Social or Core side.

The overall Ranking system of Reach is fine, it just needs supported for Ranked.

3

I say take out arena and put back 1-50. But all keep Reachs rank style. This way we have “two ranks” that everyone can see from the match loading screen. One will be a number 1-50 the other will be Exp based like reach.

4

I’d like to see a fresh system, nothing like anything we’ve seen before.

5

> I say take out arena and put back 1-50. But all keep Reachs rank style. This way we have “two ranks” that everyone can see from the match loading screen. One will be a number 1-50 the other will be Exp based like reach.

I’m just curious… Do you want that “1-50” number to appear because you don’t trust TrueSkill to match you with similar skilled players, or because you want others to know what your skill level is?

6

> I’d like to see a fresh system, nothing like anything we’ve seen before.

This would be preferable. This one does not believe that Halo should continue the trend of Reach’s rank system. All it shows is play time, it’s hard to tell who’s good but so much easier to tell who’s not good.

7

> I’d like to see a fresh system, nothing like anything we’ve seen before.

What available criteria do you believe will best help determine one’s rank?

8

> I’d like to see a fresh system, nothing like anything we’ve seen before.

This is what they tried to do in Reach and well…

I’m not opposed to something new but not if it’s just for the sake of being new. It should be to counter current issues rather than to simply “be trendy.”

9
  1. 1-50
  2. Credit system
  3. Combination
  4. Arena rating

For number 2. I recommend using credits as xp for ranking up, but also use true skill requirements for certain ranks and armor.

Any ideas? choose one or give your own! Discuss!!

10

I am probably going to get shouted down for this, but I wish Halo would change its ranking system to be more like CoD’s. CoD’s is reliable and makes plenty of sense. Each kill earns you 100 and then whatever else you manage to do adds some.

11

I like the idea of a combination of the two, a faultless fusion of reach ranking(Cr) and halo 3 ranking(1-50)

12

Definitly combo. H3’s put you up against players of your skill and Reach’s let you buy armour.

H3’s ranking system + Reach ranking system= Halo 4 ranking system.

13

1 - 50

DUDE HOW DOES CODS MAKE SENSE > ARE YOU SERIOUS

14

> I am probably going to get shouted down for this, but I wish Halo would change its ranking system to be more like CoD’s. CoD’s is reliable and makes plenty of sense. Each kill earns you 100 and then whatever else you manage to do adds some.

I disagree… Cod is kinda like Reach’s system which I disapprove of. I want to see some kind of level be implemented back into the game.

15

1-50 ranking system for sure

16

While in my opinion, the Reach ranking system is the best I’ve ever used, the only changes I would make are this:

  1. HALO 4 should only use ranks that would really be seen in combat
  2. Nothing Should cost more than 100,000 UNSC credits. Any more than that and I don’t feel like it’s worth the time. HALO fans have lives, too.
  3. Make more than 6 armor effects available. I’ve seen forum users with plenty of great ideas that I would like in-game.
  4. Can we get the option to carve a pattern into our helmet visors in multiplayer as part of character customization? I’d rather do that than save to buy (EVA/C)
17

Rank should represent how good you are in comparison to the rest of the community.

18

The biggest problems with the 1-50 were second accounting, boosting, deranking, and account selling. The real problems I’m seeing here are the second accounts and deranking because those are essentially good players lowering their rank to the level where they can play against bad players. This hugely affects the gameplay experience of the players who really are on low skill levels.

At first I tought something more complex to fix the issue. Then I realized that there is a very simple solution. First we need to separate the 1-50 rank from TrueSkill. This means that you could have a rank of 2, but your TrueSkill could be so high that you go against a 50.

This system would work so that after you get to that 50, you get the simple option to start over again. Yes, I mean prestige if you want to call it that. After you drop your rank back to 1, your TrueSkill stays the same so you still go against opponents on your level.

The rank could possibly have an algorithm that makes the next “prestige” harder than the previous. Otherwise the princciple of the whole system could be like it has been before with minor tweaks. It could even be so that the first prestige was incredibly easy, allowing almost any player to get through. The next would be the real deal.

This would nearly get away from all the previous problems. Of course everything that can’t be reomved entirely because sometimes some people just feel the need to make a second account or lose on purpose. At least buying an account would be pointless because there would be no real highest rank.

Lastly, if you ever got stuck to a certain level, you could just hit a button and start that prestige all over.

19

> 1. 1-50
> 2. Credit system
> 3. Combination
> 4. Arena rating
>
>
>
>
> For number 2. I recommend using credits as xp for ranking up, but also use true skill requirements for certain ranks and armor.
>
> Any ideas? choose one or give your own! Discuss!!

In ways i agree with this, like for 1 and 2, have 1-50 back, and using the credit system as your exp this time like in H3, that would be ideal, but i also did like in reach, how your credits would allow you to customize your armor, which was a great addition in reach, either way, i really do hope they bring back 1-50, that way i have more drive and ambition to play, something to work towards, instead of it being working towards who plays the most lol.

20

> Rank should represent how good you are in comparison to the rest of the community.

OK, this is essentially what TrueSkill is supposed to do, except in Reach your level is hidden, plus it’s only used for matchmaking purposes.

I think that if your visible rank were tied to TrueSkill, many of the more… intense… players might not agree with the results. Most of us have a higher opinion of ourselves than what others might think, and since the rank is calculated by a machine that doesn’t know or care who you are, some will conclude that the machine got it wrong. If TrueSkill remains hidden (and nobody cheats the system) the only thing you should notice is that everyone you are playing with is about as good as you are and as you keep playing you and the people you play get better also.

In Halo 3 if there was a general in the game your first thought might be, "OK, this guy’s good (even if it was a girl ;). When the game got under way it would soon become apparent that the player sucked. Why? because they bought the account. That made their rank meaningless and muddied the water for all the other generals.

So even though there was a “visible representation of how good they were in comparison to the rest of the community,” their actual skill became crystal clear once the game started.

If you’re good you don’t really care who knows because they’ll find out if they play you. If you’re bad you probably would rather keep that to yourself.

I personally feel that visible rank serves no real purpose your skill, or lack thereof, will be apparent any time you participate in a match. If rank is tied to skill, your rank will always be questioned and seldom believed. The only way to settle it is on the battlefield.

Or is it?

(I’m really liking this new forum setup)