Image not being able to play Halo infinite ranked arena with freinds because our CSR is different. I even paid for the season 2 pass, never again. 343 industries haven’t got a clue what they are doing. I will purposely go play ranked and make my team lose to lower my rank.
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The problem is that It’s not a pleasant experience for the other team.
They either have to;
- Match your ranks so they end up with good players being forced to carry and bad players being forced to survive - which is fun with friends but not if you are playing solo with a bunch of strangers.
or
- Average out their team somewhere in the middle - which leaves them at the mercy of the opposition’s better players.
The latter scenario has been exploited by CSR grinders which just makes it even worse. Personally I encountered plenty of such teams in Season 2 (including four out my ten placement games). Typically two high level grinders, a mid level smurf, and a low level sandbagging account. Not fun.
It’s probably those players who were the final straw for your fun.
But you still have social to have fun with friends.
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Yep. Totally agree that this is a stupid implementation.
Just going to preface all of the following quotes with “you’re wrong”:
- you shouldn’t play competitive with people lower rank than you.
- you’re ruining the game for other people
- you’re boosting
- you’re over-ranked because your friends are a lower rank than you.
- competitive is not a place for people to have fun.
- you’re not even a real onyx
You’ll probably find that you’ll lower in rank when you play separately anyway, whilst your friends increase when they play separately. This is because the ranked system is BROKEN and uses a lazy average team skill metric to calculate fair matches. When you come massively positive (because the enemy team are all lower ranked players than you) and your teammates come negative (because they are ranked lower than the entire enemy team) you rank up and they rank down, which means your team skill stays the same but you “apparently” improve enough to rank up as individuals.
This isn’t something you have done wrong - it is the algorithm they use to calculate individual skill metrics. Because they can’t fix it (because they’re 343i) you are now being punished for playing for fun over sweating for a super high rank and ditching your friends in order to play with people of the same skill.
My solution:
1/ Team ranked should provide a team rank.
2/ Solo ranked should provide a solo rank.
3/ accept that 343i are incompetent.
4/ play rogue company instead
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That’s what social is for.
Although I agree the block should probably only exist in Onyx like other games do. You can have a wide range in Overwatch, but they won’t allow it in Masters.
Just not fun to play with a load of mismatched ranks in competitive, on your team or against you.
You do end up over ranked and your friends lower ranked. Which was OK when you played together as you had a symbiotic rank between yourselves.
When you branched off solo though it could cause problems for one or the other.
And that also affects the game balance for your team mates and opponents in those games.
Why does this make it “BROKEN”?
It averages the team’s MMR curves and then applies a weighting for squads and form.
My understanding is that the predictive value of the result was just as accurate as for a team of similar ranking.
At least for those teams who were genuinely just playing together.
My understanding is that most other games don’t allow you to play ranked with friends outside your skill level for pretty much the same reasons.
The data foot print for providing a team rank for every single combination of players would be astronomical.
There is no way Microsoft would take TrueSkill2 down that route.
Welcome back!
And I have always thought that the best place to hang with friends would be Social. Why would you want to drag your lower level buddies into a sweaty game with no radar so that they can go negative game after game?
Oh… You mean the ranked playlists that don’t show your rank…
There is no “social” in Halo Infinite.
Halo Infinite is anti-social.
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Eh, few posts here and there.
I can’t even socialise when I’m playing competitive competitively, it’s all callouts and concentration.
In social we just talk rubbish and chat. Perfect for playing with friends especially the less adept ones.
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Sbmm is definitely tighter in ranked playlists than social, but it does feel tighter than a lot of other games. It’s hard to say, so many games do it differently and I’m not sure how I feel about any of them.
I’m a fan of sbmm generally, although it can be hard when there is a high disparity in player skill in your friendship group. Overwatch is great as we are all Silver-Platinum players, so is Fall Guys as we’re all semi-competent, but games like Halo is awful to play with my friends.
Such is life I guess, most games are fun until you get good. Then you can’t enjoy them the same way you did and you can’t enjoy them locally without travelling to tournaments.
Unfortunately bad players abuse this for easy match ups. They’re the reason that it had to change. The acts of few ruin it for everyone situation.
And no, I didn’t miss the point. What I said is why it happened and unless someone can give them a better solution it’s not going to change. You can thank those idiots who abused it for this.
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My friend group and I are starting to play BTB more often and trying to not “sweat” as hard and it’s been extremely enjoyable.
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My friends aren’t really into Halo so we mostly play other things. Occasionally they might jump on for some BTB though and I really enjoy playing around them. We usually just spend the whole game with the vehicles, trying to steal as many enemy Warthogs as possible.
I think most people would enjoy social more if they took this approach. I never play social like I do ranked even as a solo player. Occasionally I might play sweaty in BTB for a challenge or if there’s a player on the other team I want to beat, but mostly I just mess around and it’s way more fun. I don’t have to play super competitively and it barely affects the game if I’m half asleep, listening to music or whatever. I wish I could do all my weekly challenges in BTB. I don’t really like playing the 4v4 modes as I do feel like I have to try in those modes a lot more as you make up so much more of the team and it does kinda feel like you’re throwing if you don’t put a bit of effort in.
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The match outcome is not the problem - the subsequent rank assignment metrics are not functioning correctly.
for example - in a fireteam high ranks “overperform” and lower ranks “underperform”. this means that, unless the team are all the SAME rank, then CSR is ALWAYS being rewarded incorrectly.
Therefore the system is broken.
343i have stuck a big fat plaster over a system that doesn’t function properly.
you are absolutely right - but I don’t want to play social.
Suggesting this is EXACTLY the same as saying:
“What they should do is just swap the quick play settings with ranked arena and I will happily play social”
With respect - “go play social” is not a solution.
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I don’t know if this analogy is a bit on the nose, but I wouldn’t take my niece to play soccer at 5 aside league. It’s competitive, your team’s placement is affected, it won’t be fun for her, or anyone really.
It’s more fun if I take her to play with other kids, or with adults in a social, non competitive environment.
In this analogy, all of my friends are my niece when playing Halo.
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Before I go into this I just want to point out that I mean no offense and appreciate this is a topic we are in disagreement with and, probably, won’t change our minds on. That said, I respect your opinion- and will keep trying to persuade you otherwise whilst also keeping my mind open to what you’re saying.
Worth saying outright because this is a conversation I’d rather have with you over a beer.
I digress
It’s not the same thing at all.
LUCID plays ranked. He is pro. Therefore, by your logic, there is no point in playing ranked unless you’re pro,
You still watch Scotland play football in the World Cup, even though they have no chance of winning.
Why run a marathon if you can’t win?
It’s about challenging yourself and having a good time. It’s not always about winning but there are many facets of ranked that make it better than social:
- No pistol/at starts
- visible personal best score/rank
- it’s just as sweaty as social
- no radar
- subconscious personal endeavour to play your best
- fun
I’d be happy if quick play and ranked were exactly the same. I’d be even happier if social had a North Star to shoot for also. In reach this was inheritor - but the onyx system is very enticing!
I just want to play where I want with my friends
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Look, I don’t take my friends to ranked because I definitely play to win in ranked. If they’re as good as me? Then they can come.
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I only play ranked because I want BR starts.
And I want to play with friends.
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I mean playing with others at your skill level in a competitive league. I’d encourage my niece to play in a 6 year old 5 aside league, but not against division 2 players ha.
I’m of the mindset it’s more fun to have 10 D2 players together instead of 9 D2 players, a child Vs 6 D2 players and 4 D5 players.
This 
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