Serious inquiry about visible ranks

Games Other Halo
1

Yes, it’s another one of these topics. If you are just going to flame or troll me because of this fact, please stop a for a second and click on that ‘back’ button so conveniently placed on your browser.

I don’t want to undermine anyone’s opinions, feelings, or whatever- I just want someone to answer this question for me. I’d be overjoyed if we could have an intelligent and flame free discussion about this topic, but knowing the nature of this board… I won’t hold my breath.

And so, my question is; What would it hurt to add just one little playlist with visible ranks?

Just one playlist. One. Uno. A single solidary gem amongst a sea of non-visible ranks.
It could be ANY playlist. Slayer. Objective. Slayer objective mix… anything. And it doesn’t have to be 1-50, it could be ranking in any form. I’d even be totally fine with giving MLG the rite of decision to have it’s playlist be ranked. The other Halos have given MLG full access to fine tuning its hopper in the past, why not go one step further?

What this accomplishes:

An absolute mass of Halo’s core competitive base would be instantly vindicated. I believe I can comfortably say that just one playlist would sate enough of the competitive base’s desire for this to be a non-issue. More happy players equals a community with more longevity, and from a business standpoint would boost future DLC sales. Especially if the maps are good for competitive play.

"But another hopper would divide the playlists even further, and that’s bad!"

If the population of the game is divided in ANY meaningful way due to the addition of this playlist, then it looks like a ton of people wanted to play -visible- ranked after all, doesn’t it?

We already have ranked! It’s just invisible!

I know this. Everyone knows this. But a large portion of players want at least ONE visible hopper. Examine this statement deeply, and you’ll understand why it’s not even logical to point out in this topic.

But boosters/modders/derankers/network manipulators will flock to this playlist!

Fine. Let them. When you step into this playlist you understand that you might encounter these types of players more often. If anything, it will condense them into ONE spot, and the rest of Halo 4 will be largely free of them. I believe that’s a win for the people who oppose a visible ranking system. And for those who want a visible rank system, I’m going to be bold and speak for them; They are okay with this trade off. (See what I did there? BOLD? lololol.)

The game is already gold and whining will change nothing! They don’t have the time to implement this!

They already have a ‘behind the scenes’ ranking system. Making it visible literally takes NO effort. This could easily happen with a patch.

Make no mistake, I am not here to whine. I am here because I care deeply about the state of Halo matchmaking. I see something that I feel threatens the longevity of this game, and I just want to make my voice heard. Because if I don’t- If no one does, 343i won’t know what players want.

Lastly, this is not a topic aimed to understand WHY some players want or don’t want a visible ranking system. It’s meant to explore why adding just one hopper would hurt.

TL:DR - If you don’t want to read all my my post, I really don’t have any interest in any confirmation/rebuttal you may have.

Thank you for your time.

2

there is a gazillion threads about this, go there

3

you know what i think would be a fair compromise?
if instead of having a rank visible all the time, just have it show up in post game stats. i’d be happy. not that im unhappy though.

4

> there is a gazillion threads about this, go there

Those threads are not of the same nature as this one. If you do not agree, please see yourself out of this topic. No one is making you read it.

5

Agreed, how could 343 possibly think adding a visible system has more cons than pros?

I am also skeptical of the hidden system, since the exact same thing was said about Reach. People have been talking about H4’s ranking system for years. 343 specifically said they had something in store as far as a ranking system goes. So people waited. A week before the release, they decide to answer a question about it and sort of brush it off like it’s no biggie.

I would and have successfully argued that a visible skill based ranking system is the most important and addicting part of the game. 343 taking it out is idiotic, at best.

343: stop tripping over your own ego and give people what they want.

6

> Agreed, how could 343 possibly think adding a visible system has more cons than pros?
>
> I am also skeptical of the hidden system, since the exact same thing was said about Reach. People have been talking about H4’s ranking system for years. 343 specifically said they had something in store as far as a ranking system goes. So people waited. A week before the release, they decide to answer a question about it and sort of brush it off like it’s no biggie.
>
> I would and have successfully argued that a visible skill based ranking system is the most important and addicting part of the game. 343 taking it out is idiotic, at best.
>
> 343: stop tripping over your own ego and give people what they want.

i would argue that sticking people with plasma nades is the most important and addicting part of the game.
but thats my opinion.

7

> there is a gazillion threads about this, go there

that is fine, until 343 reads them then we will continue the flood

8

> > there is a gazillion threads about this, go there
>
> that is fine, until 343 reads them then we will continue the flood

why?
yes i get it you think its a big deal. thats fine. but why dont you try to contact them directly? start a petition or something. go and get x amount of signatures.
i honestly think that flooding a forum is the least effective way of getting a game developer to notice your opinion.

9

> > > there is a gazillion threads about this, go there
> >
> > that is fine, until 343 reads them then we will continue the flood
>
> why?
> yes i get it you think its a big deal. thats fine. but why dont you try to contact them directly? start a petition or something. go and get x amount of signatures.
> i honestly think that flooding a forum is the least effective way of getting a game developer to notice your opinion.

How else are we suppose to? We have ZERO ways to contact them. It’s not like they say hey guys here’s my phone nymber

10

> And so, my question is; What would it hurt to add just one little playlist with visible ranks?
>
> Just one playlist. One. Uno. A single solidary gem amongst a sea of non-visible ranks.
> It could be ANY playlist. Slayer. Objective. Slayer objective mix… anything. And it doesn’t have to be 1-50, it could be ranking in any form. I’d even be totally fine with giving MLG the rite of decision to have it’s playlist be ranked. The other Halos have given MLG full access to fine tuning its hopper in the past, why not go one step further?

Since you asked so nicely, I’ll answer nicely. Frankly, yes, it would hurt. It would hurt more than no playlist at all. Imagine what would have happened if they had announced that there would be just one ranked playlist? You think it was bad today?

It absolutely would not be 1-50, so what else is there? Can they even rank just one playlist different from all the other? Wouldn’t that affect TrueSkill?

I really think that the better solution is to wait for 343i to figure out how you can get a visible skill rank in every playlist, because they really would like for there to be one, if for no other reason than to shut everybody up and just play the game, but if it’s not reasonably accurate and has adverse affects on TrueSkill it’s just not happening in any playlist.

And by the time they figure it out you probably won’t care any more, because I truly believe once you let yourself get into playing Halo 4 and you see that the matchmaking isn’t as bad as some would have you believe, and you pay attention to what the rank you can see is telling you, you might not actually miss 1-50.

11

> > > > there is a gazillion threads about this, go there
> > >
> > > that is fine, until 343 reads them then we will continue the flood
> >
> > why?
> > yes i get it you think its a big deal. thats fine. but why dont you try to contact them directly? start a petition or something. go and get x amount of signatures.
> > i honestly think that flooding a forum is the least effective way of getting a game developer to notice your opinion.
>
> How else are we suppose to? We have ZERO ways to contact them. It’s not like they say hey guys here’s my phone nymber

i sincerely doubt 343i is one of the few companies out there without a twitter or facebook.
get people on your bandwagon and flood those media outputs. dont flood a place where people can actually discuss something other than this.

12

> > > > there is a gazillion threads about this, go there
> > >
> > > that is fine, until 343 reads them then we will continue the flood
> >
> > why?
> > yes i get it you think its a big deal. thats fine. but why dont you try to contact them directly? start a petition or something. go and get x amount of signatures.
> > i honestly think that flooding a forum is the least effective way of getting a game developer to notice your opinion.
>
> How else are we suppose to? We have ZERO ways to contact them. It’s not like they say hey guys here’s my phone nymber

Twitter

13

> > I really think that the better solution is to wait for 343i to figure out how you can get a visible skill rank in every playlist, because they really would like for there to be one, if for no other reason than to shut everybody up and just play the game, but if it’s not reasonably accurate and has adverse affects on TrueSkill it’s just not happening in any playlist.
>
> Adding a visible skill rank to every playlist is the worst thing a gaming company can do. Players need a place where they can be social and have fun in and not worry about losing a rank. This is what happened to Starcraft 2 where a lot of people experienced ladder anxiety and would not play but were atleast happy to watch the pros play.

14

> > And so, my question is; What would it hurt to add just one little playlist with visible ranks?
> >
> > Just one playlist. One. Uno. A single solidary gem amongst a sea of non-visible ranks.
> > It could be ANY playlist. Slayer. Objective. Slayer objective mix… anything. And it doesn’t have to be 1-50, it could be ranking in any form. I’d even be totally fine with giving MLG the rite of decision to have it’s playlist be ranked. The other Halos have given MLG full access to fine tuning its hopper in the past, why not go one step further?
>
> Since you asked so nicely, I’ll answer nicely. Frankly, yes, it would hurt. It would hurt more than no playlist at all. Imagine what would have happened if they had announced that there would be just one ranked playlist? You think it was bad today?
>
> It absolutely would not be 1-50, so what else is there? Can they even rank just one playlist different from all the other? Wouldn’t that affect TrueSkill?
>
> I really think that the better solution is to wait for 343i to figure out how you can get a visible skill rank in every playlist, because they really would like for there to be one, if for no other reason than to shut everybody up and just play the game, but if it’s not reasonably accurate and has adverse affects on TrueSkill it’s just not happening in any playlist.
>
> And by the time they figure it out you probably won’t care any more, because I truly believe once you let yourself get into playing Halo 4 and you see that the matchmaking isn’t as bad as some would have you believe, and you pay attention to what the rank you can see is telling you, you might not actually miss 1-50.

Announcing that you have one visibly ranked playlist, with intention of further refining it or adding more in the future would have resulted in a much smaller scale backlash than what we have seen today. Although I can’t back that up with any facts, I don’t think you can do such for your claim, either. Thus we enter the realm of speculation.

343i could easily get away with claiming apprehension towards ranked playlists; only having one to test the waters against the cons they so vehemently spout that visible ranks bring.

I’ve played all of the Halo games since CE. I know what I will feel when Halo 4’s new and shiny appeal wears off. That’s where ranks matter. They hook you.

Here, something is definitely better than nothing. If you disagree please specify.

15

> > > I really think that the better solution is to wait for 343i to figure out how you can get a visible skill rank in every playlist, because they really would like for there to be one, if for no other reason than to shut everybody up and just play the game, but if it’s not reasonably accurate and has adverse affects on TrueSkill it’s just not happening in any playlist.
> >
> > Adding a visible skill rank to every playlist is the worst thing a gaming company can do. Players need a place where they can be social and have fun in and not worry about losing a rank. This is what happened to Starcraft 2 where a lot of people experienced ladder anxiety and would not play but were atleast happy to watch the pros play.
>
> Please tell me how having ONE visible ranked playlist takes away the ability for the player to not choose any other hopper?
>
> That’s even besides the point, because supposedly every hopper has behind the scenes ranking. By your logic, no hopper could allow the player to experience a learning curve, which is just demonstrably wrong.

16

> > > I really think that the better solution is to wait for 343i to figure out how you can get a visible skill rank in every playlist, because they really would like for there to be one, if for no other reason than to shut everybody up and just play the game, but if it’s not reasonably accurate and has adverse affects on TrueSkill it’s just not happening in any playlist.
> >
> > Adding a visible skill rank to every playlist is the worst thing a gaming company can do. Players need a place where they can be social and have fun in and not worry about losing a rank. This is what happened to Starcraft 2 where a lot of people experienced ladder anxiety and would not play but were atleast happy to watch the pros play.
>
> Please tell me how having ONE visible ranked playlist takes away the ability for the player to not choose any other hopper?
>
> That’s even besides the point, because supposedly every hopper has behind the scenes ranking. By your logic, no hopper could allow the player to experience a learning curve, which is just demonstrably wrong.

I didn’t mention anything about have a singled ranked playlist, I would like visual ranked playlist. I was just stating that a whole player base would not enjoy to being forced to play visually ranked games as that post suggested, it’s just to much to handle.

My logic still stands correct an invisible rank doesn’t nothing to a person playing because all it essentially is doing is trying to match you to similar skilled players. Players don’t think about this rank because they never see it so it never effects them.

17

If you want to have a serious discussion, you shouldn’t start your thread sounding like a snide brat.

Just sayin’.

18

I defintly support this thread, we need rankings back. I wish the social gamers, would stop coming into this threads and making snide remarks, not fair to the rest of the community.

19

> If you want to have a serious discussion, you shouldn’t start your thread sounding like a snide brat.
>
> Just sayin’.

Not trying to sound like a snide brat. Just want to be clear and concise. I’m sorry if it came off that way.

Let’s try not flame anyone here, that’s not at all what I want.

20

Halo 2 and 3 had ranks wy dont has Halo 4 ranks?
Dont give me that crap about boosters because nobody cares about that only 343.
Its a stupid argument for not having ranks in a game.

This game will be just as competitive as Reach ;(

GJ to all rank haters…