The Importance of Ranked 4x4, SoloQ and DuoQ

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

First let me say; I have nothing bad to say about this game thus far. I played the heck out of the beta, and this Halo feels more like Halo than Halo has felt for a long time.

I’m daily at these forums, and I’ve seen quite the amount of posts regarding this topic, but I haven’t seen a mod, or any recognition regarding the issue. I felt the need to elaborate, and maybe / hopefully inform players who are new to ranked play, and the ladder system we face in Halo 5: Guardians.

I love competitive gaming. It is the single most powerful drive force for me. To invest time and hours in a game, and see yourself become gradually better, is a feeling that trumps ANY unlock or cosmetic. Hence why I’ve had so much fun playing league of legends the past 2 years.

With the “reveal” of the multiplayer arena CSR system, I was incredibly happy. I’ve always been a 1 - 50 guy, because of what we know and love from prior games, but this looks very promising. Just because I’ve experienced it first hand, while playing league of legends.

Reading through the post, made me incredibly happy, seing the placement matches, how to rank divisions, how decaying won’t be a problem, how it all looks and sounds very fair.

However.
The one thing that makes me uneasy is the lack of any description regarding party restrictions. I for one, don’t mind the party chat issue. People will quickly see that having a mic and communicating will get you FAR FAR further than with no mic, so as soon as you climb and reach more competitive levels, I have the feeling that players will be running microphones all day.

So let’s talk about party restrictions. I’m going to use League of Legends as an example, cause it’s the closest I can relate to, and use as an explanation.

League of Legends ranking system works very much the same way as Halo 5: Guardians’ system would like to work.
Divided into divisions after a series of placement matches, and per victory you gain CSR points to climb the ladder to enter a new Division.
In ranked LoL, there are also party restrictions; You have two game modes for ranked (There are 3, but we will use 2) Ranked 5, and SoloQ.

Ranked 5 means: You get matched up against a ranked team of 5 players playing together, which will then assume they all know each other, have a high skill of synchronization, communication and team play. You never enter a Ranked 5 alone, you are simply not allowed to.

Then you have SoloQ, or Solo Ranked play: League gives you the opportunity to invite ONE friend to join you in SoloQ, hence DuoQ, and since you partner up; the system will automatically place you with 3 SoloQ players, and mirror you against a team with 3 SoloQ players, plus a DuoQ. This is to balance out, so the players with communication on voice and teamplay don’t steamroll the other team vica versa.

There’s some regulations with being matched against high opponents because you have the advantage of teamwork, but we won’t go too deep into that.
//_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
So my concern is: Letting party restrictions go unnoticed would completely destroy the ranked arena CSR system, because of individual skill and team play would not be on fair ground. Sure you could always get 3 friends, but more often than never, would some of your friends be better, and some would be worse, when they end up at the same CSR and decide to play a couple of games by themselves, the result is a broken system with no control over actual skill.

This is my greatest concern regarding the new ranked system. Now; Since the reveal was very in depth, and multiple articles have been written regarding the topic, the question still remains unanswered, and I fear 343i might have overlooked it.

Now of course this won’t result into me quitting, boycotting or any over drastic melodramatic actions, but for the game itself, it would hurt the competitive integrity, and as for Halo 5, who strives SO incredibly hard to become relevant in the esports scene, it would be a huge step back.

Just a last minute reminder: The brackets we will learn to love; they will work as a skill pool for players across the world, to get picked up by teams, start teams, branch out into the pro scene. This is also why it is so VERY important for the competitive scene. Now, I’m not saying the system will work over the first 3 months, not even close. But within a year, we have the opportunity to see Halo 5 as a growing esport and this is a very good thing.

TDLR: Include a Ranked 4x4 for the players who want to branch with their teams, and let them battle it out in an exclusive playlist.
Include a Ranked SoloQ or DuoQ for the players who want to challenge themselves and develop their individual mechanical skills and climb the ladder alone, or with a bro.
I love the ranking system, and can’t wait to see what Halo 5: Guardians has in store for us, this 27th of October.

/end / feel free to agree or disagree / if we could spark a discussion regarding this topic, I would be more than pleased

Thank you for your attention

edit: just making some edits as the discussion goes

//Ready Up Live video regarding the topic//

2

I hear and understand this problem quite well! This is the exact reason I have only gotten to the rank of 18 in the MCC halo 3 playlist. Almost EVERY single game I was paired with a net skill on my team clearly lower than the net skill of the opposing team and I lost a lot more matches than I should have (due to my teams being worse than the opponents).

I finally just started quitting unfair matchups before I played and miraculously went from a mere 12 to 18 almost overnight. Now that they “fixed” quitting and stuff I am unsure I want to re-insert myself into that again. My rank will probably drop due to my teams again and I just don’t want that.

Every time I play rumble pit- no matter what game I play on I get +KD, EVERY TIME. Every time I roll the dice with the halo 3 playlist, it honestly varies a lot weather my teams ranking numbers are higher or lower than the opponents. I think this should be fixed and the sooner the better. It just isn’t fair.

3

Am I missing something? There isn’t a gametype, nor should there be for ‘5’ people. Warzone, an Big Team Battle are the only ones that should allow for more than 4.

4

I’m very careful of pulling out the pitchforks just yet, because simply: We don’t know yet! We don’t know if theres such a thing! The game isn’t out yet, so I can’t confirm anything. Just ask questions regarding what I would like to know.

I hope 343i understand the importance of this topic though, and I would almost be surprised if they didn’t. Because of how much time they have invested in the ranked CSR system.

This post is merely an info drop for people to understand, and read up and discuss the features that we may or may not have in Halo 5: Guardians.

But yes, I agree. Nothing is worse than getting your -Yoink- kicked in when you’re against a premade team of 4 people and your team is falling apart after the first 10 kills.

5

> 2535447317427844;3:
> Am I missing something? There isn’t a gametype, nor should there be for ‘5’ people. Warzone, an Big Team Battle are the only ones that should allow for more than 4.

I’m sorry. I got caught up in my analogy regarding league, where there are Ranked 5s, but I changed the subject to be ranked 4x4, which is relevant:)

Again, my apologies.

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> 2728296738564166;5:
> > 2535447317427844;3:
> > Am I missing something? There isn’t a gametype, nor should there be for ‘5’ people. Warzone, an Big Team Battle are the only ones that should allow for more than 4.
>
>
> I’m sorry. I got caught up in my analogy regarding league, where there are Ranked 5s, but I changed the subject to be ranked 4x4, which is relevant:)
>
> Again, my apologies.

Okay, well if I’m not mistaken Ready Up Live posted a video about this, and they made the mention that they spoke with 343, and there will “More than likely be party restrictions, although they didn’t explicitly say so, they did say that it would be a great system to be implemented, and it is something they were debating” or something similar to that.

7

> 2535447317427844;3:
> Am I missing something? There isn’t a gametype, nor should there be for ‘5’ people. Warzone, an Big Team Battle are the only ones that should allow for more than 4.

You seem to be missing the entire point of the thread which is saying H5 should not be matching solo searchers against full teams.
Agree 100%.

8

It would still be better to implement party restrictions into the existing playlists, like it was in Halo 3. Splitting up playlists into several would not work with the relatively low population levels in Halo. LoL has millions upon millions of players and can afford to split up the playlists. But party restrictions are like you said crucial to get Halo 5’s otherwise beautiful ranking system to work.

Implement party restrictions like they did in Halo 3 and we are golden. I could search solo or with a full pre-made team, it didn’t matter, I got my level 50 since I deserved it. Since Halo 3, this has been a real problem as having no party restrictions meant you would get completely yoinked over if you searched solo.

9

> 2533274962785885;7:
> > 2535447317427844;3:
> > Am I missing something? There isn’t a gametype, nor should there be for ‘5’ people. Warzone, an Big Team Battle are the only ones that should allow for more than 4.
>
>
> You seem to be missing the entire point of the thread which is saying H5 should not be matching solo searchers against full teams.
> Agree 100%.

I didn’t miss the point of the thread, I wanted him to clarify something before I spoke. Please, stop.

10

> 2535447317427844;6:
> > 2728296738564166;5:
> > > 2535447317427844;3:
> > > Am I missing something? There isn’t a gametype, nor should there be for ‘5’ people. Warzone, an Big Team Battle are the only ones that should allow for more than 4.
> >
> >
> > I’m sorry. I got caught up in my analogy regarding league, where there are Ranked 5s, but I changed the subject to be ranked 4x4, which is relevant:)
> >
> > Again, my apologies.
>
>
> Okay, well if I’m not mistaken Ready Up Live posted a video about this, and they made the mention that they spoke with 343, and there will “More than likely be party restrictions, although they didn’t explicitly say so, they did say that it would be a great system to be implemented, and it is something they were debating” or something similar to that.

“More than likely” is not enough, 8 days from launch. If they want to be serious with this Esports branching out, which I hope they will, they can’t keep these things on lock down. It holds enough weight in a competitive fashion to have it’s own segment in the CSR System post.

11

> 2535447317427844;3:
> Am I missing something? There isn’t a gametype, nor should there be for ‘5’ people. Warzone, an Big Team Battle are the only ones that should allow for more than 4.

he’s talking about party restrictions when searching in ranked for the example he used league of legends which has 5 players, it says that just before the first piece of bold text.

to talk about halo the key idea is that teams of 4 can only find other teams of 4, otherwise you search by yourself or with a friend, no 3s. not so much for other playlists but at least the playlist that will have tournament settings needs this, otherwise you will need to stack 4s before searching or you are at a disadvantage, it ruins the integrity of the skill search by allowing people who communicate on the same wavelength to face randoms paired up with each other, which is a skewed advantage to the team.

12

> 2728296738564166;10:
> > 2535447317427844;6:
> > > 2728296738564166;5:
> > > > 2535447317427844;3:
> > > > Am I missing something? There isn’t a gametype, nor should there be for ‘5’ people. Warzone, an Big Team Battle are the only ones that should allow for more than 4.
> > >
> > >
> > > I’m sorry. I got caught up in my analogy regarding league, where there are Ranked 5s, but I changed the subject to be ranked 4x4, which is relevant:)
> > >
> > > Again, my apologies.
> >
> >
> > Okay, well if I’m not mistaken Ready Up Live posted a video about this, and they made the mention that they spoke with 343, and there will “More than likely be party restrictions, although they didn’t explicitly say so, they did say that it would be a great system to be implemented, and it is something they were debating” or something similar to that.
>
>
> “More than likely” is not enough, 8 days from launch. If they want to be serious with this Esports branching out, which I hope they will, they can’t keep these things on lock down. It holds enough weight in a competitive fashion to have it’s own segment in the CSR System post.

More than likely is all that I can give you in terms of information. I understand what you’re saying, and I agree that it should have party limitations, but I can’t clarify any further, or confirm, or deny.

13

> 2533274962008908;8:
> It would still be better to implement party restrictions into the existing playlists, like it was in Halo 3. Splitting up playlists into several would not work with the relatively low population levels in Halo. LoL has millions upon millions of players and can afford to split up the playlists. But party restrictions are like you said crucial to get Halo 5’s otherwise beautiful ranking system to work.
>
> Implement party restrictions like they did in Halo 3 and we are golden. I could search solo or with a full pre-made team, it didn’t matter, I got my level 50 since I deserved it. Since Halo 3, this has been a real problem as having no party restrictions meant you would get completely yoinked over if you searched solo.

I don’t agree. The system was still very flawed, where you could climb 1 through 50 on a fresh account, because you had NO latent MMR after your matched games prior to the creation of account, and especially because you could stomp with a team, but be crap alone.

SoloQ is excellent for teamwork, teamplay, integration of a competitive environment, and give a “measurement” for a players individual skill.

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> 2533274836395701;11:
> > 2535447317427844;3:
> > Am I missing something? There isn’t a gametype, nor should there be for ‘5’ people. Warzone, an Big Team Battle are the only ones that should allow for more than 4.
>
>
> he’s talking about party restrictions when searching in ranked for the example he used league of legends which has 5 players, it says that just before the first piece of bold text.
>
> to talk about halo the key idea is that teams of 4 can only find other teams of 4, otherwise you search by yourself or with a friend, no 3s. not so much for other playlists but at least the playlist that will have tournament settings needs this, otherwise you will need to stack 4s before searching or you are at a disadvantage, it ruins the integrity of the skill search by allowing people who communicate on the same wavelength to face randoms paired up with each other, which is a skewed advantage to the team.

JESUS CHRIST do people NOT read the responses? this has already been clarified, and explained by the OP. Gah, stop it already.

15

Here is the video I was referencing.

16

Keep it simple guys, stay on topic. Please have in mind people may be writing replies while you are reading the thread. Use the refresh button to avoid further collisions.

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<mark>This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not flame or attack other members.</mark>

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

> 2535447317427844;14:
>

if you used your brain for once instead of being so dramatic you could probably understand when i started commenting there was no comment clearing it up. either way i’ve contributed more to the discussion in regards to further breaking down why it is integral and all you’ve done is parrot ready up live, so a whole lot of not much really.

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<mark>This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not flame or attack other members.</mark>

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

> 2533274836395701;17:
>

I maintain my statement from my previous post. Insults will be reported, seeing as how ‘If you used your brain for once’ can be construed as an insult, and I just don’t like you.
Go back to the thread topic, eh? Thanks buttercup.

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> 2535447317427844;18:
>

it’s snarky comments like yours that ruin forums, have to deal with that toxic nature on beyond too unfortunately, it’s fine that you report me, i’ve done the same.

on topic: if there’s ever a time to have party restrictions it should be at launch when there’s the most players, hopefully they go that route instead of implementing that system at a later time when there’s less people.

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> 2533274836395701;19:
> > 2535447317427844;18:
> > > 2533274836395701;17:
> > > > 2535447317427844;14:
> > > > > 2533274836395701;11:
> > > > > > 2535447317427844;3:
> > > > > > Am I missing something? There isn’t a gametype, nor should there be for ‘5’ people. Warzone, an Big Team Battle are the only ones that should allow for more than 4.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > he’s talking about party restrictions when searching in ranked for the example he used league of legends which has 5 players, it says that just before the first piece of bold text.
> > > > >
> > > > > to talk about halo the key idea is that teams of 4 can only find other teams of 4, otherwise you search by yourself or with a friend, no 3s. not so much for other playlists but at least the playlist that will have tournament settings needs this, otherwise you will need to stack 4s before searching or you are at a disadvantage, it ruins the integrity of the skill search by allowing people who communicate on the same wavelength to face randoms paired up with each other, which is a skewed advantage to the team.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > JESUS CHRIST do people NOT read the responses? this has already been clarified, and explained by the OP. Gah, stop it already.
> > >
> > >
> > > on topic: if there’s ever a time to have party restrictions it should be at launch when there’s the most players, hopefully they go that route instead of implementing that system at a later time when there’s less people.

I agree. Hence why it’s too late to be “might, if, when, what” It’s crucial information regarding one of their biggest investments.