Visible Ranks Give Personal Incentive.

Games Other Halo
#1

This is why we should have a visible ranking system, and it’s not for the reasons you think.

It’s pretty simple, actually. Back in Halo 2, I played ranked even though I knew I was bad. I never got past 25, and that’s because I wasn’t that great at the game. But do you know why I kept plugging away at it? Because with every rank, I knew I was getting better. After a really good winning streak where I knew I was playing better than I ever had, I was rewarded with a tick up on that counter.

Then, once I got that rank, I had to defend it. I had to keep playing at the top of my game. When this spilled into Halo 3, I charged in headfirst and managed to get a legit 47 before my other competitive friends stopped playing, and I started digging into custom games more.

Anyway, my point is that a visible ranking system gives you something to work for, and a standard to set yourself to. That number pushed me to get better. Now, there are arguments that if truskill is still working in the background, and you’re getting matched with similar opponents, it’s pretty much the same thing. It isn’t. It isn’t even close.

If I’m a new player and I’m unaware of this invisible truskill system, I’m going to start out in MM thinking I’m going up against randoms. Maybe I’m pretty good, and I do well my first few games. Then truskill kicks in and I start getting more even matches. All of a sudden I’m banging my head against this invisible wall. Every game is tough, but I don’t know if I’m getting any better or not. I have no way of knowing what my progress is. I could be really bad, but getting matched up with other bad players, and still struggling. Or I could have mastered the game and be playing with MLG pros by now.

My point is, I just wouldn’t know! And that’s what a visible ranking system gives us; We know how far along we are and we can strive to go higher.

I’m very sad to see that 343 has decided against a visible ranking system. The benefits outweigh the downsides 10 fold.

#2

I think you can see your rank, Yeah, I really don’t understand why they are doing that.

#3

If they have indeed decided to hide the rank, then I say its a good thing.

When I paid attention to the visible rank in Halo 2, I dwelled on it. When I made a mistake, I got frustrated, and that made me make more mistakes, and before you knew it, I was getting pissed off and not having fun.

In Halo 3, the rank didn’t seem as important, and I feel like I enjoyed it better.

In Halo: Reach, There was no visible rank at all, and I felt like I had more fun even when if I wasn’t winning, and as a result I feel like I played better. Whether thats true or not is for the stat junkies.

P.S. I also know that, while playing Reach, when I started my stats on HaloTracker.com, I started to get frustrated by my mistakes again, and I started to play worse again. Now I don’t care so much.

#4

so long as the system matches me with equal players, i wouldn’t care if only i can see my rank. what’s to say that the ranks of others doesn’t show up in their service records anyway.

#5

> This is why we should have a visible ranking system, and it’s not for the reasons you think.
>
> It’s pretty simple, actually. Back in Halo 2, I played ranked even though I knew I was bad. I never got past 25, and that’s because I wasn’t that great at the game. But do you know why I kept plugging away at it? Because with every rank, I knew I was getting better. After a really good winning streak where I knew I was playing better than I ever had, I was rewarded with a tick up on that counter.
>
> Then, once I got that rank, I had to defend it. I had to keep playing at the top of my game. When this spilled into Halo 3, I charged in headfirst and managed to get a legit 47 before my other competitive friends stopped playing, and I started digging into custom games more.
>
> Anyway, my point is that a visible ranking system gives you something to work for, and a standard to set yourself to. That number pushed me to get better. Now, there are arguments that if truskill is still working in the background, and you’re getting matched with similar opponents, it’s pretty much the same thing. It isn’t. It isn’t even close.
>
> If I’m a new player and I’m unaware of this invisible truskill system, I’m going to start out in MM thinking I’m going up against randoms. Maybe I’m pretty good, and I do well my first few games. Then truskill kicks in and I start getting more even matches. All of a sudden I’m banging my head against this invisible wall. Every game is tough, but I don’t know if I’m getting any better or not. I have no way of knowing what my progress is. I could be really bad, but getting matched up with other bad players, and still struggling. Or I could have mastered the game and be playing with MLG pros by now.
>
> My point is, I just wouldn’t know! And that’s what a visible ranking system gives us; We know how far along we are and we can strive to go higher.
>
> I’m very sad to see that 343 has decided against a visible ranking system. The benefits outweigh the downsides 10 fold.

Your actual rank like say “Inheritor” EVERYBODY CAN SEE, but your trueskill rank is invisible, it’s nothing new at all, basically exactly the same as Reach.

#6

Ranks that are only visible to yourself accomplish the goal in your OP. That is hopefully what they are doing for H4.

#7

> Ranks that are only visible to yourself accomplish the goal in your OP. That is hopefully what they are doing for H4.

This would be good enough for me :D…

#8

> > Ranks that are only visible to yourself accomplish the goal in your OP. That is hopefully what they are doing for H4.
>
> This would be good enough for me :D…

Ranks that are only visible to yourself are also prevents any “You need to be [Some high rank] to have an opinion cause you know more about Halo than some one who isn’t.” statements.

#9

You would prove it in game ^^^ so in a way this would be good for players who are actually good but cannot achieve a high rank. Go ahead and lie in the lobby, say your a 50. Play well, prove it, and we will have no problem

#10

> You would prove it in game ^^^ so in a way this would be good for players who are actually good but cannot achieve a high rank. Go ahead and lie in the lobby, say your a 50. Play well, prove it, and we will have no problem

Good players shouldn’t have to brag about their rank, they should brag that they’re skilled players, not what rank they have.

#11

> > You would prove it in game ^^^ so in a way this would be good for players who are actually good but cannot achieve a high rank. Go ahead and lie in the lobby, say your a 50. Play well, prove it, and we will have no problem
>
> Good players shouldn’t have to brag about their rank, they should brag that they’re skilled players, not what rank they have.

This isn’t even about bragging. Put all the negatives aside and look at the positives for personal achievement.

#12

I would love the OPTION to show or Hide Ranks ( to everyone ) or ( friends only ) or ( NONE )

Although when sitting or searching in a Ranked playlist everyone in said playlist should be able to see everyones Rankes

#13

As long as the SKILL RANKS are visible (im content)

There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be visible that doesn’t apply to the progression Rank as well

They both should be hidden or both visible

#14

Hiding it because of “bragging” is lame. There’s a reason the mute button is there. Use it.

#15

> Hiding it because of “bragging” is lame. There’s a reason the mute button is there. Use it.

Their real reason is worse: Boosters. Who gives a crap if you boost? If you boost then play at lvl 50, you’re going to get stomped by people who worked for it. So it doesn’t matter.

#16

> > Hiding it because of “bragging” is lame. There’s a reason the mute button is there. Use it.
>
> Their real reason is worse: Boosters. Who gives a crap if you boost? If you boost then play at lvl 50, you’re going to get stomped by people who worked for it. So it doesn’t matter.

Yeah, and these people who boosted their way to 50 were the ones who “bragged” about it. If someone doesn’t like listening to their “bragging”, that person could just mute them. Easy peasy.

#17

> > > Hiding it because of “bragging” is lame. There’s a reason the mute button is there. Use it.
> >
> > Their real reason is worse: Boosters. Who gives a crap if you boost? If you boost then play at lvl 50, you’re going to get stomped by people who worked for it. So it doesn’t matter.
>
> Yeah, and these people who boosted their way to 50 were the ones who “bragged” about it. If someone doesn’t like listening to their “bragging”, that person could just mute them. Easy peasy.

Basically, 343’s reasoning for not including a numbered ranking system are all nonsense.

I’m most upset that whatever “ranked” mode they have will be just like Arena: Packed into a corner with no player population and no relevancy. I ENJOY ranked. I don’t know why they’re punishing players like us.

#18

You simply aren’t going to get ANY meaningful progression system if you want to avoid boosting that desperately. Any time you have something worthwhile you’re going to have people that boost for it. But that’s just absolutely no reason to deprive the majority of well meaning players of a meaningful incentive.

#19

> You simply aren’t going to get ANY meaningful progression system if you want to avoid boosting that desperately. Any time you have something worthwhile you’re going to have people that boost for it. But that’s just absolutely no reason to deprive the majority of well meaning players of a meaningful incentive.

It’s essentially the same argument against draconian DRM: If you fight pirates tooth and nail, all you’re going to do is piss off the paying customer. In this instance, the more 343 fights boosters and exploiters, we get what we have now: A ranking system that nobody cares or pays attention to, and hardly functions at all. It doesn’t work because nobody plays it.

If only 343 would just re-instate a meaningful ranking system and try their best with the Banhammer, things would be okay.

I was almost devastated when I heard that the ranking system was going to be invisible again.

#20

Pointless topic.

Why?

  1. You can still see your rank. Your rank sill progresses! You still have incentive!
  2. The only “hidden ranks” are from OTHER PLAYERS. Nobody else can see your rank. You can’t see other peoples’ ranks. But, matchmaking will still match you up with similar levelled players, so you can pretty much guess who has which ranks when you play with them.
  3. Your topic should actually be “Nobody can see how ‘skilled’ I am anymore! This makes me sadface!”. That’s what these topics boil down into. It isn’t, “Oh, seeing my rank adds incentive”. Clearly, it doesn’t. If it did, everyone would still be playing Halo 3 and not playing Halo Reach and complaining about Halo 4.

What “provides incentive” to these players is “public recognition”. That’s what your post is about. That’s what it will boil down to. That’s what people agreeing with you want as well. Public recognition. Their 15 minutes of fame. The ability to beat down people in the forums with idiotic comment of “My KtD is higher, so obviously I know more about skill than you do. No, I don’t care that you play objective gametypes and most of your kills are with a variety of weapons instead of all with the DMR. Your argument is still invalid”.

Can we please just start naming these topics what they actually are? “343i, we want people to see our ranks!”. Then make arguments from that standpoint instead of the flawed standpoint of having no incentive to play if you can’t see a rank. You can see a rank, just yours. Your “incentive” is obviously there according to your argument.

You are essentially complaining that they removed a feature that they did not.

See why this is a pointless topic?