Hello there Spartans,
I think it could be a good thing to make a poll about what ranks we would like to see in Halo 5: Guardians. I’m talking about “global ranks” in addition to the 1-50 or Arena.
Seeing the Beta, for now we will have SR like in Halo 4 and our Arena Division. Assuming it’s a Beta, and additionally released one year before the final game, everything we saw is subjects to change. Now I will go into more details for each vote options and what we can see through in game Service Record/Player Details when you compare with other players.
Halo2/Halo MCC
Halo 2 didn’t have a global rank, just the 1-50 Skill Level for every ranked playlists. Halo MCC did the same thing.
Service Record: When looking at other players, it’s showing the current highest rank in Halo 2. Halo MCC’s shows the current highest skill and propably the most detailed in game stats to date where you can see stats from every aspects of the game: Campaign, Multiplayer and Playlists.
Conclusion: Only Skill Level, based on ranked play. Only based on skill.
Halo 3
Making the return of H2’s 1-50 levels but working on the new TrueSkill system of the Xbox 360, Halo 3 also added a global rank based on wins and skill levels. For example, to reach the highest group of ranks (General) you have to be 50 in a playlist at least once. Through the 2008 Title Update, Bungie added ranks for all Playlists, Ranked and Social, based on the same military ranks but not linked to the skill level: You can be a Brigadier in Social Slayer, or a Five Star General in Team Doubles without having a 50 in it.
Service Record: It has more details than Halo 2. We can see the highest skill achieved (ever), the global rank, a few “ribbons”, the number of EXP (wins and draw), the numbers of games played and the Player’s Spartan or Elite model.
Conclusion: Global rank + Skill Level, both are linked and works together + a “social” rank in every playlist. Requires 5000 wins and a level 50 to reach the highest rank. Requires a lot of time and games played + Skill (for the 50).
Halo: Reach
Reach did change a lot of things, and not only in the gameplay, ranks and competitive play changed too. 1-50 are gone with the addition of The Arena, the new ranked playlist for competitive players. The Arena works with divisions represented by “medals” like gold, onyx or silver. The rank in Reach is completely different than before, now, no matter what you play, you will rank up: Campaign, Firefight, Matchmaking, Forge or Custom Games, everything gives you cR. cR works like xp in other games, no matter what you do, you’re xp rises. They are bonuses for wins, challenges or depending on how good you play in a game but everyone can be promoted Inheritor, it’s just a matter of time.
Service Record: Shows the global rank, commendations and a lot of stats in game compared to past Halo titles. Arena Divisions can be seen but not on the first page, you have to look into multiple pages.
Conclusion: Global rank + Arena Division. Ranks and Arena are not linked. Requires a ton of cR, time and games played but “no skill based”, the more you play, the more you rank up.
Halo 4
Ranks here are working like in Reach except for the Campaign: you don’t get XP by killing enemies but you can do Campaign Challenges to get some. This time they are called Spartan Ranks (SR) and are based on numbers. The “base” highest beeing SR50, you have to complete multiple Specializations to reach the last rank: SR130. For the competitve side, the Competitve Skill Rank based on 1-50 levels was added after a few months but wasn’t visible in game. We can see them only on our Halo Waypoint’s Service Record.
Service Record: Shows the rank, the Spartan model and some stats for Campaign, Spartan Ops an War Games multiplayer but this time we can’t see other players commendations. The CSR isn’t visible in game.
Conclusion: Global rank + Skill Level. Requires some time but nothing compare to Halo 3 and Reach. Some people reach max rank in a month or two but again it’s based on how much you play without being “insanely long to achieve”.
That’s it. There’s a lot of things I’d like to discuss about “things to do” when you are playing like very long ranks to reach, lots of commendations, unlockables, etc … but I don’t know how could I start a thread about this. Anyways, while some players only play for the holy 50, other only plays for fun but like to rank up to their Mythic rank, and some Spartans are doing both, like me. In the end, I think ranks are important in Halo and it can helps players to stay on the game for years. While it never prevents me to play a game, I think it’s a good thing to always have something to do, it adds little goals, completion, challenges, especially if you are playing alone.
My conclusion.
For me the best experience we could have would be something like that, and it’s only my opinion:
-1-50 levels (H2/MCC design)
-Reach military global ranks, really long to achieve where everything you play gives you cR and ending with “Legendary” ranks
-Social Ranks in every playlist (like Halo 3)
-Commendations (Reach’s design)
-Armory with lots of unlockables, long to unlock, some based on achievements, some based on ranks, some based on older games (like some armors in the H5 Beta)
-Service Record based on Halo 3 one, but with the MCC type of stats, adding commendations from Reach (which looks like ribbons), showing all ranks (Level, Global, Playlists)
-Nameplates
-Veteran stuff shown on Service Record
-Reach user interface (based on Halo 2)
Every Halo games had some good ideas but I feel like everytime they put new things, we lost some others without any reason. This is just a small summary of my thoughts about ranks and the whole experience. My descriptions doesn’t explain all the details of the games, it’s just a quick summary of what they have to offer and how they works.
Please share your opinion.
Together we can build the best Halo game and the most complete experience to date.
Long. Live. Halo.