Edited by Moderator - Please do not make nonconstructive posts.
*Original post. Click at your own discretion.
The two biggest arguments for/against visible ranks claim that the opposing side is insecure.
Anti-rankers believe that people that want rank are obsessed with little pixels by their name and only want it as an ego boost and to use it to put down others.
Pro-rankers believe that people who don’t want ranks are insecure and don’t want a visual representation of how terrible they are.
Which is it?
Personally, I think both sides are wrong. Some people like having incentive to win and NOT lose because it makes the match way more intense, competitive, and fun. Others just want to play the game to have fun. They may or may not be competitive but they don’t like the super competitive atmosphere.
The only side that seems to be in the wrong are anti-rankers. Why? Because they seem to want to force their views, their playstyle, and their mindset on the pro-rankers by eliminating all visible rank. “Why do you need pixels next to your name to have fun.”
Pro-rankers seem to be way more reasonable. They want the playlists split into the Reach-like Social and Halo 2/3-like Ranked.
As for who 343 should listen to, both sides are minorities and probably only make up 10% of the Halo community each. The other 80% like Halo and will enjoy it no matter what. Their opinion doesn’t really matter. So I think they should aim to satisfy both factions instead of just one. Invisible ranks will only satisfy one faction: the anti-rankers. Split playlists will satisfy everybody.
Logical conclusion is logical.
Edited by Moderator - Please do not flame/attack others.
*Original post. Click at your own discretion.
> Anti-rankers believe that people that want rank are obsessed with little pixels by their name and only want it as an ego boost and to use it to put down others.
No, they don’t, you unbelievably stupid human being. I’ve never stumbled across an “anti-ranker” thread on the Halo 4 Forum. People either want a ranking system with built in trueskill, or just a generic level progression system.
> The only side that seems to be in the wrong are anti-rankers. Why? Because they seem to want to force their views, their playstyle, and their mindset on the pro-rankers by eliminating all visible rank. “Why do you need pixels next to your name to have fun.”
Hardly.
And as the conversation was doomed from the start with statements like that, I’m ending it before it gets worse.
I posted this in another visible rank thread, and I think it’s relevant here:
I think there are a lot of misconceptions as to why visible ranks weren’t included in Reach, and why they’re not likely to return in Halo 4. It’s not just about the aspect of buying a 50 in and of itself, it’s also about the impact that playing on that account has on TrueSkill, and the impact of higher level players playing on second accounts. There are several good posts I’ve found which discuss those problems which I have consolidated below.
If you were of high rank in Halo 3 you probably don’t see a problem. If you made it to 50 and started over again you don’t see a problem. That’s what the problem is. Once you are up there playing at “higher levels” you no longer have to deal with the problems caused by people with low skill playing on a high level account (bought) or higher ranked players playing on second accounts.
What happens is that the TrueSkill system is trying to figure out why this 50 account is playing like a 1, and in the process it is re-evaluating everyone. Players in the 20’s and 30’s are getting 1’s on their teams that have a 50 TrueSkill account. They are losing games they should have won and then TrueSkill does its thing, those bought 50 accounts ranks down, and so does everyone else. Now that 50 is a 45 and he goes on to screw up someone else’s chances. Every game he plays throws TrueSkill off just a little more.
If it was just a handful of people, the system would eventually correct itself. But it was much more than that and more every day. The higher ranked players at the top think its fine and working properly because you’re only playing 50’s and it didn’t matter if they earned it or not because your chances of ranking down were slim. Those of us in the middle trying to do it the right way were just plain screwed.
When someone with lower skill buys and uses an account with a high rating (50) it messes up matchmaking for the lower ranks. Higher ranks won’t notice it. That’s why it appears to work properly for higher ranked players… because they just didn’t see it. You might see these guys in a match or two, but then TrueSkill will put them in lower ranked matches and you never see them again. But when it’s recalculating for them, it’s recalculating for the entire player base. People get stuck while TrueSkill is trying to figure out what’s wrong. The high end and the low end aren’t affected. It’s the middle ranks that are trying to get to a higher rank that it affects most.
Second accounts have a similar affect. A high ranking player (50), playing on a lower ranked account, keeps other players from moving up, as their TrueSkill is not accurately represented on that 2nd account. When you’re trying to push forward, you could get matched up with these 2nd accounts several times before the gap between your ranks gets great enough to not get matched with them. It’s not just a couple of matches. It could be several matches before that gap gets large enough to not get paired against them.
Most of the time, the higher ranks tend to be better due to experience. The lt. colonels and lower really do have something to fear seeing they have less experience. Although higher ranks tend to be better, i am a legend and have had my -Yoink- handed to me quite a few times by some low rankers. It depends on the player, kd ratio most of the time does not reflect player skill (unless your really bad). Everybody has there good and bad days.