Why Halo 4's rank system is good *detailed*

Games Other Halo
1

I liked Reach’s ranking system raises flame shield

It was a good ranking system that rewarded players good and bad. Even those who are really bad at Halo could rank up and earn cR and feel good when they hit that next rank or bought that new piece of armor, and winning for them was a lot harder to achieve in Halo 3 without a good team or even worse opponents. Sure, Reach doesn’t really have a way to show skill in the ranking system aside from Arena ranks, but it still showed time and dedication just as Halo 3’s ranking system did.

Pros:

  1. Rewarded players for losing

The reason this was good was because it’s not always one player’s fault their team loses. A particular player on the losing team could have gone 30-0, but they still lost because the rest of their team sucked. Especially in cases such as that, even losers deserve some sort of reward.

2: No Highest Skill

keeps flame shield raised I’ll discuss this in a moment when I describe Halo 3’s ranking system.

  1. Highest rank obtainable by bad/decent players

It wouldn’t be fair to play Halo: Reach religiously since it came out and never hit the max rank because you aren’t good enough. Being able to hit max rank regardless of skill is a plus (I’m not bad at Reach, I’m just making a point).

  1. Shows time, dedication, and experiece

Whenever you see an Inheritor, you know they played the game a lot… or perhaps they modded it, but most likely, they didn’t. To me especially, I feel better when the Inheritor(s) is/are on my team because I know they are experienced with the game.

  1. Everything gives you cR

Regardless of the fact that you get hardly any cR from anything but Matchmaking, you still earn them no matter what you do, and even that 250 cR you just earned in Forge helps out in the long run.

Cons:

  1. Time

I know I put time as a Pro, but that’s because it shows familiarity with the game when you see a high ranked player. Truly, the time it takes to reach Inheritor on this game is really bad in my opinion. I’m almost halfway through Field Marshall again. Even though it took a lot longer the first time with 100 cR Challenges, it still takes forever, even with jackpots every weekend, and high-cR Weekly Challenges.

  1. Armor is earned only through ranking up and earning cR

I feel like armor should definitely be gained form achieving higher ranks. A General should get cooler armor than a Captain. However, I also believe that armor should also be unlocked through Achievements like in Halo 3. That way, when someone sees you wearing an armor piece gained from a hard Achievement, they will know you worked hard to get it.

  1. No Double cR Weekends

This would help a lot. The Reach ranking system takes a long time to prgress in, and if they had Double cR Weekends, ranking up would be much easier during those times.

Halo 3 doesn’t have a bad ranking system. I believe, however, that the ranking system has several flaws applies upgrades to flame shield

Pros:

  1. Makes players strive to become better so that they can win and rank up

Since you can’t earn EXP through losing, players that care about their ranks tend to try harder so that they can earn that next EXP point.

  1. Double EXP Weekends

This helped a lot. 1 EXP is terrible later on in the ranks, but even though 2 EXP isn’t much better, it’s still more than you get during the middle of the week.

  1. Shows time, dedication, and experience

When you see that 5-Star General with over 10,000 EXP or more, you know that they have played for a very long time, even if they boosted in Double EXP Weekend playlists. If they haven’t purchased the account or obtained it in some other way, then this player comes with teammates’ satisfaction that he is very experienced. I said experienced, not good.

  1. Shows skill (to an extent)

I usually expect 50s to be good. It doesn’t always turn out like that, but it does for the most part. I feel more comfortable with a 50 on my team than a 20 or less.

  1. Armor can be achieved through Achievements ans well as ranks

This describes itself.

Cons:

  1. Time

The higher ranks can be a real pain to get through, whether you win often or not. 5,000 total EXP is a lot to earn. I speak for myself when I say that it seems like it would take a very long time to reach 5-Star General legitimately.

  1. Trueskill system

dual-wields flame shields The reason I hate the Truskill system is because of the flawed way it works. I can win, say, 8 macthes in a row. My rank in Team Slayer will go up 3 times within that period. I lose one match and it goes down, just one match. I lose 2 games in a row and it doesn’t go down, then I win 2 in a row, then lose another match and it goes down again! Finally, I win 3 matches and it goes up, just to go down again in one loss. That’s why I hate it. The reason I like to see 50s on my team is because I know they pushed through this and made it out successfully.

  1. You only get EXP when you win or tie

surrounds myself in flame shields This is probably the least unfair and the worst part of the ranking system. I have almost lost double my wins on this account, and it’s hardly ever because the other team is good. I literally get THE worst teammates possible. I lose very often and I get nothing for having terrible teammates. In one of my recent Team Slayer matches, I got 26 kills, the most in the game, beating the second best player by 9 kills. I lost. My other two teammates causes it. One was AFK, and one only got 6 kills. Not only do I get nothing for losing because of teammates, even if I did the best, my rank in a ranked playlist also suffers from this as well, which is why I play Social Slayer on there more than Team Slayer. 2 EXP for winning or tieing and 1 EXP for losing would be better.

Overall, I prefer the Reach ranking system because it is more fair than Halo 3’s, and I don’t mean in terms of matching you up with players of similar skill.

Halo 4’s ranking system is good because it combines the best of these two ranking systems. You not only get EXP through winning and losing (Reach), but you also get more EXP for winning (close to Halo 3). This is how it should be. I want to rank up and be reward for having bad teammates or a close match that ended up being a loss, but I also expect a better reward for winning and doing good.

Halo 4’s ranking system will be the best ranking system in any Halo game to date.

reveals myself from the flame shields and teleports away before any harm is done to my person

2

I think 343 needs to navigate a tricky trail in terms of balancing the rewards between a winning team and a losing team. It’s not fair if a team lost because of a really bad player or two, but it’s not like the winners deserve no incentive at all. My biggest problem with Reach had to be how people would treat Objective games as if they were playing Slayer, because they would essentially earn more simply by getting more kills instead of focusing on the Objective. 343 needs to balance the system so that the losers aren’t cheated out of a reward for their play, but the winners get an obvious prize for winning.

3

I do agree with you on most of this you should be rewarded for your dedication and time but here is where we separate. I liked halo 3’s ranking system because it truly had the best system to stop afk and prevent them from ranking up and it was mainly around skill not games played or time on the game. the only problem with it was the deranking thing. now if we went back to halo 3s ranking system there would be a few things to do.

the way 343 could keep track of derankers and boosters is to notice a big drop in skill through out the players games or notice a great increase in skill in the players game.

the one thing that halo 3 was also successful on was ranked and social playlists. if you wanted to face people generally the same or closest rank to you this would be the best playlist but if you wanted to play a causal game with anyone it would be in the social playlist.

now reach isnt bad but the game has no skill oriented games or playlists anymore you are randomly put with teams of greater or less skill. this makes the games quite unbalanced.

in the end halo 4 could greatly use the ranked playlist idea back. the progression system is fine and can stay but there needs to be a place of skill involved to play with certain players.

The ranked playlist in halo 4 should be called officers league. or something close

4

You forgot the biggest reason Reach’s system was a failure in alot of people’s eyes: it didn’t give you a goal to strive for ( and i’m not just talking rank), it didn’t push you to UP your skill level. That is where Reach lost a good percent of it’s competitive fanbase

5

Hmmm wasn’t the EXP system for the progression/time spent (AKA Social Ranking)? And some sort of Letter/number combination for ranked.

6

>

Reach Pros

  1. Rewarded players for losing
    You didn’t win but here’s a star for effort.

2: No Highest Skill
You can’t lose your rank so don’t worry about playing bad!

  1. Highest rank obtainable by bad/decent players
    You can spend all your time in forge and still be up there with all the MM pros!

  2. Shows time, dedication, and experiece
    Based on rank alone, you’ll look as good as those MM pros!

  3. Everything gives you cR
    Everything you do should be rewarded, no matter how insignifcant it is!

Reach Cons

  1. Time
    Everyone should be rewarded instantly. Putting time and effort in to something is stupid.

  2. Armor is earned only through ranking up and earning cR
    Better players shouldn’t be rewarded for being better!

  3. No Double cR Weekends
    People who play at different times should be rewarded for playing at different times!

H3 Pros

  1. Makes players strive to become better so that they can win and rank up
    Valid point

  2. Double EXP Weekends
    Those weekend players sure are twice as good as anybody playing on the weekdays!

  3. Shows time, dedication, and experience
    Valid point

  4. Shows skill (to an extent)
    Valid point

  5. Armor can be achieved through Achievements ans well as ranks
    Armor is more desirable when it’s easier to achieve! Only good players can get to high ranks and that means armor will be exclusive to them which is bad!

H3 Cons

  1. Time
    Just like before, putting time and effort in to something is stupid and shouldn’t be rewarded!

  2. Trueskill system
    We don’t need to be matched up with people in our skill range. We should rank up regardless of who we face

  3. You only get EXP when you win or tie
    If you keep losing you’re obviously learning from your mistakes, so you should get EXP for losing too!

You have three valid points. The rest of the pros and cons need to be flipped.

7

> Reach
>
> Pros:
> 1. Rewarded players for losing
> It shouldn’t matter - you play, win and lose as a team. If you want to play with randoms, you should probably be playing Social, not ranked.
> IMO if you want to get to a high rank you should find a team of your own and play with them and not rely on strangers to give good teamwork. Communication and familiarity are the cornerstones of an effective team.
>
> 3. Highest rank obtainable by bad/decent players
> It wouldn’t be fair to play Halo: Reach religiously since it came out and never hit the max rank because you aren’t good enough.
> Yes it would. Just because you’ve played the game for a long time doesn’t mean you’re entitled to the highest rank. The whole foundation of ranking is that if you’re not good enough, you should not be given a rank higher than 4that which you deserve.
> This is where Reach’s matchmaking system fails the most IMO, because even if you match with 7 others of your rank, the skill levels can still vary by a huge amount - making it hard for the system to match those of similar skill to you
>
> 4. Shows time, dedication, and experiece
> The same could be expressed with a 1-50 (or similar) system, or even just a “time played” stat.
>
> 5. Everything gives you cR
> But why should you get cR for everything? Forge, campaign etc. do not and should not have an effect on your online MP rank.
>
> Cons:
>
> 1. Time
>
> I agree with you here, Inheritor takes way too long to reach. Having said that: a system that allows max rank to be reached, by the average player, in a reasonable amount of time would lead to a lot of boredom/frustration for those who are insanely good at the game and reach the top rank v. quickly.
>
>
> 2. Armor is earned only through ranking up and earning cR
> I feel like armor should definitely be gained form achieving higher ranks.
> No arguments here!
>
> 3. No Double cR Weekends
> This would help a lot. The Reach ranking system takes a long time to prgress in, and if they had Double cR Weekends, ranking up would be much easier during those times.
> Dude, we have cR jackpot weekends.
>
>
> Halo 3
> Pros:
>
> 1. Makes players strive to become better so that they can win and rank up
> Since you can’t earn EXP through losing, players that care about their ranks tend to try harder so that they can earn that next EXP point.
>
> 2. Double EXP Weekends
>
> This helped a lot. 1 EXP is terrible later on in the ranks, but even though 2 EXP isn’t much better, it’s still more than you get during the middle of the week.
>
> 3. Shows time, dedication, and experience
>
> When you see that 5-Star General with over 10,000 EXP or more, you know that they have played for a very long time, even if they boosted in Double EXP Weekend playlists. If they haven’t purchased the account or obtained it in some other way, then this player comes with teammates’ satisfaction that he is very experienced. I said experienced, not good.
>
> 4. Shows skill (to an extent)
>
> I usually expect 50s to be good. It doesn’t always turn out like that, but it does for the most part. I feel more comfortable with a 50 on my team than a 20 or less.
>
> 5. Armor can be achieved through Achievements ans well as ranks
>
> This describes itself.
>
> Cons:
>
> 1. Time
> They may be a pain to rank up, but if you can’t reach the next level you’ve got to ask yourself whether you’re actually deserve to reach the next level. Maybe you’re stuck there for a reason.
>
> 2. Trueskill system
> I agree here, it was very frustrating in those respects. Hopefully H4 will incorporate a better system.
>
>
> 3. You only get EXP when you win or tie
> See earlier.
> I am of the opinion that you should not be rewarded for losing at all. It just doesn’t make sense to give players the chance to advance through the ranks by losing matches (albeit at a slower pace). Given enough time, a player that loses every match could still reach max rank if they are given cR/EXP.
>
> Halo 4’s ranking system will be the best ranking system in any Halo game to date.
> I sincerely hope so.

8

I still DO NOT understand why they AT LEAST made it so that the winning team would gain
double the amount of credits. Sure, they did something like that in Team Objective but
that was 18 months into the game.

The lack of a proper ranking system in Reach is the reason why so many people turned their
back on Halo. People love Halo because it’s competitive. When you take out the
competitiveness you’re left with no motivation to get on and play. Sure, being an
Inheritor is cool and all but it doesn’t mean I’m any good.