Re: Halo: Reach
This is a great article, I'll quote some of the key stuff.
This system seems to be genius. You can play with your friends no matter how good they are. It eliminates the problems with ranked playlists from Halo 3 (second accounts, boosters, xp quitters).
It also makes the game competitive and eliminates the frustration of the halo 3 ranking system.
This is a great article, I'll quote some of the key stuff.
We want to take a new stab at the scoring system and come up with a 'pure scoring system'. We thought a lot about the different pros and cons of [our previous system. We didn't like that it penalized the best player on the losing team. What we came up with was the Arena. It has a different vibe. It is a hardcore, Slayer-only [area]. You are going to be given a rating compared to the rest of the population broken up into divisions.
It's a season-based model, which [helps prevent account smurfing]. If you played a bunch in Halo 3, you'd hit around 40 [skill] and all of a sudden you're number isn't going up. Players would say, 'I guess I'm done. Do I make a second account?' The season model does some really cool things. At the end of the season, it goes on the back of your 'baseball card' and the next season begins fresh.
With the Arena rating system, we're trying to say, 'Here are the things we value and our players value in-game.' You get a higher rating by doing things that good players do: working with your teammates, getting kills and assists, and not dying a lot. You're playing Slayer, so if you die, you're giving [the enemy team] a point. Say you have two guys, one has a kill:death spread of 10 and the other has a spread of 2. Even if the guy with 2 scored a few more kills - the guy with the higher spread will get a better rating. The game is saying, 'You did the better job. You were playing the game better and working with your team better. This is what contributes to your overall rating.'
If you look at the different layers of Halo players, there are guys that really understand kills, deaths, assists, working as a team, and all the stuff that [will go into this rating]. We basically wanted to bubble that up, pull it out, and put it on the table: this is what Slayer is. We can now tell you, 'You did well', if you actually play well.
If Tyson wants to play with his little brother, who isn't that good, Tyson can play with him. His brother might suck, but Tyson might be really good. He can go in and get a good rating game after game after game. This is something that our Halo 3 model did not do well.
Play with who you want. You're going to get scored individually.
Our seasons are probably going to line-up with calendar months. For the September 2010, you're going for the best division you can by the end of that season. To get there, you get rated on individual days. For example, if you need to get a rating on 5 days to get a rating for the season, that means on 5 separate days, you need to play a couple of games each night.
The day rating is based on the best selection of a night's games. You'll never have a situation [where one bad game] brings your rating down. It happens behind the scenes for matchmaking purposes and season standings, but every day, it's all about your best performances on that day.
It's a season-based model, which [helps prevent account smurfing]. If you played a bunch in Halo 3, you'd hit around 40 [skill] and all of a sudden you're number isn't going up. Players would say, 'I guess I'm done. Do I make a second account?' The season model does some really cool things. At the end of the season, it goes on the back of your 'baseball card' and the next season begins fresh.
With the Arena rating system, we're trying to say, 'Here are the things we value and our players value in-game.' You get a higher rating by doing things that good players do: working with your teammates, getting kills and assists, and not dying a lot. You're playing Slayer, so if you die, you're giving [the enemy team] a point. Say you have two guys, one has a kill:death spread of 10 and the other has a spread of 2. Even if the guy with 2 scored a few more kills - the guy with the higher spread will get a better rating. The game is saying, 'You did the better job. You were playing the game better and working with your team better. This is what contributes to your overall rating.'
If you look at the different layers of Halo players, there are guys that really understand kills, deaths, assists, working as a team, and all the stuff that [will go into this rating]. We basically wanted to bubble that up, pull it out, and put it on the table: this is what Slayer is. We can now tell you, 'You did well', if you actually play well.
If Tyson wants to play with his little brother, who isn't that good, Tyson can play with him. His brother might suck, but Tyson might be really good. He can go in and get a good rating game after game after game. This is something that our Halo 3 model did not do well.
Play with who you want. You're going to get scored individually.
Our seasons are probably going to line-up with calendar months. For the September 2010, you're going for the best division you can by the end of that season. To get there, you get rated on individual days. For example, if you need to get a rating on 5 days to get a rating for the season, that means on 5 separate days, you need to play a couple of games each night.
The day rating is based on the best selection of a night's games. You'll never have a situation [where one bad game] brings your rating down. It happens behind the scenes for matchmaking purposes and season standings, but every day, it's all about your best performances on that day.
It also makes the game competitive and eliminates the frustration of the halo 3 ranking system.
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