Forced Weight Class Selection in Ranked

[Nekrotik]

Hey guys,

So, it seems everyone is up in arms about CAFs in ranked, which I agree is pretty divisive.

However, I think most of us are glossing over a fairly important (actually, MASSIVE) change to ranked: Forced weight class selection.

I understand the devs want a bigger pool of players to reduce repetitive matchups.

However, it's INSANELY limiting for players, and I'm willing to bet that most players are really not going to be happy with the decision.

If you really like playing as a specific fighter, you end up having a 1/10 chance of being able to play them (if it's randomized).

If the rumored "one weight class per day, all day" system is in, that's going to cause A LOT of players to just not play on days where the selected/forced weight class is one they don't like, effectively REDUCING the player pool instead of increasing/streamlining it.

PLEASE reconsider this decision. It won't be a popular one at all.

What do you guys think?

[smokeface]

Luckily for me I mostly play quick match anyway, so it doesn't affect me much. It was fun hopping on ranked every once in a while and go for a title, but that won't even be an option for me with CAFs there. I hate CAFs so much, lol. I haven't touched the feature once in any of the ea games. I know tons of people love creating fighters, but I hate fighting them because of how absolutely ridiculous they typically look. Completely ruins the immersion for me. Only fighting in one weight class a day is going to ruin ranked too. The whole thing is a mess. Luckily the gameplay improvements look awesome, so I'll still buy the game and just play quick match.

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[aholbert32]

I have no skin in this game (I dont play ranked) but I always thought it was wild that people brag about being the best and in the "top 100" and then you ask them who they use and its 1 or 2 fighters or they fight in 2 divisions.

This also solves the "I can never find a match" because the pool is bigger.

I dont believe people will not play on certain days either. Ranked players are drug addicts when it comes to this game and if it happens to be a Flyweight day, they will just play with Cejudo or Benevidez and play the game because they need their fix.

[T4H Recognize]

Do you think fan base will be good on ufc ea 4 online ranked? Hope so

[zeric]

It will most likely be multuple.divisoms available each day

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[Nekrotik]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

I have no skin in this game (I dont play ranked) but I always thought it was wild that people brag about being the best and in the "top 100" and then you ask them who they use and its 1 or 2 fighters or they fight in 2 divisions. This also solves the "I can never find a match" because the pool is bigger. I dont believe people will not play on certain days either. Ranked players are drug addicts when it comes to this game and if it happens to be a Flyweight day, they will just play with Cejudo or Benevidez and play the game because they need their fix.

I think you're right on some aspects of this, however, I think a lot of people will just switch to quick match instead of ranked if they can't play their favorite fighters. A lot of people hate certain weight classes and just won't play them.

Relying on addicts to keep playing every day is basically limiting the player pool to like 10% of the player base, which could have otherwise grown significantly with the addition of CAFs (we're complaining a lot here about those, but keep in mind - we're the hardcores. I'd bet like 80% of players will be super happy about the change, even if we hate it).

Casuals simply won't play ranked if they move forward with this. I know I probably won't play ranked if I'm forced to play weight classes I don't like (I like slower-paced fights, so I only play middleweight and above, otherwise it isn't fun for me).

The lower/female weight classes has way fewer players than others. That's because a lot of people don't like those weight classes or prefer others. When forced into a weight class people don't like, they'll be way less likely to play ranked.

[Freshly Baked Gregg]

I see pros and cons.

It means players have to play outside their comfort zone, legitimising the rankings and making it more competitive. It also makes the match ups more predictable.

However, it means that players are not always able to choose the exact fighter they want to play as, meaning some element of freedom is taken away.

In this case, the game better have some real depth to make up for this lack of freedom. Say a McGregor player is playing Heavyweight, they should still be able to have fun at Heavyweight, because the game is simply so good it doesn't matter that they can't play their fav fighter in ranked.

If this isn't the case, and not being able to play as a certain fighter negatively impacts the experience, they should be able to play like McGregor in Heavyweight. However, this is probably a bad thing as we want fighter uniqueness, not similarity.

The forcing of weight classes leads me to believe that fighters are not unique.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nekrotik

I think you're right on some aspects of this, however, I think a lot of people will just switch to quick match instead of ranked if they can't play their favorite fighters. A lot of people hate certain weight classes and just won't play them. Relying on addicts to keep playing every day is basically limiting the player pool to like 10% of the player base, which could have otherwise grown significantly with the addition of CAFs (we're complaining a lot here about those, but keep in mind - we're the hardcores. I'd bet like 80% of players will be super happy about the change, even if we hate it). Casuals simply won't play ranked if they move forward with this. I know I probably won't play ranked if I'm forced to play weight classes I don't like (I like slower-paced fights, so I only play middleweight and above, otherwise it isn't fun for me). The lower/female weight classes has way fewer players than others. That's because a lot of people don't like those weight classes or prefer others.

So the Ranked base is barely over 10% of the player base anyway. Thats not me talking out of my ***. Thats actual data from EA. With UFC3, it was taking a small portion of the overall player base and then splitting that base amongst several weight classes.

I think the tradeoff of the casuals they bring over to ranked because of these changes and the CAF change will negate any hardcore players who wont play on a certain day.

Also, we shouldnt assume that EA will choose each weight class equally. I would bet my house that there will be WAY more LW and HW and FW days than WSW and Flyweight days.