343's Failed Gaming Environment.

[Cortar]

One of the things from previous games that 343 did not like and attempted to eliminate was extreme 'judgemental-ness' of its players. In past Halo games, everyone was judged by the ranked number that appeared on your player card in game. Also, in Halo 3, there was the added Win/Loss ratio (although this wasn't perfect since you could get an artificially high from from playing lots of double exp games).

 

So what did they do? They got rid of ranked playlists (if they come back you won't be able to see them in game). They made it really hard to see player's medals and score in the postgame screen. They removed kills and instead put "score." And lastly, the worst change of all, they put a straight k/d/a on the players "service record." (they weren't really given a choice on this since w/l is meaningless in H4)

 

Players being people of course flock to the only thing they have left to judge their fellow players by: their k/d. For whatever reason, 343 made all gametypes contribute to this though. That is why in objective gametypes, you have people ignoring the objective and going straight for kills.

 

K/D can be a decent measure of skill... Except there is already an invisible ranking system in place. So ideally, players would all migrate close a 1.0 the longer they play to ensure balanced gameplay. So this measure is ultimately worthless since that guy running around with a 2.0 with 300 games is probably good, while the person with 5,000 games played and a 1.2 *might* either be really good, or just average (depending on this invisible rank).

Also, K/D is only an *okay* indicator for skilled play in Objective matches. While it is important not to go 10-20, getting a score like 15-10 might be worlds better than the player who went 10-0.

Another problem is that a W/L stat encourages teamplay and effort, while a k/d/a only encourages selfishness and a lone wolf style of play.

 

Solutions:

 

Only "slayer" based games contribute to your k/d, i.e. BTS, Infinity, Regicide, SWAT, Snipers. Of course, this leaves out Objective players...

 

You could implement a W/L stat to the Service Record. But since leaving is free and almost encouraged, this is meaningless too. Also JIP kills this.

 

Implement a true ranked playlist with in-game visible ranks. This is probably the easiest and most desirable solution. But 343 really, really doesn't want to do this... So we we shall see what happens.

[Baeztoberfest]

While it is important not to go 10-20, getting a score like 15-10 might be worlds better than the player who went 10-0.

 

I don't understand what you are trying to say with this.

 

I agree that I wish you had a list of medals that says how many of each you have like in Halo Reach (Pre 343) and Gears of War 3. That is kinda cool added info for the players. (And not some half asses top tier medal chart through waypoint).

 

Why should lone wolf style playing be frowned upon? Some "teams" manage even better by having a couple of lone wolves and scouts to harass enemy forces and distract from the overwhelming force. I think players should be rewarded however they play as long as they play well.

 

Whether the number system is visible or not how does this affect gameplay? You would have been paired with these people regardless so I don't understand what the argument was.

 

K/D is often not the best way to judge a persons skill level. It totally depends on what game you're playing I agree. As with any game most people don't know how good you are until you're already playing. Endless stats, numbers, trackers, and all that are simply BRAGGING RIGHTS. There's nothing wrong with that but it's not a necessary.

 

Sometimes when I wanna turn up the heat I'll just invite the best players through a series of games until we have a team put together. Other times I'll just invite my friends who play the game that play to win. It's not hard to find casual gamers in any match. And I don't think competitive gamers are hard to pick up either.

 

I do agree that everyone gravitates toward a 1.0 K/D. But that's not always the norm. I feel like personally I'm in the middle. Sometimes I just want to enjoy the game and lay back. Other times I play for nothing less than 1st place. Nobody WANTS to lose. So why would anyone want to be forced into a MLG match every game? And on the other side of the coin, why would anyone want to play with bozo's not commited to winning? That's where you get you're 1.0 K/D I think because that's what 343 attempted to find.

[OMG Treason]

I think K/d should only be measured insulated based games. It not only makes people not play the objective, it makes people feel bad by the game going uh oh your sucking again!

[Cortar]

I don't understand what you are trying to say with this.

 

Im trying to say that K/D matters... a little, in Objective games.

Why should lone wolf style playing be frowned upon? Some "teams" manage even better by having a couple of lone wolves and scouts to harass enemy forces and distract from the overwhelming force. I think players should be rewarded however they play as long as they play well.

 

This isn't about "rewarding" players. It is about determining skill. The player who gets a few kills with a sniper then sits in the back of the map until the game over and goes 5-0 is not more skillful than someone who goes around the map fighting and goes 20-15.

 

Whether the number system is visible or not how does this affect gameplay? You would have been paired with these people regardless so I don't understand what the argument was.

 

Its about how players play. Antisocial behavior is encouraged in this game. Your team is doing bad? Just leave, theres no penalty or W/L ratio. Want to have a "good record" just get a few kills then play around until the game ends. Don't rush the enemy to try and take a point of secure a weapon, that would lead to your death!

 

K/D is often not the best way to judge a persons skill level. It totally depends on what game you're playing I agree. As with any game most people don't know how good you are until you're already playing. Endless stats, numbers, trackers, and all that are simply BRAGGING RIGHTS. There's nothing wrong with that but it's not a necessary.

 

Its kinda necessary. All players want at least something and most want more than the bare minimum.

Sometimes when I wanna turn up the heat I'll just invite the best players through a series of games until we have a team put together. Other times I'll just invite my friends who play the game that play to win. It's not hard to find casual gamers in any match. And I don't think competitive gamers are hard to pick up either.

 

What does this have to do with anything?

I do agree that everyone gravitates toward a 1.0 K/D. But that's not always the norm. I feel like personally I'm in the middle. Sometimes I just want to enjoy the game and lay back. Other times I play for nothing less than 1st place. Nobody WANTS to lose. So why would anyone want to be forced into a MLG match every game? And on the other side of the coin, why would anyone want to play with bozo's not commited to winning? That's where you get you're 1.0 K/D I think because that's what 343 attempted to find.

 

It will be the average. Which is "the norm." But this is off topic.

[Baeztoberfest]

My comment was to suggest that it's not hard to find like minded competitive players. That's what it had to do with anything.

 

And how is that off topic? It only addressed your thread. Maybe I could be more clear? I don't know.

 

But to get back to the topic at hand.

 

How many games do you actually play where you're stuck as the only one playing or the only one playing well? It's not hard to find like minded people. Again, this is how it ties in. I know you're lying if you say EVERY GAME is full of noobs or people cheating the system. I know because te statistical probability of you playing that many games with the same handful or jerks is VERY unlikely.

 

Meaning what you might ask? Meaning if you're speaking about a handful of unskilled or unlucky players, you'll get this with any game. Every game has bad players. You being better at something isn't necessarily bad. Just means you're simply better. But you're not the best. So why not join the guys who ARE better? You don't need a number to tell you that. So again what's the issue?

 

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not trying to argue or anything, just merely trying to see where you're coming from. On a personal note, I know we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things but I'd sincerely like to make an effort here. If that means anything. Just thought I should put that out there ahead of time Cortar.

 

An again I could be wrong but I thought your K/D was only a culmination of your slayer based games?

[Cortar]

Meaning what you might ask? Meaning if you're speaking about a handful of unskilled or unlucky players, you'll get this with any game. Every game has bad players. You being better at something isn't necessarily bad. Just means you're simply better. But you're not the best. So why not join the guys who ARE better? You don't need a number to tell you that. So again what's the issue?

 

People want a number or some easy to look at stat. Since the only thing 343 gives us is K/D, people use that. And its not a very good stat to give because it encourages selfish play styles.

 

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not trying to argue or anything, just merely trying to see where you're coming from. On a personal note, I know we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things but I'd sincerely like to make an effort here. If that means anything. Just thought I should put that out there ahead of time Cortar.

 

Ok, thats understandable.

An again I could be wrong but I thought your K/D was only a culmination of your slayer based games?

 

Its not. I wish it were though.

[Baeztoberfest]

I can see that. A visible simplified system to see if someone is gonna wreck you or be wrecked. Lol. Lord knows I've had my fair share of surprises about enemy skill level.

[TornadoFlame]

i stopped looking at people k/d the second i found saw 4 130's in a party versus my team with 20k kills 5k deaths we beat them 60 to 25 my friend decided to check em out on waypoint only to find they all regicide boosted and they have maxed out there pistol kills and such K/d is in no way judging a persons skill

 

I think a number next to the person name is a much better judge then anything around so i can see how far up they have gotten and how far we have Plus with this ranking it encouraged teamwork people accutaly talking Which theres little to none in halo 4 now. there is more pros then cons i beleive with a ranking system Just give us a ranking system we can see and don't have to use 3rd party programs to see don't want it play social.

 

you can not do a W/L ratio because of the Cod like gameplay with oh your team is losing time to leave. Winning needs to Mean more then 750 points.

[Bloody Initiate]

Only "slayer" based games contribute to your k/d, i.e. BTS, Infinity, Regicide, SWAT, Snipers. Of course, this leaves out Objective players...

 

I don't agree with you often Cortar, but I actually really like this idea.

 

It sort of takes the wisdom of the original perfection medal (which could only be acquired in a slayer game) and magnifies it. K/D only counting in slayer makes a lot of sense, because it's the only time it's actually the terms of victory.

 

I know I see objective games as really good for K/D (if you're NOT playing the objective) or really bad (If you ARE playing the objective), and the truth is I shouldn't even consider it. I should go in for the win no matter what. If K/D from objective games weren't factored in I think we'd see much better objective games. People wouldn't go in to pad their stats and they would instead play for the win.

[SSFrog]

I think players should be rewarded however they play as long as they play well.

 

That's the reason they removed King of the Hill playlist. Because players would just sit on a ledge nearby the hill and scope out kills rather then trying to get points in order to win the game. To me, that's not playing the game "well", might as well start betraying your teammates and call it "strategic planning".

 

So what did 343 do? They removed KotH because they couldn't be bothered to fix it. But hey, at least the non-proper-playing players got their kills to add to their score/KD/whatever the f*ck matters to them while the gametype was still around.