Epic man Rod Fergusson has said that the TrueSkill ranking system in Gear of War 2's multiplayer can be "frustrating" due to its complexity, and Epic is considering changing it.
Rod has asked Gears of War fans if they think of proposals to swap out the system to a more RPG-like experience based system that rewards a player for their own performance instead of the team's.
Here's the deal, straight from the horse's mouth:
"So we've been looking at all the feedback on our skill ranking system and we completely understand why simply making your TrueSkill level visible can be frustrating. The algorithm is complex, so it's not always clear how your rank will be affected by a particular match and your rank is based on the team's outcome and not necessarily your individual performance.
So we're looking to make a change.
"What if, instead of skill rank, we instead showed your experience level. You would gain experience through your individual performance in Public multiplayer matches - the higher your score at the end, the more experience you acquire.
"Of course the experience gained across the different match types would be balanced so you couldn't just grind on the respawning game types to try and level faster. The experience requirements for each level would grow with each level gained (like a typical RPG) and we'd have 99 levels of experience for you to show off your leetness.
"Generally speaking your level will always go up since you're always acquiring more score, hence experience, with each completed match. The only exception to that would be people quitting. Players that quit would gain an experience penalty that could cause them to be demoted. At the end of every match you will be able to see how much experience you've gained and how much further you have to go till the next level.
"Since I know what one of the first questions is going to be, initially we wouldn't have achievements for gaining experience levels because of Xbox LIVE rules that require all post release achievements to be tied to new DLC content. But when new DLC is released, it's a whole new ball game then."
I really don't understand the Gears 2 multiplayer. It's a great game and a lot of fun, but Epic SERIOUSLY dropped the ball on a couple of things. Namely the matchmaking and the ranking - things you would have thought they'd have nailed a long time ago, especially given Epic's gaming archive.
I just want things to go back to how it was in the first Gears, I couldn't care less about this ranking up nonsense, I just want Gears 2 to be fun, people are taking the game too seriously because of this, quitting more than ever and using more cheap and dirty tactics.
It's true enough; the way Gears 2 connects players needs to be reworked. The number of times I've found a team and then reconnected is stupid.
Find 10 players based on overall skill levels, but then create teams based on balancing those 10 players. Halo 3's method is amazing, followed closely by CoD4. Get that into Gears 2 and it'll dominate the online world forever. And potentially even more importantly, replace dropped players with others of a similar skill/rank.
So like Halo then hope they have rewards like skins etc (not the golden lancer or hammerburst though that would just be harsh on people who got them)I thought it was weird when Clifford "don't call me Cliffy B" Bezinski said there would be no levels or customisation as it was going to be more arcade like, kinda thought right off that won't work as theres no pull to play.
epic really screwed establihed gears fans by making the chainsaw noob friendly,in gears 1 it only took 1 bullet to stop chainsaw but now ,not only does chainsaw not stop it sucks you in.yhis tells me that epic values pottential customers far above established,also gears 2 has connection issues idiots using lag switches and the ranking system is a complete joke,dont get me wrong gears 2 is my favourite game when its working but lately it seldom does work.also it can take forever to get a game going,in gearsa 1 if you wanted warzone fueldepot you got it but in gears2 this is rarely the case
I agree with YCShinobi, it seems to be the ranks that have ruined this game. The lag is what keeps me from playing it these days, but the ranks have actively encouraged people to cheat, camp, and always run away with a ranged weapon for the whole game. People caring too much about their rank and number of deaths has really brought the game down.
I've gone back to Gears 1. The fast-paced kamikaze style of play is a breath of fresh air.
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