Post by FrkUout on Aug 4, 2008 19:19:02 GMT -8
Here's some information about the upcoming auto update 2 and changes to matchmaking playlists. Boo on taking out MLG Blackout!
AU Deuce
Last week I mentioned that there was a second Autoupdate coming to Halo 3 and that I'd talk about it this week.
Mostly invisible to players are a mess of backend changes that continue to pump more information to us about behaviors (naughty and nice), tendencies and general smoothing of issues underneath Halo 3’s hood that we weren’t thrilled with.
Much more visible to the players is some new functionality coming to Halo 3’s Experience system.
As it stands in Halo 3, Experience is collected into a single bucket which then uses your highest skill in a ranked playlist to give you your “Rank.” We’re adding new Playlist Ratings to Halo 3 Matchmaking.
Before I break down how things are changing here’s what is NOT changing:
We are not resetting your “Skill.” Your Trueskill value will not change.
We’re not resetting your current EXP. Your total EXP will still be displayed in your Service Record and that Rank will still be displayed in your Service Record.
However, at the Playlist level, things are changing noticeably.
While your total experience will still continue to climb in your Service Record, when AU2 goes live, we are enabling individual Experience ratings in each playlist. Playlist Ratings are based on how much experience you’ve accrued in a given Playlist. We’ll be basing your rating in a given playlist off of this value. When AU2 is released, we’ll begin tracking your experience per playlist, in that respect, everyone begins fresh. These new Playlist emblems will be familiar to Halo 3 players, but they have received a light graphical pass in game to distinguish Playlist Ratings from your Overall Rating.
In the simplest terms this means that becoming a General in Team Slayer is no longer dependent on reaching Level 50 and acquiring a certain number of total experience points. Via Playlist Ratings, players can reach General in as many playlists as they want .The currency powering these new Playlist Ratings is Experience.
Under this system, however, players will have individual Ratings in each playlist and they’ll see a graphical treatment of that here on Bungie.net and they’ll see their current status for the playlist that they are in. In custom games, the Rating on a player’s Service Record will be the icon that other players see.
**UPDATE**
Here are some quick and dirty user questions on the Playlist Ratings from the Internet:
Posted by: Da Kr3w 4893
Can shishka or someone PLEASE clear up this new ranking system? I am honestly very confused.
1. Will each playlist have a seperate rank?
2. When the update goes live, when I go into a playlist, willl my rank show as a recruit?
3. Do you still have to be a 50 to be a general?
1. Yes. Ranked and Social lists each have their own ranks.
2. When you enter a playlist for the first time after AU2 you will be a Recruit in that playlist. In a Ranked playlist your SKILL number will still show.
3. To be a General on your SERVICE RECORD you must still be a 50 in a playlist, that is your Overall Rank. At the playlist level you can reach General from gaining Experience. Skill number is not required.
Toadie1979 asks: Explain to me how a General now could be a Gunnery Sgt. in one playlist is fair to others in there? I guess I'll wait till it goes live to make up my mind, but right now in theory, this is a horrible idea. I guess it'll even itself out after a few weeks, but MM is going to suck till it does.
Actually, we'll still be matching by Skill value the same way we have all along. At the playlist level, you'll still be matched against similarly skilled players, we're not resetting those numbers. We're adding a new metric for you to track your progress in a given playlist. If you're a 44 in Ranked Team Slayer, you'll still be a 44 and your 44 will still display. You will just be a level 44 Recruit in Team Slayer. After a whole bunch of games you may be a 44 General in Team Slayer.
Rank at the Playlist level is no longer contingent on the numerical "skill" value (the one to fifty). But Skill is still being used to determine who you will face because we want the matches to be as fair as possible.
Shishka’s Matchmaking August Playlist Update
Bring us home, Shishka.
Matchmaking changes for August, 2008:
Ranked
Team Objective
ADDED Oddball
ADDED King of the Hill
REMOVED Ghost Town from symmetrical map variants
Team Doubles
ADDED Oddball
ADDED King of the Hill
ADDED 2 Flag on the Pit
ADDED 1 Flag on Blackout
Ranked Big Team Battle
“Heavy” map variants added to Slayer rotation
Standoff Heavy modified for more insanity
ADDED Sandtrap Heavy
DLC
DLC Slayer
Increased weighting on Cold Storage
Hardcore
MLG
REMOVED MLG Blackout
Double EXP Weekends (In order of appearance)
Legendary Brawl (Ranked)
Grifball
Team Snipers
Living Dead
You may be thinking to yourself “Hey, that’s a pretty short change list.” While a lot of the changes done this month were backend things that players will never notice, you would be right to think that August’s changes feel very minimal. The reason for this is that we’ve been focused on preparing a larger series of changes to Matchmaking for September. Much larger.
Much, much larger.
No, really. It’s huge. You should see how giddy Luke gets when I talk about the tentative plan.
AU Deuce
Last week I mentioned that there was a second Autoupdate coming to Halo 3 and that I'd talk about it this week.
Mostly invisible to players are a mess of backend changes that continue to pump more information to us about behaviors (naughty and nice), tendencies and general smoothing of issues underneath Halo 3’s hood that we weren’t thrilled with.
Much more visible to the players is some new functionality coming to Halo 3’s Experience system.
As it stands in Halo 3, Experience is collected into a single bucket which then uses your highest skill in a ranked playlist to give you your “Rank.” We’re adding new Playlist Ratings to Halo 3 Matchmaking.
Before I break down how things are changing here’s what is NOT changing:
We are not resetting your “Skill.” Your Trueskill value will not change.
We’re not resetting your current EXP. Your total EXP will still be displayed in your Service Record and that Rank will still be displayed in your Service Record.
However, at the Playlist level, things are changing noticeably.
While your total experience will still continue to climb in your Service Record, when AU2 goes live, we are enabling individual Experience ratings in each playlist. Playlist Ratings are based on how much experience you’ve accrued in a given Playlist. We’ll be basing your rating in a given playlist off of this value. When AU2 is released, we’ll begin tracking your experience per playlist, in that respect, everyone begins fresh. These new Playlist emblems will be familiar to Halo 3 players, but they have received a light graphical pass in game to distinguish Playlist Ratings from your Overall Rating.
In the simplest terms this means that becoming a General in Team Slayer is no longer dependent on reaching Level 50 and acquiring a certain number of total experience points. Via Playlist Ratings, players can reach General in as many playlists as they want .The currency powering these new Playlist Ratings is Experience.
Under this system, however, players will have individual Ratings in each playlist and they’ll see a graphical treatment of that here on Bungie.net and they’ll see their current status for the playlist that they are in. In custom games, the Rating on a player’s Service Record will be the icon that other players see.
**UPDATE**
Here are some quick and dirty user questions on the Playlist Ratings from the Internet:
Posted by: Da Kr3w 4893
Can shishka or someone PLEASE clear up this new ranking system? I am honestly very confused.
1. Will each playlist have a seperate rank?
2. When the update goes live, when I go into a playlist, willl my rank show as a recruit?
3. Do you still have to be a 50 to be a general?
1. Yes. Ranked and Social lists each have their own ranks.
2. When you enter a playlist for the first time after AU2 you will be a Recruit in that playlist. In a Ranked playlist your SKILL number will still show.
3. To be a General on your SERVICE RECORD you must still be a 50 in a playlist, that is your Overall Rank. At the playlist level you can reach General from gaining Experience. Skill number is not required.
Toadie1979 asks: Explain to me how a General now could be a Gunnery Sgt. in one playlist is fair to others in there? I guess I'll wait till it goes live to make up my mind, but right now in theory, this is a horrible idea. I guess it'll even itself out after a few weeks, but MM is going to suck till it does.
Actually, we'll still be matching by Skill value the same way we have all along. At the playlist level, you'll still be matched against similarly skilled players, we're not resetting those numbers. We're adding a new metric for you to track your progress in a given playlist. If you're a 44 in Ranked Team Slayer, you'll still be a 44 and your 44 will still display. You will just be a level 44 Recruit in Team Slayer. After a whole bunch of games you may be a 44 General in Team Slayer.
Rank at the Playlist level is no longer contingent on the numerical "skill" value (the one to fifty). But Skill is still being used to determine who you will face because we want the matches to be as fair as possible.
Shishka’s Matchmaking August Playlist Update
Bring us home, Shishka.
Matchmaking changes for August, 2008:
Ranked
Team Objective
ADDED Oddball
ADDED King of the Hill
REMOVED Ghost Town from symmetrical map variants
Team Doubles
ADDED Oddball
ADDED King of the Hill
ADDED 2 Flag on the Pit
ADDED 1 Flag on Blackout
Ranked Big Team Battle
“Heavy” map variants added to Slayer rotation
Standoff Heavy modified for more insanity
ADDED Sandtrap Heavy
DLC
DLC Slayer
Increased weighting on Cold Storage
Hardcore
MLG
REMOVED MLG Blackout
Double EXP Weekends (In order of appearance)
Legendary Brawl (Ranked)
Grifball
Team Snipers
Living Dead
You may be thinking to yourself “Hey, that’s a pretty short change list.” While a lot of the changes done this month were backend things that players will never notice, you would be right to think that August’s changes feel very minimal. The reason for this is that we’ve been focused on preparing a larger series of changes to Matchmaking for September. Much larger.
Much, much larger.
No, really. It’s huge. You should see how giddy Luke gets when I talk about the tentative plan.
