The Arena

"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."

- Luke Timmins

The Arena is a new game type in Halo: Reach. It will be a new set of ranked Slayer and Team Slayer playlists focused on the more hardcore gamers, and will comprise of slayer-only games. Less-hardcore game types such as Rocket Race and Fiesta will not feature in the Arena. Also, the Arena will have a completely new system where players will be rated and placed into skill divisions in month-long seasons.

Ranking system
In the Halo: Reach Arena, getting the most kills in game will not be the most important thing. To gain a higher ranking, players will now have to do what a good player should do: work alongside teammates, get kills and assists, and also die less frequently. Even if a player gets the most kills in a match, it is the player with the highest kill:death spread that will get the better ranking.

This is the game telling you that you were playing the game better than the others and that you were working with your team the best. These factors will contribute to your overall ranking. Also, every player is scored individually, so there will not be a player who is penalized simply because they are on the losing team. It is based purely on your individual performance in games.

Seasons and Divisions
Each season, players will be aiming to get to the best division. The divisions will be Steel, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Onyx. A player can move up or down divisions within a single season. This system will help less skilled players avoid being matched up against people they have no chance of winning against.

To qualify for ranking, players will have to play a certain number of games a day to gain a "Daily Ranking", which will be an average of a player's best games from the day. To get a divisional ranking and compete in a season, players will need a certain number of Daily Rankings. If a player needs to get a ranking on 5 days to get a ranking for a season, then the player will have to play a couple of games every night for 5 individual days. Players will be told the minimum participation they need in the Arena for each Season. There will not be a time when one bad game brings the player's ranking down, because it is all about the player's best performance that day.