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Halo 2 multiplayer ranks

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Revision as of 14:22, February 28, 2021 by SpyglassUnitBeta (talk | contribs) (→‎Additional considerations: adding archive fields to ref/site)
This article is about the rank system in Halo 2. For more articles of the same name, see Ranks.
The Ranks in Xbox Live.
Halo 2 rank images

The ranking system in Halo 2 is the numeric representation of a player's multiplayer experience. An identical system based off the Halo 2 rank system is also employed in the competitive playlists for Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Overview

Halo 2 uses a skill-based matchmaking system, informed by a numeric value of 1-50 to represent a given player's skill level in any given playlist. When matching players for online games, the algorithms in question try and pair up similarly-skilled players to ensure roughly evenly-matched games. The displayed 1-50 rank is an abstraction of an XP value, hidden to the player and calculated behind-the-scenes. Each game completed awards or removes XP, depending on the result of the match - this means that poor performance in a game can result in losing rank, while winning results in players ranking up. Ranks are calculated purely on wins and losses, meaning actual in-game performance such as KDR, Flag captures, bomb plants, hills captured etc do not affect the final result; merely being on the team does.

Rank is calculated per-playlist, meaning that a player's performance in one playlist does not affect their rank in another.

XP calculations

Once a game is completed, the game awards or removes XP from each player depending on the final result. This is achieved by consulting a table (shown below), dependant on the difference in level. In broad terms, winning or losing matches against similarly-ranked players nets a lower XP gain/loss, whereas winning matches against players with higher skill gaps will gain greater rewards or greater loss. For a given player in the game, the table is consulted to perform a matchup against every single player of an enemy team in the game - if the player has completed a match of 8v8 slayer, the table would be consulted to determine the XP gain/loss for all eight opposing players. Once these values are tallied, the total is divided by the amount of enemy players, to gain a final XP value for the game as a whole.

Level difference Higher win[Note 1] Higher loss[Note 1] Lower win[Note 2] Lower loss[Note 2]
0 100 100 100 100
1 92 108 108 92
2 85 115 115 85
3 79 121 121 79
4 74 126 126 74
5 70 130 130 70
6 66 134 134 66
7 63 137 137 63
8 60 140 140 60
9 58 142 142 58
10 56 144 144 56
11 54 146 146 54
12 53 147 147 53
13 52 148 148 52
14 51 149 149 51
15+ 50 150 150 50

Worked example

To give an example of this system in use, consider a free-for-all match in which there are four players;

  • First place: Player A (Level 10)
  • Second place: Player B (Level 7)
  • Third place: Player C (Level 8)
  • Fourth place: Player D (Level 5)

To calculate Player A's total XP gain, the table must be consulted three times - once for each player they matched up again. In this case, they won against a player with a three level difference, a two level difference and a five level difference. Thus, it can be determined that Player A earned 79, 85 and 70 XP - respectively. This value is then summed to get a total of 234, before divided by three to get an average value of +74XP. This calculation is done for every player to determine each player's XP gain/loss.

1-50 ranks

With the player's total XP values known, the game can display a single rank number as a representative of their overall skill. Ranks are indicated by a 1-50 value, with a new player holding rank 1 and the highest-ranked players holding rank 50, with most players averaging around rank 10. Each rank has a simple icon alongside its number, with the final seven ranks holding a unique symbol - a nod to Bungie's love for the number. Each rank has an XP bracket assigned (shown below). However, in order to prevent frustration at constantly flipping between two ranks if games are repeatedly won and lost, players will keep their 1-50 rank value even if they drop below the original requirements to achieve it, and won't de-rank until they hit the mid-point of the previous rank's requirement. For example, if a player needs 10,000XP to hit a new rank, achieves 10,000XP but then loses a game and drops below the 10,000XP total, they won't revert back to the previous level until their XP total hits 5,000XP.

Rank XP requirements

Rank level Minimum XP Maximum XP
MCC - Rank 1.png
1 99
MCC - Rank 2.png
100 199
MCC - Rank 3.png
200 299
MCC - Rank 4.png
300 399
MCC - Rank 5.png
400 499
MCC - Rank 6.png
500 599
MCC - Rank 7.png
600 699
MCC - Rank 8.png
700 799
MCC - Rank 9.png
800 899
MCC - Rank 10.png
900 999
MCC - Rank 11.png
1000 1099
MCC - Rank 12.png
1100 1199
MCC - Rank 13.png
1200 1399
MCC - Rank 14.png
1400 1599
MCC - Rank 15.png
1600 1799
MCC - Rank 16.png
1800 1999
MCC - Rank 17.png
2000 2249
MCC - Rank 18.png
2250 2499
MCC - Rank 19.png
2500 2749
MCC - Rank 20.png
2750 2999
MCC - Rank 21.png
3000 3249
MCC - Rank 22.png
3250 3499
MCC - Rank 23.png
3500 3749
MCC - Rank 24.png
3750 3999
MCC - Rank 25.png
4000 4249
Rank level Minimum XP Maximum XP
MCC - Rank 26.png
4250 4499
MCC - Rank 27.png
4500 4499
MCC - Rank 28.png
4750 4999
MCC - Rank 29.png
5000 5249
MCC - Rank 30.png
5250 5499
MCC - Rank 31.png
5500 5749
MCC - Rank 32.png
5750 5999
MCC - Rank 33.png
6000 6249
MCC - Rank 34.png
6250 6499
MCC - Rank 35.png
6500 6749
MCC - Rank 36.png
6750 6999
MCC - Rank 37.png
7000 7249
MCC - Rank 38.png
7250 7499
MCC - Rank 39.png
7500 7749
MCC - Rank 40.png
7750 7999
MCC - Rank 41.png
8000 8249
MCC - Rank 42.png
8250 8499
MCC - Rank 43.png
8500 8749
MCC - Rank 44.png
8750 8999
MCC - Rank 45.png
9000 9249
MCC - Rank 46.png
9250 9499
MCC - Rank 47.png
9500 9749
MCC - Rank 48.png
9750 9999
MCC - Rank 49.png
10000 10,249
MCC - Rank 50.png
10,250 1 billion

The 1-50 rank held by a given player determines which players they will match up with in multiplayer matchmaking, by aiming to match players up with similarly-ranked players. The matchup requirements are listed below.

Rank XP gain modifiers

With the systems listed above, one last consideration is the XP modifiers given by rank. In order to help new players in being able to level up, lower-ranked players are not penalised as hard when losing matches while they are low-leveled. This % value peters off as they level up and by rank 29, is no longer in effect. However, Halo 2's online XP is a zero-sum system, meaning that there is a set amount of XP points available to the entire player population as a whole, and the raw XP gain/loss systems ensure when a player loses against another player, the winning player gains the same amount of XP as lost by the loser. In order to maintain this system, the higher-ranked players begin seeing the opposite affect applied to their wins. Upon reaching rank 42, players will begin earning a lower percentage of the XP they would otherwise earn, with this penalty increasing per-rank, capping out at max-rank players at level 50 only receiving 50% of the XP they earn for a win.

Lower-rank loss-mitigation values Higher-rank win XP loss
Level Loss factor[Note 3] Level Win factor[Note 4]
MCC - Rank 1.png
0%
MCC - Rank 1.png - MCC - Rank 41.png
100%
MCC - Rank 2.png
2.50%
MCC - Rank 42.png
95%
MCC - Rank 3.png
5.00%
MCC - Rank 43.png
90%
MCC - Rank 4.png
7.50%
MCC - Rank 44.png
85%
MCC - Rank 5.png
10.00%
MCC - Rank 45.png
80%
MCC - Rank 6.png
15.00%
MCC - Rank 46.png
70%
MCC - Rank 7.png
20.00%
MCC - Rank 47.png
65%
MCC - Rank 8.png
27.50%
MCC - Rank 48.png
60%
MCC - Rank 9.png
35.00%
MCC - Rank 49.png
55%
MCC - Rank 10.png
[Note 5]
40.00%
50.00%
MCC - Rank 50.png
50%
MCC - Rank 11.png
[Note 5]
45.00%
55.00%
MCC - Rank 12.png
57.50%
MCC - Rank 13.png
60.00%
MCC - Rank 14.png
62.50%
MCC - Rank 15.png
65.00%
MCC - Rank 16.png
67.50%
MCC - Rank 17.png
70.00%
MCC - Rank 18.png
72.50%
MCC - Rank 19.png
75.00%
MCC - Rank 20.png
77.50%
MCC - Rank 21.png
80.00%
MCC - Rank 22.png
82.50%
MCC - Rank 23.png
85.00%
MCC - Rank 24.png
87.50%
MCC - Rank 25.png
90.00%
MCC - Rank 26.png
92.50%
MCC - Rank 27.png
95.00%
MCC - Rank 28.png
97.50%
MCC - Rank 29.png+
100.00%

Additional considerations

A rank is recorded for every playlist an individual plays in, with the exception of non-ranked gametypes and custom gametypes. There were leader boards for the majority of the playlists, however Bungie removed them because of cheating and hacking problems.[1]

Trivia

  • The fact that the last seven ranks are different from the previous ones is an obvious reference to Bungie's favorite number, 7.
  • The last seven ranks of Halo: Reach are loosely based off of the last seven ranks of this system.

External links

Notes

  1. ^ a b These values apply to the player of the higher level per-matchup.
  2. ^ a b These values apply to the player of the lower level per-matchup.
  3. ^ % of XP lost for a loss.
  4. ^ % of XP gained for a victory.
  5. ^ a b The original Bungie-provided stat table listed here lists two values for ranks 10 and 11. It is unknown which value is correct, so both have been listed for clarity.

Sources

  1. ^ Bungie.net, Farewell to Leaderboards (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2020) [archive]