The Demise of Rank & Rise of a Leader Board
I know what I'm going to say will ring wrong in the ears of some. Many people don't see this game as competitive; that is fair enough. However, I've been around since video games started. Nothing drives play (and sales) like a place for a "High Score" or a "Leader Board". Some people (and I am one of them) compete with themselves always to attain lofty heights. It keeps said people around. Shallow or not, some people will lose interest if there isn't a way to determine where they stand against others.
With Rank soon to be merely a measure of how often you played in a month, there really needs to be something to take its place. I'm suggesting a Hall of Heroes and a Hall of Infamy respectively, where you show a list of Survivors and Killers (not ALL Players mind you) that have hit a certain percentage of Kills versus Escapes, and Escapes versus Kills. Place these select few in the order of their stats. You do NOT list the rank and file or people doing poorly. Nobody wants to be reminded of that. What people do want is something to aspire towards. Here are my suggestions for the two respective boards:
Hall of Heroes:
Legendary Survivors (all Survivors whose individual survival in a match is 75% or better)
Master Survivors (all Survivors whose individual survivors in a match is 55% or better)
Other optional categories might include:
Legendary Team (Registered SWF with a record of all four surviving 60% or better matches)
Master Team (Registered SWF with a record of 3+ surviving 50% or better matches)
Legendary Hero (Top fifty Survivors who safely unhook their peers, etc.)
Hall of Infamy:
Legendary Killers (all Killers whose Kill rate is 90% or better)
Master Killers (all Killers whose Kill rate is 80% or better)
Clearly, as Survivors have to rely more on their peers, their numbers must be more forgiving. Again, I want to stress that this Leaderboard isn't to name or shame anyone. MOST people will not make this board. That is entirely the point. It gives us a rating of the superstars. It gives us something to aspire towards. It doesn't affect the non-competitive people one bit (nor would they care). It would exist only as a beacon for those who want to have a goal beyond a BP grind. These numbers certainly could be tweaked if they are found to be too harsh or too generous. It is also possible that unique cosmetics could be created for earning to encourage people to play more and better, driving more activity for all. My suggestion would be for this Leader board to reset once per quarter, i.e. four times a year to truly give people a chance to work up proper metrics. But the one month system would still work. It is also plain that other groupings could be created.
Comments
To be fair rank has always been a metric of how much you can play in a month and why there are major skill disparities in all ranks.
The only issue I see with such a leader board is how players would use it to make their arguments more valid than others.
Yes, and no. Rank is earned by Pips but when you are good enough you can Pip or double Pip rather rapidly and you might not play near as much as people assume. For me, Rank was important because I wanted to make sure I was fighting other Red Rank (or Purple at least) as often as possible. That will no longer be the case. I wanted to have something to measure myself against. Do you follow? I wanted to aspire to something.
In regards to the rare people whose names might make this Leaderboard, their arguments don't have anymore weight than people choose to give them. And, for what it is worth, if the standards to become a superstar are stringent, their arguments might well be more valid than others. I don't go to a Doctor, a Plumber, or an Electrician that I don't think has the time and work put into their credentials. Do you follow? I do give the commentary of Otz more weight than I do some nameless, faceless voice who chimes in here. Why? Well, someone who can win 50 straight games in a row with most Killers probably does have more understanding of the game than those who cannot.
But, all that said and done, a High Score or Leaderboard is important to people like me (shallow or not) and there are a lot of people like me. I don't care about BP. I don't care about Rank if it doesn't mean anything. All I care about is being sure I'm playing against people who are going to challenge me. If the new matchmaking system works, I don't have to grind to get that. I won't bother getting out of bed for 250K. :) So, if I get automatic matches at my level, and I don't care about points, what drives me to play a LOT? And remember, this game needs people to be playing a lot because there are no Bots. If I can get the fun games I want without the grind, I will play for the fun but I won't be driven to do more than that. The prideful side of me will know there is nothing I can do to strut. As I'm always polite in my end game chatter, I believe in being humble in victory and gracious in defeat, I need that Leaderboard as a way to toot my own horn in a good sportsmanship kind of way. Without it, fun is nice and I will play the odd match but I won't be here near as often. I know myself and what drives me. I suspect there are other people driven by the same pride.
Something like this would just drive the game into even more toxicity and sweating where Noone can ever have fun, pass
Of course its driven by pips and someone can rank up in 10 hours after reset but a new player can also reach it if they played a lot longer in a month or two. Rank pits 5kh players versus 100h players very easily. It has and always will be a metric of time bar the ones who can 2 pip but since it doesn't show anything to separate players skill level its not something which can be used to determine it.
The goal to rank 1 will still be there so nothing in that respect changes and if anything it will take longer since it resets to rank 20 now. The mmr will take over who you are matched with. You will still have that personal goal without a list of I am one of the better players mentality see this link below being used in discussions.
I never said any argument would hold more weight just that players would use it. You did mention yourself they might well be more valid so technically you just proved that point.
I wasn't disputing that point. I merely explained that the weight people give someone's arguments is often affected by the credentials said person has, and I don't think that is a bad thing.
You have been around since video games were invented? What are you? 70?
Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. It all depends on how they achieved those credentials.
4king for example can be done by 12 hooks or by camping.
Simply kills don't tell us anything in regards to a players skill and the same goes for escapes as many throw their own escape to save another player who may end up with far less points.
A public listing of the best survs and finest teams?
So, a killer dodge list?
SWF would have to have a tracker attached, as players willingly join into SWF teams, to tally games played strictly as SWF. This way, all other survivor matches are recorded as Solo and are rewarded accordingly. Solo is more of a challenge (arguably the most challenging role in the game) to escape, and should have it’s own honor upon the leaderboards, entirely separate from those who play matches majoritarily as SWF.
I am in my 50s. :) And I've been around since they became mainstream enough for the general population to be playing them.
Possibly, but for the record, the people who would dodge my name simply because they know I'm on the Leaderboard aren't the kind of people I would be interested in playing anyway. In short, they have decided they simply aren't up to par and taken themselves out of the running. I'm not going to begrudge them that. Besides, you don't get to know who the Killer is until the end of the match. I kind of think it should be the same for Survivor.