When Travis and Coker asked me how the Online ranking system worked, I sent them this:
And that's just step 1. Needless to say, their response was…colourful. ;-) (hmmm...maybe that's why I had to write this post) After seeing all the questions pop up online about the rankings system, I figured that they wanted to let you all know “the score”.
Before that, I wanted to say “Thanks!” for making Online a huge success. When we first approached Havok about getting PAIN online, they laughed…a lot!
And kept laughing…
Finally, when the tears stopped, Havok took a deep breath and said one word: “impossible”. So, it is with a small amount of smugness that we here at Idol Minds are giving ourselves a small fist bump/high five/pat on the back and general “well done!” However, I say "small" because we ain’t done yet! As always, watch this space. There are loads of improvements that we’re looking into (many of which you all have suggested…)
Now let me come back to the reason for the post -- an explanation of the Online Ranking System. Well…there's a lot going on under the hood and I don't want to bore you or anything.
I will say this:
- Your rank goes up if you win.
- It is much easier to go up in ranks than go down in ranks.
- Your max increase is 10, your max decrease is 5.
- Rank max is 100.
- You are penalized ranks for disconnecting. The drop is not severe, but it can add up. The exception is Fortress, where if you have been eliminated, you are free to leave the game without penalty.
We apologize to those people who have been getting the “dc’ed” penalty on server drops. We simply have no way to tell if it’s accidental or intended.
‘Nuff said about that.
For those of you already at rank 100, don’t be afraid to play the noobs. If you lose, <snort, scoff>, you won’t fall far! And, for those of you getting owned by said 100-rank mutants, don’t disconnect! Watch and learn, confront the problem! Fight! Win! (Just F.Y.I., loads of us at Idol have been online and you guys got some skillz!)
Side note: Missing Trigger Crates – Put those torches down! I mean it!
This seems to be a “mighty big Twinkie” of a bug with a cloaking device and a fake moustache. We can’t reproduce it here and the Sony testers can’t either. Without the ability to repro it, we are down to some educated guesses. We are on the case (still) and have some ideas on what might be happening. When we have a new fix, we’ll let you know.
As for upcoming content, let me leave you with this final thought: Granny in a swimsuit!