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  • Subject: In depth explanation of the Halo 3 skill ranking system.
Subject: In depth explanation of the Halo 3 skill ranking system.
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***Aberrant Designs***

Finished the fight on September 26,2007, 10:49pm EST
Remembered Reach on September 15th, 2010 9:30pm EST

Very nice information! Well done. Now I get it!

100th reply! Yay.

[Edited on 01.31.2008 6:17 AM PST]

  • 01.31.2008 6:17 AM PDT

Posted by: Wilson 038
me and my brother played 5 doubles games, and one them all in a row, and then we finally lost our sixth game, and my skill went from 35 to 32. just from that one loss. i don't want to sound like i'm complaining, but i'm too ignorant to understand this thread and all of the details. can someone put it it laman's terms, why i went down so quickly? thank you!
I didn't really see this in your game history but, when you have a small amount of games played in a playlist, your skill level goes up and down quickly. Sometimes you can go up 2 or 3 after a win and sometimes you can go down 2 or 3 after a loss. The games I did see you play recently, you were going up 1 or 2 after each win. Once you play enough games, your skill level will be more stable and it will take more wins to go up and more losses to go down significantly.

  • 01.31.2008 6:21 AM PDT

Posted by: CLD007
so by looking at my ranks will i be a luetenant when i have 70 exp?
Yes, you have a highest skill of 10 and when you get 70 EXP, you will that rank.

  • 01.31.2008 6:23 AM PDT
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i was looking at the sigma thing and so does this mean u get positive sigma if u lose?..or how does that work/ kinna consfusing or im just not gettin it

  • 01.31.2008 9:08 PM PDT
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Awesome post.

[Edited on 02.01.2008 10:08 AM PST]

  • 02.01.2008 10:08 AM PDT
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ok well can someone explain this...

my friend was lvl 39 in team slayer, he ended up with a negative k/d spread plus his team lost the game... after the game he lvled up to 40.... i was there and saw it for myself.... i understand ur mu and stuff like that.. but i dont know y he lvled up.. can someone explain?

  • 02.01.2008 2:03 PM PDT
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nice

  • 02.01.2008 3:37 PM PDT
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Very nice explanation. took me the second time reading it to get it, but after i did it really helped.

  • 02.01.2008 5:05 PM PDT
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Posted by: mavel23
i was looking at the sigma thing and so does this mean u get positive sigma if u lose?..or how does that work/ kinna consfusing or im just not gettin it

I think so, although there is the contradiction of the fact he said that apparently you don't gain sigma. although he also said that is only strict TrueSkill rules. So, yeah, you're on the right track i think.

  • 02.01.2008 5:16 PM PDT
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WOW THAT IS THE BIGGEST PIECE OF HOGWASH IVE EVER HEARD!!! if thats really how it is it doesnt work hahahahahahaha... lol... i beat the steaks out of 2 many people... brigs hell even some generals and i dont rank up at all.. even if i do it a couple games in a row... w/e's.... i just gave up and got a high rank in everything... so why was tactical taken away?

  • 02.01.2008 5:23 PM PDT
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Very impressive, informative, and correct. Thank you for clearing this up. Now i can go and shut my friends up that constantly -blam!- about levels.

  • 02.01.2008 7:23 PM PDT
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I get most of it except :
Sigma is the numerical representation of the range in which your true skill could lie. Play really consistently, and you have a low Sigma. Play streakily, and you have a higher Sigma.

consistently and streakly mean the same thing ... to me any way.


also explain to me why my friend gained 40 lvls to my 2?

i know he has a i high sigma but my sigma cant be that low.

  • 02.02.2008 9:08 PM PDT

Posted by: th3 dark sniper
I get most of it except :
Sigma is the numerical representation of the range in which your true skill could lie. Play really consistently, and you have a low Sigma. Play streakily, and you have a higher Sigma.

consistently and streakly mean the same thing ... to me any way.


also explain to me why my friend gained 40 lvls to my 2?

i know he has a i high sigma but my sigma cant be that low.
In this case consistently means to win against lower skilled opponents and lose against higher skilled opponents (predictable). Streaky means to win against higher and lower skilled opponents and then lose against higher and lower skilled opponents (unpredictable).

Without looking at both of your games I can't say for sure but if your friends has a lot fewer games played than you in that playlist, he will rank up faster. Someone who is new to a playlist can go up after each win. Someone who has played a lot of games in a playlist may need 5-10 wins to go up.

  • 02.03.2008 7:24 AM PDT

People who report others on the bungie forums are so cool!

I need this question answered shortly.

Does your team's skill level matter, or is it only your opponent's?

  • 02.03.2008 10:32 AM PDT
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Posted by: Jay120171
Posted by: th3 dark sniper
I get most of it except :
Sigma is the numerical representation of the range in which your true skill could lie. Play really consistently, and you have a low Sigma. Play streakily, and you have a higher Sigma.

consistently and streakly mean the same thing ... to me any way.


also explain to me why my friend gained 40 lvls to my 2?

i know he has a i high sigma but my sigma cant be that low.
In this case consistently means to win against lower skilled opponents and lose against higher skilled opponents (predictable). Streaky means to win against higher and lower skilled opponents and then lose against higher and lower skilled opponents (unpredictable).

Without looking at both of your games I can't say for sure but if your friends has a lot fewer games played than you in that playlist, he will rank up faster. Someone who is new to a playlist can go up after each win. Someone who has played a lot of games in a playlist may need 5-10 wins to go up.


ya i guess i played and won against high and low levels and lost against low and high levels(not very often so unpredicable) and my sigma is still low enough that my friend is going to reach a 50 today while i might gain one level...


think about it...

3 levels for me while he get 46 levels....


if you check i played 60 ish double team games yesterday. and i won like 50...

[Edited on 02.03.2008 11:56 AM PST]

  • 02.03.2008 11:54 AM PDT
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This really explains things. Great job.

  • 02.03.2008 2:36 PM PDT
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So if I play ten games, winning the first five, then losing 2, then winning the last 3, I won't go up because it wasn't consistent enough? It shouldn't be how much you win in a row, but how much you win out of X amount of games. I also think how your teammates played should be taken into account. If your teammates are the reason you lost, there should be no punishment for you.

K/D ratio to me is more important. Any schmo can get on good teams doing horrible every game, get carried by his team, and still gain experience. And if you think my opinions are dumb, don't flame me, I don't care.

  • 02.03.2008 3:31 PM PDT
Subject: recon
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dude u know u want it too!! its beast

  • 02.03.2008 6:00 PM PDT
Subject: In depth explanation of the Halo 3 skill ranking system.

Posted by: Killtakular905
So if I play ten games, winning the first five, then losing 2, then winning the last 3, I won't go up because it wasn't consistent enough? It shouldn't be how much you win in a row, but how much you win out of X amount of games. I also think how your teammates played should be taken into account. If your teammates are the reason you lost, there should be no punishment for you.
Streaks are not given any special consideration. Winning consistently against equal or higher skilled opponents is what makes you go up. I am not really sure what you based your first sentence on.

  • 02.04.2008 7:00 AM PDT
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well lets just put it this way... im a 47 in Team Slayer and about a week ago I won 15 games in a row with MVP every game.. still no rank up but then i lose 1 lousy -blam!- game and i go down in ranks something has to be done with Bungie... because ill be damned if im gonna keep winning games and not gain levels... so if any of u bungie staff see this... i suggest u put my account to the proper level it should be right now... 49 thanks a lot for screwin people over

  • 02.04.2008 8:23 AM PDT
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Proof of that the updates arent working. 14 games played and only one loss at level 12, nothing happened, wasnt even in a mixed party Just for the record, the loss was against a team of japenese and our pings were on red the entire game

Sometimes its possible to gain 30 levels in the same amount of games. My guess is that the system in itself works but that it isnt updating, that could explain information not retreived from xbl which is showing up all the time.

  • 02.04.2008 8:42 AM PDT

Posted by: xHHxDerekx
well lets just put it this way... im a 47 in Team Slayer and about a week ago I won 15 games in a row with MVP every game.. still no rank up but then i lose 1 lousy -blam!- game and i go down in ranks something has to be done with Bungie... because ill be damned if im gonna keep winning games and not gain levels... so if any of u bungie staff see this... i suggest u put my account to the proper level it should be right now... 49 thanks a lot for screwin people over
I checked out your games and I didn't see this streak of 15 wins at level 47. You did have a streak but you were a 40 and went up from there after almost every win. Lately though you haven't been winning more than losing so I really don't see how you are being unjustly judged. Reading about how the system works may eliminate some of your confusion about things like being MVP, playing in a mixed skilled party, the skill level of your opponents and how the number of games played in a playlist effects how fast you level. Oh, I think you already know this but there is less than zero chance of Bungie adjusting your level, even if you did deserve it.

  • 02.04.2008 8:48 AM PDT

Posted by: Bodhi OD1
Proof of that the updates arent working. 14 games played and only one loss at level 12, nothing happened, wasnt even in a mixed party Just for the record, the loss was against a team of japenese and our pings were on red the entire game

Sometimes its possible to gain 30 levels in the same amount of games. My guess is that the system in itself works but that it isnt updating, that could explain information not retreived from xbl which is showing up all the time.
After looking through your games, you stopped/slowed leveling when you began playing with the same team of 4. You had a small amount of games with randoms, a few with peeps in their 40's and then started playing in this team. This is a flaw/issue with TrueSkill where playing with the same team all the time will make you level slowly or not at all.

  • 02.04.2008 11:07 AM PDT

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the system is somewhat unfair, at least i think. it punishes people who have a bad day, so therefore they have to play 2x harder the next day. but then again if you have a good day, it would help any future bad days. in other words if you win a lot of games against mid to low level players one day, and then lose to mid to high the next, your most likely going to d-level a lot.

  • 02.04.2008 12:06 PM PDT

Gamertag: TKO x SPYDER

correct me if im wrong though, im still confused. i did find that i leveled faster if i beat a lot of low levels than 1 or 2 high level teams.

  • 02.04.2008 12:07 PM PDT