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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.

---ACE---

my friend and i played about 30 games and won about half of them. i went up 4 skills and he didnt move. we then lost a few and i went back down 4 and again he still didnt move. explain how that works. he was even doing better than me in each game.

  • 04.04.2008 1:49 PM PDT

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  • 04.04.2008 2:47 PM PDT

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Posted by: ZzXxACExXzZ
my friend and i played about 30 games and won about half of them. i went up 4 skills and he didnt move. we then lost a few and i went back down 4 and again he still didnt move. explain how that works. he was even doing better than me in each game.
Glad to see you found the right post to get an answer in... :)

It most likely has to do with your Sigma vs. your friends Sigma. Your friend probably has a significantly lower value for Sigma then yourself. The system thinks it has your friend pretty well figured out whereas it's unsure where to place you with regards to skill level. You are able to level up much quicker than your friend because of this. However, you will also be able to level down much quicker as you have seen first hand.

  • 04.04.2008 3:10 PM PDT
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Posted by: spiiikes
Hi. My gamertag is spiiikes. I recently got my 49 in Team Slayer with a game on Construct, with this game. That was on the 2nd of this month. Since then, I have won 54 Team Slayer games and lost 10, and I'm still not a General. And yes, my friends and I did play other 50s, more 50s, and more 50s. Some games were close, others easy and quick. Even got standbyed (by aikjqtsz) though kept on going. My recent losses were to three AR matches, one in which my teammate got kicked off and the other where it was lagging. I've been playing and trying, but it just doesn't go up.


You keep playing with the same guys. That is likely slowing your progress. I don't typically see people get stalled at 49 due to this...usually people in the 10-20 range. However, change up your teammates and maybe that will help.

I took a peek at your games as well...you had a big win steak yes. However, for some reaosn Bungie gave you a bunch of poor matchmaking quality games. Although you did play some other Generals, I saw a large number of games where you played guys 3-6 ranks lower than your team.

My advice...one or two wins with a different team and you will be gold.

  • 04.04.2008 3:32 PM PDT
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I'm sorry if this was asked before. Does your Sigma Value change if you quit out of a match? I've always wondered if this is the reason behind a boosting theory.

For the record I'm not a booster.

  • 04.05.2008 12:04 AM PDT
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Posted by: Tronix1
I'm sorry if this was asked before. Does your Sigma Value change if you quit out of a match? I've always wondered if this is the reason behind a boosting theory.

For the record I'm not a booster.


A quit/disconnect would be treated as a loss in any FFA game and also if your team loses. A loss is a definate loss in sigma as well. However, in a team game if your team still wins, you get a win, so it would not drop your sigma by much.

  • 04.05.2008 2:21 PM PDT
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sweet. that was great work. thanks

  • 04.05.2008 2:42 PM PDT

Posted by: Baaaaaaaaaaaaah
Posted by: spiiikes
Hi. My gamertag is spiiikes. I recently got my 49 in Team Slayer with a game on Construct, with this game. That was on the 2nd of this month. Since then, I have won 54 Team Slayer games and lost 10, and I'm still not a General. And yes, my friends and I did play other 50s, more 50s, and more 50s. Some games were close, others easy and quick. Even got standbyed (by aikjqtsz) though kept on going. My recent losses were to three AR matches, one in which my teammate got kicked off and the other where it was lagging. I've been playing and trying, but it just doesn't go up.


You keep playing with the same guys. That is likely slowing your progress. I don't typically see people get stalled at 49 due to this...usually people in the 10-20 range. However, change up your teammates and maybe that will help.

I took a peek at your games as well...you had a big win steak yes. However, for some reaosn Bungie gave you a bunch of poor matchmaking quality games. Although you did play some other Generals, I saw a large number of games where you played guys 3-6 ranks lower than your team.

My advice...one or two wins with a different team and you will be gold.

Wow, I tried just that and went in by myself. I won three in a row and got it. Thanks for your post; I almost lost hope.

  • 04.05.2008 5:12 PM PDT

---ACE---

thx flyingice for the answer to that but im still confused about all this Mu and sigma stuff. none of it means anything but i will take ur word for it

  • 04.05.2008 8:29 PM PDT
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Posted by: spiiikes
Posted by: Baaaaaaaaaaaaah
Posted by: spiiikes
Hi. My gamertag is spiiikes. I recently got my 49 in Team Slayer with a game on Construct, with this game. That was on the 2nd of this month. Since then, I have won 54 Team Slayer games and lost 10, and I'm still not a General. And yes, my friends and I did play other 50s, more 50s, and more 50s. Some games were close, others easy and quick. Even got standbyed (by aikjqtsz) though kept on going. My recent losses were to three AR matches, one in which my teammate got kicked off and the other where it was lagging. I've been playing and trying, but it just doesn't go up.


You keep playing with the same guys. That is likely slowing your progress. I don't typically see people get stalled at 49 due to this...usually people in the 10-20 range. However, change up your teammates and maybe that will help.

I took a peek at your games as well...you had a big win steak yes. However, for some reaosn Bungie gave you a bunch of poor matchmaking quality games. Although you did play some other Generals, I saw a large number of games where you played guys 3-6 ranks lower than your team.

My advice...one or two wins with a different team and you will be gold.

Wow, I tried just that and went in by myself. I won three in a row and got it. Thanks for your post; I almost lost hope.


Its nice to hear about results. If it helps even just a few people this whole thread is worth it.

  • 04.05.2008 9:23 PM PDT

- So do would I level faster if I remained a captain rather than graduate to major because my stigma would be higher or is that irrelevant.
- Also why is it that when for example, I was playing doubles and before the match started both opponents quit, and my partner and I double leveled, why is that?

  • 04.05.2008 10:00 PM PDT
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Posted by: l PR Power l
- So do would I level faster if I remained a captain rather than graduate to major because my stigma would be higher or is that irrelevant.
- Also why is it that when for example, I was playing doubles and before the match started both opponents quit, and my partner and I double leveled, why is that?


Captain vs Major doesn't matter...EXP has no direct correlation to Sigma.

People quitting just coutns as a win, you must just have high sigma still and can double rank.

  • 04.05.2008 11:58 PM PDT
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I want to change my rank, I've been stuck at 31 for well over 3 months now but since I suck at Lone Wolves now I need a new way to go up. In the MLG playlist I seem to be moving at a snails pace. Why is this if it is so new?

  • 04.06.2008 1:27 AM PDT

Blanky

Great post. I was interested, i was playibg Lone Wolves at 14 skill and i won 3 matches, and after those three matches my skill level in Lone Wolves was 18.... how does that work? Does it take into account your win streak/MVP streak/ highest medal scoring streak into account?

  • 04.06.2008 2:48 AM PDT
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OK,

So I understand at least the general concept of the explanation... But can someone explain why I just won 30 games in a row in Team Slayer on my new account (XGC Fingaz v2) vs. all higher ranks than me and only went up to a level 5... Including winning 26 or so in a row at level 5 without getting a 6...

please explain that to me...

thanks,

  • 04.06.2008 4:08 AM PDT
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Posted by: arranf117
I want to change my rank, I've been stuck at 31 for well over 3 months now but since I suck at Lone Wolves now I need a new way to go up. In the MLG playlist I seem to be moving at a snails pace. Why is this if it is so new?


You are losing more than half of your games in MLG, thats why it is slow.

  • 04.06.2008 8:48 AM PDT
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Posted by: Impement01
Great post. I was interested, i was playibg Lone Wolves at 14 skill and i won 3 matches, and after those three matches my skill level in Lone Wolves was 18.... how does that work? Does it take into account your win streak/MVP streak/ highest medal scoring streak into account?


No, you simply have low sigma. You also got some good matchmaking quality...something that will deteriorate the higher you get. Ranking is usually faster at lower at levels below 20, regardless of sigma, for this very reason. The opposite can be said above level 40.

  • 04.06.2008 8:49 AM PDT
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Posted by: XGC Fingaz
OK,

So I understand at least the general concept of the explanation... But can someone explain why I just won 30 games in a row in Team Slayer on my new account (XGC Fingaz v2) vs. all higher ranks than me and only went up to a level 5... Including winning 26 or so in a row at level 5 without getting a 6...

please explain that to me...

thanks,


1) Mixed party
2) Playing with the same people

Please read back a few pages, yo uare a textbook example.

  • 04.06.2008 8:52 AM PDT

Weapon of Choice

So my question is how does that whole system go into effect if say u have played nothing but team slayer and are ranked a 40-50, with high sigma, how would that effect playing say double team on the same acount in which ur a lvl 1? Is your Sigma still high for that game type or since u havnt played a single game of double team does that mean ur starting over with a clean slate, same sigma and Mu that you had when u first started playing team slayer?

  • 04.06.2008 9:04 AM PDT
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Hey Jay

Just as an aside, I have been testing out a new account ( II Baaaaaaah II ) for a variety of reasons.

First, I wanted to see if my Team Slayer rank was truely far below where I felt my actual skill level was. I was/am almost positive about this, since I typically play customs with 45-50's and can hold my own, yet my TS rank has been 28 and impossible to move for 4 months or so (I figure my real overall true skill is in the 43-47 range based on customs, so my TS rank should not be too far off from that). As well, my TS rank was 12 below my LW's rank, which I feel I can level a further 5 levels even from here. That would be quite the disparity between LW's and TS ranks...something I feel would be innaccurate. My main account had played 700-800 games of Team Slayer when the game first came out, and I had played in a lot of mixed parties with the same people. Long story short, I played with crappy friends for a long time AND I sucked when I started and my skill has changed significantly since the game first came out.

Second, I wanted to see how playing in a mixed party/same people will affect progression and sigma after about 50-75 games, rather than right near the beginning when we know it has its major stalling effects. Obviously I am playing in a mixed party that wins 95% of games when I play with them.

As expected, here is what I found so far:
1) the ranking progress slowed once I started playing with the same people
2) when I switch it up and play with randoms, the ranking continues reasonably quickly. This confirms my sigma is staying reasonably high while I win with the mixed party/same people. I even wonder if it increases my sigma slightly because I think I am close to 100 games in that playlist, so my ranking ability should have stalled much mroe than it has.
3) the system "remembers" that you have played with certain people. Obviously this is not actually remembering, but something to do with higher sigma between all of the parties. After a good amount of games with randoms, I returned to the mixed party and my ranking would not move even with a reasonably large winning streak with them.
4) I surpassed my ranking from my original account in only a couple of days, even with the mixed party stalling. I probably could have surpassed it in less than 40-60 games total. I suspect I will be able to surpass my old account's TS rank by 15-17 levels when I am done.

Really shows the effects of low sigma. Neither you nor I have ever been an advocate of starting new accounts to circumvent sigma, but in my case it seems to be worthwhile. I'll let you know once it has stalled out and we can look at it more in depth.

[Edited on 04.06.2008 9:39 AM PDT]

  • 04.06.2008 9:37 AM PDT
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Posted by: LikeItGreen
So my question is how does that whole system go into effect if say u have played nothing but team slayer and are ranked a 40-50, with high sigma, how would that effect playing say double team on the same acount in which ur a lvl 1? Is your Sigma still high for that game type or since u havnt played a single game of double team does that mean ur starting over with a clean slate, same sigma and Mu that you had when u first started playing team slayer?


Sigma is by playlist only...a fresh start.

  • 04.06.2008 9:39 AM PDT
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well thoughtout

  • 04.06.2008 11:01 AM PDT
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I've got a question, I havent played team slayer in a while and have started to play again. I'm at a 47 and have been there for a long time now. I win about 60% of my games but recently have been winning about 70% of my games. All of these were against players about my level. Does this mean that I'm gunna be stuck at a 47 forever?

  • 04.06.2008 1:13 PM PDT
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Posted by: Singing Penguin
I've got a question, I havent played team slayer in a while and have started to play again. I'm at a 47 and have been there for a long time now. I win about 60% of my games but recently have been winning about 70% of my games. All of these were against players about my level. Does this mean that I'm gunna be stuck at a 47 forever?


If you are winning 70% you should rank up slowly still. In theory, if you are winning 51-55% of your games you should still rank up. You may have low sigma, which means you may need 10+ wins or more to get any rank up.

  • 04.06.2008 3:35 PM PDT
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I've got one more question. I just leveled up to a 48 after about 25 games (didn't win thme all but about 70%), but got standbyed the game after then lost the next and deleveled back to a 47. Is it possible to get back to 48 with 2 or 3 straight wins against people my level?

  • 04.06.2008 7:55 PM PDT