What's the justification for no ranking system?
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It feels like every time I read a suggestion post about this game, there's a comment about the want for rank. I'm a huge advocate for rank, I was shocked when it wasn't a part of the official launch, and I genuinely don't understand why it doesn't exist in the game. My main question is why not? The only justification I've read or heard is the idea that having ranked and non-ranked too early in a new game would divide the player base, cause longer matchmaking loading time, and potentially harm the life expectancy of the game. If that is the only reason, then my next question is, "Has there been any history of a game being harmed or failing due to having rank and non-rank released simultaneously at launch?" My other question to this argument is, "Why not only have rank?" This is assumptive, but wouldn't only having a rank mode appeal to every type of player? Having rank categorizes players into skill levels over time and is supposed to match you with and against players of similar skill levels. And, if there aren't enough players to match skill levels, rank game play typically matches teams with a median level of skilled players. Competitive players get to play competitive games, and casual to low skilled players get to play with casual to low skilled players. If a player happens to be matched with high leveled players, that can potentially be unfortunate for them, but they at least get to experience and learn new game play at a higher, more unified level.
Most of my favorite games to play consistently are PvP, because good PvP is challenging, it constantly evolves, and there are long-term, desirable goals. We are watching Bleeding Edge slowly evolve towards those three points, but the lack of rank is the main driving force behind me not playing the game very much--it's causing me to watch its development from the sidelines with my fingers crossed. Rank promotes strategy, teamwork, validity towards investment, and on and on. It's a staple of PvP as a generalized genre and is off-putting for fans of this genre to see missing. It's also incredibly frustrating to watch the developers live-streams of the game, hear them bring up the topical question of rank, and then listen to a passive "maybe some day" response. It gives me the impression that they don't care. I care because this game, at its core, is something special.
There are a lot of topics this post could branch off to, but I'd like some honest, critical discussion for the pros and cons of rank. Am I missing something? Is there something behind the scenes that could explain the lack of rank? Am I overthinking a non-issue?
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@MoistAtom6 I agree. Game really needs a Ranked mode. I hardly play because of this. Plus those two games modes really suck. I play to compete and I don't feel this from bleeding edge. There is hardly any rewards to justify me spending a lot of time in the game. Tired of getting matched with bad players. Plus the grind for the skins is too long. Ranked should have been there from the start. All they had to do was to make it so that at a certain level you can play Ranked. I'd understand that.
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there is no reason to split the small player base we already have into two just for ranked mode. the community needs to grow more before we should even go for ranked mode.
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Please read my post. I brought up your point and responded to it in my original post. I’m curious what you have to say in response to it.
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I wanna start by saying that I wholeheartedly agree with you that this game is something special. In my opinion the problem is that the devs aren't getting enough credit or trust for that. Like it or not, these are the people making this game work and are the reason it exists. I have personally found all the fighters impressively well-balanced, the maps really nicely put together with verticality and environmental hazards (something that just don't exist in most moba-esque games) and the overall gameplay easy to understand and have fun with. For all these reasons I commend them. I trust that however they prioritize their efforts, it will eventually lead the game to it's full potential, ranked and all and we'll all be delighted.
Sadly, I worry that those who don't share my enthusiasm to keep playing the game are a real detriment for now. The game still has many things to sort out on a foundational level before they risk having ranked for the sake having ranked. Player base is very limited due to many players leaving because of a bunch of reasons and even though a proper ranked would fix a lot of it, I fear it won't fix everything.
I mean, like say they add a ranked but the game hasn't grown enough. The same people begging for ranked now will probably bail due to really long queue times you mentioned. That's a risk that can kill games. And I feel the devs know that. Even if they give passive responses to ranked, I'd say that's more that they have a solid plan of development and that ranked just isn't a concern for them at this point in time rather than they simply don't care. They clearly have too much passion put into this game so far, at least in my opinion, to just not care.
All that said, it seems they are definitely laying the groundwork with the leaderboard thing they announced so I'd say ranked is definitely coming and they'll be sure it's as ready as it can be when it does.
One thing I feel very sure about is that not playing and watching from the sidelines doesn't help the game at all. It's just a detriment and probably will delay the ranked implementation because sure, players will definitely come back to play again once ranked is there but there's no guarantee it will be enough. The bigger the active player base, the more confidence they'll have that ranked won't kill their game. It's not like you don't improve individually as a player just because you have inexperienced teammates. You can always improve as long as you play. Also the way the game works inherently promotes teamwork and strategy, you don't need ranked for that.
Sorry for the essay ^_^;
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if you only had ranked and no casual/quick play type of game mode i can only feel that there would only be such a big gap between the high and low tier of the ranks. you got people who wont take the game seriously and play for fun and would only get reported for playing a ranked game...the only game mode. then you got the people at the top with the coordination and communication that would look awesome in E-sports. the real complaints are just the lack of content and game modes. the game needs more than just capture the point and power cell collection. the leaderboard is a step in the right direction hoping it would match you with people around your rank.
so what they need is to add around 3-4 new game modes, and some way to help them with money like sadly loot boxes or something like a battlepass, im sorry to say it but they need one of those things.
we the player base could help by telling others about the game to help
