[This article was written for the first Gears of War. For info on the Ranking System in Gears of War 2 use the following article: Gears of War 2: Leader Boards and Rankings]

Hey all so today I figured I would weigh in on 2 topics that are gathering a lot of heat on most Gears of War forums. The Ranking system and Party/Friend invites to ranked games. Before I go over my views on either I figure I should first explain how they currently work for those that are not familiar with them.

Rankings: The current ranking system in gears of war is completely dependant on your own actions in game. Whether or not your team wins does not effect your ranking directly. Your ranking is completely tied to your personal kills, revives, downs, headshots, etc... This means if you team wins or loses does not effect it. Only what you do effects it.

A lot of people feel the need for there to be some type of level system in the ranking similar to games like Halo or Ghost Recon so that when you are going into a game you know the skill level of the players in the game. Currently in Gears there is no way of knowing visually in game what another players ranking is without finding them on the leaderboards.

Some feel that they want to only play against similar or better players than themselves so that they can truly judge their skill. Getting a high rank is no good if you do not know the people you defeated to get their were not completely new or unskilled. They also do not want to end up on the team with the 'weaker' players.

This does make it hard for newer players to find games as is evident in games like Ghost Recon where many hosts will kick out players with lower rankings for fear of losing rank if you lose to a lower ranked player. Rank discrimination is not uncommon in many games.

You also have the opposite where hosts will stack their team with all the higher level players in order to make sure they have an easier time. Putting all the lower level players on one team allows for an easier win and more points guaranteed for the higher level players.

I honestly think the current system is fine. If you want to know how good I am play me. A number does not tell you what kind of player I am. I like the feeling that I don't know what to expect from my opponents or teammates. It really does force you to try and work together. I don't want to be a 12 or a 3 I want my ranking to reflect where I am overall. That is just my opinion and I know that others feel very differently so drop me some comments on how you think it can be improved or changed. I am not asking for people to say it is broken, I want actual ideas that you think would improve the current system non constructive comments help nobody.

Parties or Friend Invites to Ranked Games: The current system in Gears and some other shooters for the 360 do not allow you to invite friends to ranked games. This is a defense for the ranking system in that it deters (does not stop, only makes it harder) people from boosting their rank by inviting friends into a room either to play on their team or to play opposite and sabotage the opposing team so the invitee can get more points in the game. In a game with individual rankings this can hurt the players who are being abused and help the players that are doing the manipulation. There have also been players who invite all their friends into games and take turns killing each other to boost their stats and get achievements.

Many people do not like this as the feeling is that a game focused on team tactics should allow teams to compete for ranking. This is a very valid point. What is the good of being the best player at a game that is meant for teams. Being the best team would seem a more logical goal. At the same time it is no fun for others who want to play and don't have a team of friends with the game to go in and have no chance with a group that constantly plays together.

I honestly don't know what the best solution is but I have an idea that I think would work. Have 2 separate ladders for rankings. One that is individual and one that is team or clan based. This would solve the issues for both. Force random games to be completely random. Don't even let people see the names of others until the match starts. And for the the other have a ladder where teams/parties/clans/guilds can play in groups of four and get ranking that way. This will keep both groups happy. I am sure there are issues with this that I am not seeing off the top of my head but feel free to let me know in your comments what you think.

Please as always feel free to leave me some comments on what you think about these issues and what you think the best action is. Are there better solutions? Should it be left as is? Let me know!

Frag you later...