Some users have emailed me asking just how the ranking system works because bungie was a little vague. Here is the deal:
There are 2 rankings: Skill and Exp. Note, you need to play ranked matches to have these boosted.
Exp is gained everytime you win a single player or team match. It lost when you quit a team game only.
The exp levels can be seen here.
For the numbered rank, or your skill level, is in your own hands. Through personal experience, if your team wins you will rank up. If you lose, and you finished in last place in kills on your team, you skill goes down.
It all comes together when you can have 70 exp and a skill level of 10 and be an officer, Lieutenant per se. But if you cannot keep a minimum of 10, you could have 400 exp and be stuck as a Gunnery Sgt forever.
Awesome job by Bungie for this intuitive system.
drunk pandas
October 3, 2007 – 8:17 pm1
Good explanation. It’s a lot more complex than Halo 2’s ranking system
Chris
October 3, 2007 – 9:43 pm2
Indeed it is, but I prefer it to Halo 2’s. And thanks for the explanation, now I understand the skill part.
Game Hard
October 4, 2007 – 12:46 am3
Has anyone seen a general yet? let alone a general grade 4. That’d be insane this early…but i deff. like the new ranking system.
Chris
October 4, 2007 – 5:42 am4
Ive seen a general, but it was just a regular general. My brother on the other hand has seen a grade 2 General.
I’m a Captain at the moment myself, but dang if those Generals dont kick arse.
nostars
October 4, 2007 – 7:38 am5
I’m going to get to play Halo3 this weekend for the first time. Any tips aside from “prepare to get pwned royally”?
taz8080
October 4, 2007 – 8:29 am6
@nostars – quick tip – when playing online make sure you know what guns do what, and what the secondary wepaons do, i.e. the bubble shield, regenrator, etc. A lot of the guns have beeen rebalanced, you cant dual wield needlers anymore but htey own hardcore now. And also… BELIEVE
drunk pandas
October 4, 2007 – 8:52 am7
I played online yesterday for the first time and it was pretty good. nostars – you have to go through “basic training” before you can hop into ranked matches with everyone else. meaning you have to play 10 games or get 5 EXP. So you’ll be in there with all the noobs in Slayer matches to get an idea of how everything works.
I’d never used the bubble shields or anything in single player, but learned quickly that you need to use them in key situations. I’ve gotten really good at beating people down, and I’m by no means good at the game. The last game I played last night wasn’t fun at all. 4 player slayer in basic training where 2 of the guys teamed up on the other 2. I still managed to get 19 kills. Brute shot FTW
Anidor
October 4, 2007 – 9:16 am8
Yeah, I haven’t jumped into the realm of multiplayer yet, but hopefully I’ll have some time this weekend… probably get my arse whooped for a while… should be fun!
nostars
October 4, 2007 – 11:56 am9
Cool, I’ll probably be in the n00b area for a long time, lol.
Fragloser
October 4, 2007 – 12:26 pm10
Nah, you will be out of the n00b area in maybe an hour or two. I still don’t understnad the ranking system that well, even with that post.
So exp comes from winning matches
And rank comes from winning team games?
Oh, and doesn’t only your rank show when you play online unless someone goes to look at your exp?
Anidor
October 4, 2007 – 12:43 pm11
No, Exp comes from winning matches, rank comes from your performance in matches. i.e. if you just sit there and don’t do anything you won’t rank up, or if you totally suck you won’t rank up.
…at least that’s my interpretation
Hakushaku
October 7, 2007 – 6:30 pm12
No, you’re both wrong. First of all, everyone stop saying rank, because people are confusing what it means. There is EXP and Skill rating. You get 1 exp every time you win any team game, or are in the top half of a free for all. This is in both ranked AND unranked matches. So you can sit on social all day and gain exp. Skill rating is from ranked games only. You have to win consistently to keep your skill going up, or lose to get it going down.
Ranks are the actual military rank you will receive. For all non-officer ranks, they are solely a value of exp. As your exp goes up, you will gain rank. But to become an officer, you need a skill rating of 10 AS WELL AS EXP, and all the other officer ranks require greater skill ratings (20, 30, 40, and 50). So Officers need both high levels of skill and exp.
You cannot lose EXP except by quitting a match. You WILL lose skill rating everytime you lose. So…that’s it.
It actually looks complicated when I type it out, but its pretty easy to understand once you play a bit.
Fragloser
October 7, 2007 – 6:37 pm13
Thanks Hakushaku!
Alrighty… more halo until COD4
fierce Scuba
October 7, 2007 – 7:06 pm14
@ Hakushaku
I have lost several games are not ranked down. I don’t think you are correct in that aspect. It prevents you losing rank if you do well and you entire team is terrible which is the case many times.
You will receive a -1 exp penalty for deserting any team match; ranked or social.
Rickjames
October 8, 2007 – 7:28 pm15
I was just wondering if when youre playin ranked matches, does your exp go up by more than 1 at all durin that time. One of my friends has played like 90 games and his exp is 100…how can he have more experience and not even played that many games. Anyone explain that?
fierce Scuba
October 8, 2007 – 7:40 pm16
@ Rick james:
I have gained 2 exp from a single match in games such as capture the flag. The other night, I captured 2 flags myself and my exp went from 32 to 34. I don’t know if the amount of flags you get determines, but it seems like that helped.
If you are in the top 3 of a lone wolves, you will also gain some exp.
Hope that helps.
Gil
October 10, 2007 – 4:57 am17
Actually Hakushaju is right you can and will lose skill poits when you loose a game… im in the 30’s and every time i loose on maatch i loos eone skill point… and yes i also have gotten 2 skill poits in a slayer ranked match… i think it all matter by how many kills you were ahead and if you got any triple kills and goodies like that..
But when you get to the higher skill levels you will start to see that when you lossse your skill goes down… i know it sucks but hey it more competition….
nostars
October 10, 2007 – 7:23 am18
Losing skill points, is that regardless of your current level? For example, if I had 2 points, could I lose one and drop to one? Or is it like Wii bowling, where you don’t lose skill points when you’re a lowbie, but once you pass a certain skill level, you start to get docked for bad performances?
fierce Scuba
October 10, 2007 – 7:28 am19
@Gil:
You are the highest of us all so you would know best. A loss does not necessarily mean you will lose skill rating correct? I heard once you reach the officer ranks, you will lose skill rating faster. I played a game last night as a 10, lost the match, but finished first in kills in team slayer. I am still a 10.
is there a clear cut rule on this or is it pseudo performance based?
Gil
October 10, 2007 – 12:43 pm20
Correct when i was not an officer i would listen to people telling me that their skill rting went down, i allways though they were full of it, because i would sometimes loose and my skill would never go down, but yuor right once you get into the officer ranks you start to get penalised for bad performence.
BTW i have the coolest screen shot of me with a sword
if you go to bungie.net
and look up
Nikeous Light
that me
spivve
October 15, 2007 – 7:26 pm21
dudes who else is a general besides me ?
and yes you have to complete everything to become a general oh key thing or things
you have to beat the game on legendary to get my special rank it looks a littel like this
****** if you count that is 6 stars a 6 star general thats what i am and yep i have a katanna
gamertag bungie/spivve
spivve
October 15, 2007 – 7:29 pm22
oh yeah one more thing whos got a katanna !?
spivve
October 15, 2007 – 7:36 pm23
and yes i work for bungie so yes i had time to get good at this even though i didnt need it because i was so good before it and i picked it up very easily key thing when playing online look up super bounces and hide in those areas or get the sniper and get good at moving i mean really good and get very very very very good at no scoping you’ll need it or keep a battle rifle with you at all time good luck and have fun you noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobs lol
fierce Scuba
October 15, 2007 – 8:16 pm24
I thought the Katana only needed the 1000 gamerscore? Do you have the Flaming Helmet?
Is it Bungie’s policy to comment three successive times.
fierce Scuba
October 15, 2007 – 11:12 pm25
@Spivve:
Could not find your gamertag. Could you link me to your gamercard or bungie profile?
Never met a commander before.
I also did not know Bungie had a satellite office in Virginia. Something new everyday.
drunk pandas
October 15, 2007 – 11:13 pm26
I like punctuation. It helps your thoughts flow better. Because you know, typing in all lowercase with no commas or periods really helps your point get across better.
chuck
October 29, 2007 – 7:42 pm27
lets say lose a ranked match but u got like 30 kills do gain or lose the skill points
taz8080
October 29, 2007 – 10:30 pm28
if u lose a match you lose skill points and if you lose enough you will rank down
condor
November 19, 2007 – 12:28 am29
does anyone know if you lose skill rank for qutting a game?
bob
November 19, 2007 – 8:54 pm30
hello howdy you all im from georgia who here likes peaches and cream and a pinch of black mold.mmmmmmmmmmmm thats so delicous. yep yesterday i almost got myself done arrested for almost causing an international crisis. i love you all and if you want ille send some mold to you for free