Will Ranked Mode ever get Finished and out of Beta?

General Discussion
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Ranked Mode in Season 2 is one of those topics everyone just seems to have an opinion on. Everybody seems to be a Killer now yet still play like they’re Gatekeepers or below from Season 1’s Ranked Mode.

One of the best things to happen in Ranked was the 2 out of 3 Matches. This is literally the closest thing you can get as far as tournament standards.

The bad thing is Ranked has partnered up with Ultra Arcade and are rewarding KI World Cup Points for the upcoming KI World Cup. The main issue with this is your usual top placing players, cough Vjdouble34 cough, are abusing the system as far as honesty goes. Himself and lots of other players are BLOCKING players who can beat them free and not giving those players the opportunity to get these extra bonus points (higher than 50 points) to actually get a shot at placing in the Top 32 and receive some KI World Cup points themselves.

I’ve had the opportunity to make it twice already in the Top 32. 1st time was the initial month (March 2015) it was released and 2nd time was last month (July 2015). I actually had the best win ratio too as far as Ranked wins go. I placed 27th last month with a record of 678 Wins and 32 Losses ( 3 disconnects counted as losses, but I’ll go over that too). I played at almost all hours of the day but never once ran into your usual Top placing players every month because they block me. They block lots of other well known players too so they don’t lose their points. I had more Wins and fewer Losses than lots of people above me like 5th place. They just had more points because of the bonus points they would receive by running into the top players who block me and others, plus they managed to beat them. They can get up to 1,000 points per win while we have to settle for 50 points.

The other thing players are abusing, is this glitch where they find a match and back out during the character selection screen. This gives them the win, points and either gives their opponent a win too or sometimes a loss. I experienced 3 of them last month, but a lot more in the prior months. Again, another way to cheat themselves up to the top of the leaderboards. I find this to be just as bad as BLOCKING players who can beat you free.

The other big complaint are from your newer players. The ones who are still learning the game. They complain about always running into players way above their league. They say that sometimes, they will just stand there and take the beating just so they can hurry up and end the match so they can search again. They get paired up with another player who just demolishes them too. This discourages them from wanting to play and instead, they load up another game other than KI.

There needs to be more tiers/ranks. if not, players need the option to lose their rank that way they can get partnered up with players around their skill level. This will help players from getting discouraged from beat downs and keep them playing KI instead of loading in another game.

My last suggestion is to add Win Streak Bonus points. The higher your win streak is, the higher your Bonus points can get. This can eliminate the issue most of us have that are BLOCKED by Vjdouble34 and other players who somehow are always in the top. It will just help alleviate the issue of only being able to receive more than 50 points per set win since we can’t get bonus points since we get blocked.

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Never thought about the blocking people thing but now that you say it I totally think people will or are abusing it but I’m afraid IG cant do anything about it because blocking players is a system feature and not a game feature. Like your idea with the win streak bonus points.

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I’m in gold and been taking note of my match ups.
Last night 3 gold, 1 qualify, and 22 killers.
Yesterday morning, 10 straight Killers.
Wednesday night 18 killers, 1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze, 2 qualify.

I can get past 300 points because as soon as I beat the 2-4 gold or below I get matched against 10 top 32 killers in a row. And some times I get matched up against the same killer back to back!

I guess that means that there are too many killers? I don’t know…but I used to get frustrated, now I just take the loss and try to learn from it. But I do feel I will never get to the top of gold , much less make it to killer. If I could play best of 3 against some of these killers I might have a chance of beating them.
Its definitely not working right for certain people.

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@C88TexAce

I never really thought about the blocking issue, but then again, I don’t play ranked leagues religiously anyways (the best I’ve done so far is about 40+ matches and been in the top 200, which is good enough for me - even though it’s only temporary). Now that you bring it up though, it’s definitely a legitimate concern. Even worse, I’ve experienced everything you’ve referred to in your post.

On the official Xbox forums, where I frequent the Xbox One General Discussion forums, I often read threads about people who believe that their reputation is in the red because of how good they are. I constantly reassure them that that’s not possible because on the enforcement site, it specifically states that you can never be punished for being too good. However, contradictary to that, I’ve also read that being blocked can affect your rep. This leads me to believe that what these people have been saying is potentially true after all. Heck, when I 1st started playing on Xbox 9+ years ago, I often blocked those that crushed me in a game, just so I wouldn’t have to experience such a bad loss from them ever again. Despite this, I find the idea of doing something like that now, really deplorable because it could potentially ruin the fun of the game and XBL for many players, if it’s truly possible.

In regards to the points system, I do love your idea about consecutive wins. As a matter of fact, I’m actually kind of surprised to hear that that’s not already a thing. We already know the game tracks your win streak, so why not give bonus points for it? 1 of the caveats of ranked leagues is that you can’t choose your opponents so, it’s not like people are going to (at least easily, since you know, you mentioned the idea of blocking players) manipulate the matchups to their benefits. This should already be a thing - make it happen IG.

As for deranking, I’m not entirely certain that’s a good idea. I’ve seen numerous players in games take advantage of ways to de-rank just so they can pub-stomp (destroy random public players that are mostl likely new to the game) and feel good about doing so. Some even do it out of necessity because they have trouble finding matches at high level, since there are so few people at the top to be matched up with, which is unfortunate, but it is a thing. To combat this, I do like the idea of having more tiers in the ranking system to balance out actual skill, with the highest rank being rather difficult to get to (not easy, like Killer was in the beginning), and make those in the highest tier unable to de-rank, since it shows they are among the best.

I think a good idea would be to expand the top 32 to the top 100, although I admit that that may make the monthly tournmament for top players kind of difficult. Despite that, it’ll allow for more people to be successful without having to worry about other certain top players who may be cheating to get there. Besides what’s the significance of the #32? Who came up with that and why?

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This thing defintly doesn’t need to be partnered up with ultra arcade that was a bad idea ppl just been nerding out and cheating

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lol i played that vagina guy whatever name is… was wondering why he is free

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I like the win streak bonus points deal. The de-ranking deal I agree with to a point. I’d like it to be where you won’t be able to go down farther than the previous tier right below the one you’ve attained the highest. For example, for Killers, no farther down than Gold and for Gold no farther down than Silver. It’d be nice if it were to also not go down farther than lets say halfway down of said tier when it comes to the titles.

It would be absolutely devastating for people to attain a high enough rank and see it dissapear swiftly because of an extremely bad night or gaming. It does happen. But yeah, having everyone on Killer rank based on time and patience, is kinda odd. We’ll see if anything will changes during S3.

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Tiers bronze silver gold platinum top 32 = killer

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Never thought about the blocking up top 32 players, in the end they’ll suffer because you can’t block people in an actual tournament and they will have to learn to play fairly.

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never thought about that blocking thing too, I mean, I was imagining some people would blacklist some IPs with their own network, but never thought you can simply use the system feature.

I’m not sure about the win-streak bonus points. Of course it sounds legit… BUT, in my point of view, people that abuse the blocking system would be those who are most advantaged

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TLDR: IG should make it less likely that you face the same player more than once in, say 10 match span and they should only allow ultras in exhibition play IMHO.

I’ve had bad nights/sessions inKI. For those who don’t know, when the old forums were still up, near enough my first topic was coming on seeking advice and help and venting my frustrations at getting matched up with people who were just dominating me (not because I was playing badly, but because I couldn’t physically seem to do anything). Whether that was because they were good, employing scrubby tactics or whatever, remains to be seen.

I faced an opponent who I believed to be the same guy three times in a row playing as Thunder. I left as soon as I could after about the third match against him and went off to do other things otherwise I knew I wouldn’t play to the best of my ability. I think there should be improvements to stop this kind of things happening as it did discourage me from playing the game for a while. It’s truely debilitating to be crushed by the same person just because of a move that reaches slightly too far (Sabrewulf’s throw), or because they can throw out a move just on reaction (Thunder’s command throw). Both of the examples I mention appear to do more damage than usual as well, thus compounding the problem.

In my experience, ranked can either go one of two ways. Relatively/really well, or really badly due to cheap/unfair play. But you can’t tell which way that’ll be until you boot up the game and go online.

Whilst playing a set the other day, me and my opponent got into a discussion of ultras in ranked matches and we came to a conclusion that ultras shouldn’t be allowed in ranked matches (to avoid salt being rubbed into the losing player’s wounds). Instead, they should be changed into one powered up punch that can’t be comboed after. It would also shorten matches considerably. I faced a Jago yesterday who because of the way he played was extremely frustrating. Not only that, but he started a combo, ultraed me, and then proceeded to continue the combo for a considerable length of time.

As for the points and the number of ranks, it’s taken me roughly this long to get to gold. The ability to de-rank to fight players of your own skill level might be offset by the potential abuse of the feature as previously discussed.

It’s an interesting point though.

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I’m sorry but there is nothing wrong with thunders command throw or wulfs throw. If you keep losing to those moves you should take a look at what you’re doing wrong.

And why take out ultra’s? That’s just crazy

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Def NO on taking out Ultras or any character moves or game mechanics.

The match making is horrendous…I have been testing it out and documenting it and as a Gold tier player trying to make it to Killer… the match making results are not good. Out of 25 matches per night, an AVERAGE of 72% of my matches are against killer ranks. So I win a few and then I loose a ton, up against Double, Triple Star Pro killers. It will take a long time before I get out of Gold with that type of match making percentage.

All that needs to be done is adjust the point system somehow to reflect WIN %, WIN Streak, and points given for beating player above your rank.

There needs to be a reset option so you can re-qualify if needed.

There needs to be a new Tier between Gold and Killer. Killer needs to be Top 32 Pros only. Every month a new set of Killers can be added to the tier. Some may retain a spot, some may be new. But if you are not in the top 32 with a Pro Star medal…you are not a Killer. (And who is to say that number doesn’t change? Why 32? it could be more or less.)

That’s my thoughts on the Match making and the Killer tier anyway.

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First of all, thunder’s command throw can seemingly be used as a reactionary move so it’s virtually impossible to avoid. The only way I know of to avoid Wulf’s grab is to tech it and if you can’t see it coming that’s extraordinarily difficult, though not impossible. Simply very unlikely.

I never said about taking out ultras entirely or changing any game mechanics as such. i simply said that ranked matches shouldn’t allow ultras the way they are in the rest of the game. They should be shortened down to make the progression against players who are beating you, with cheap tactics or otherwise, less frustrating and allow players to go on to the next fight more quickly.

Could someone please clarify how the rank system works - if I’m gold tier now will that be reset? I don’t want all my hard work to count for nothing…

Thanks in advance for any help.

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You will stay in Gold, nothing wil reset.

And please don’t take this the wrong way. But you’re talking about cheap tactics and unfair moves. That’s not the right mindset. You can beat anyone and anything with every character, this game is really well balanced.

Who do you play? And what are you losing to the most? Maybe we can help you.

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Thanks for the offer of help, that’s much appreciated. I don’t exclusively believe this game is nothing but cheap moves and tactics and I know that for the most part, the game is well balanced. I’ve fought players where I can’t fight back or do anything to stop their attacks (whether zoning or rushdown) regardless of what I know. I currently main Fulgore and have Aganos as a secondary.

It’s a shame as I can’t even name specific players or tell you what they did to shut my strategies down, but it frustrated me that I couldn’t even fight back or if I got hits in it wasn’t by timing, just by simple blind luck, if you’ll pardon the pun. I mean it doesn’t happen all the time, but the matchmaking, to quote a previous poster, is horrendous most of the time.

I would be happy to fight you in a set at some point and maybe we could run through strategies and such? If you do add me, please send me an xbl message to let me know you’re from Ultra Combo in case I forget.

Back on the topic of ranked though, I believe there just needs to be a total overhaul of the matchmaking in general for both ranked and exhibition - I faced a rash recently in exhibition that proved he’s currently not balanced. Yes I know he’s in beta form and I respect that. At least it didn’t count towards my ranking points. I then faced a player that I believed to be the same guy, who then proceeded to obliterate me again. I’d say that shouldn’t be happening to anyone as it doesn’t encourage fair play for a start and also it doesn’t help people feel like their in a friendly community as I do here.

I know fighting games aren’t meant to be fair, but situations where a person just continuously uses the same move over and over to get chip damage or using reactionary command throws constantly don’t help anybody to learn and better themselves at the game, they just get you into patterns. That’s where I’m at right now; in patterns that I’m currently trying to break. Constantly being matched with people who force me to be cheap doesn’t help me, just hinders me at actually doing what I want to do: enjoy the game and have fun.

I’m glad ranks don’t reset, at least that’s something.

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you guys can discuss this till your blue in the face and it wont resolve a thing. Blocking people to not play with them is obviously a microsoft thing, on the console settings end. The only thing that would resolve this issue is to hold online tournies and work out the issues starting there. Time/scheduling, monitoring, managing…well its just a logistical nightmare. who gets in for a chance at the top 32. the top 100? 150? 200? The latter is probably the easiest to remedy but everything else is just crazy. If someone pulls this off, i swear ill shut my mouth and stop being so critical of the bugs…naw…nevermind :smile: s crew precious moments, twitch that $@!& B!@^h.

what we need is a system that ditches points and instead uses a more reliable statistic. Win streaks are one way but tend to be wildly variable based on opponents skill. my suggestion is to go by pure wins or win ratios and reset those every month instead of resetting the “points”. Is there something im not seeing here, flaw wise in this suggestion? how ever the point system would have to be totally removed for this to work…I guess they could still pad out their ratio by blocking you and prey on the poor scrubs. and taking out the points would ■■■■■ up the KI cup thing and were back to square one. hmmmmmmm. then again its better just to be blocked on the win/loss no play list than to forgo 900 points or whater it is. The first idea could be a keeper. holy crap if it is tho, or the ratio has its flaws but better than the current situation/infastructure.

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I think that might be the answer. Just go by Win/loss ratio…period? Maybe points stay on the side for tie breaking? I’m pretty sure MKX Leader board data is by Winning percentage, and then by points?

Match making needs to be fixed first.

I guess the points are due to the fact you WILL be matched against a higher rank, therefore you will most likely loose, therefor Win /loss ratio wouldnt be fair to advance you up your tier ladder?

Now maybe Killer ranking is by win percentage…but to get to killer it goes by points?

I dont know…i do know that i play ranked for a week, hyped up, then buy the end of the week I don’t want anything to do with it for a while. I come back 1 month later…give it a go… end of the week…FUDGE this SHIFT!!! lol

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i edited my post check it out. I try to not get frustrated i really do. I start every match telling myself what not to do and what to make sure i do. as the game is out for a longer period of time the users skill level gap starts to lessen and the only thing I have to my advantage is experience is certain situations, but when these fellow killers anticipate my mind set they get a surprise. play like a demon but know when to keep things basic and simple.

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It’s a game if a ultra hurts your feelings in real life you should stick to rated E games