A Suggestion to the Ranking System (Long Read)

[sinful topaz]

(Apologises if the format is off, writing this on a phone)

Ever since rank has been introduced to FvF, I have read comments from the community who aren't satisfied with the current Ranking System. The matchmaking feels uneven/unfair and the queue times are long due to the game population. It doesn't help that some players prefer to only play in private matches making the public queue even longer (not that I blame them).

Some things from the community have complain about are that they feel the gain/loss of points to be unfair, people leaving games to preserve their rank, people stressing about climbing the ranks and people using cheats (though imo cheaters seem to be a rarer case). All these things are harming the game's life in the long term and seeing comments from people who are done with the game due to these reasons is disheartening.

I suggest that FvF should scrap the whole Ranking System and either bring back level matchmaking or something similar. The problem with level matchmaking back then was that exp and money gain was a 1/3 of the current payout now. High lvl would often get matched with low lvls because most players were people who stuck with game and new people trying the game. High level accounts also had access to the most or all cards at near/Max lvl while lower lvl accounts would lose more often against them and recieve like 20 dollars and like 30-50 exp for losing. Now that exp and money gain is basically triple the amount, newer players are able to get more cards and lvl up faster.

Instead of deleting the rank icons, they can be recycled to a similar format akin to promotions from a game called Deep Rock Galatic. Rank icons could be use to indicate how long someone has played. Some examples can be like a white border is given at lvl 0, then 1 star at lvl 25, 2 stars at lvl 50, 3 stars at lvl 75 then bronze at lvl 100 then repeat. (Numbers could be changed if that's too long)

Overall I think these changes would help the game in the long run as I believe FvF should be a game that you play because you want to have fun and not grinding for the next rank.

[gilded bolt]

where's the short read version?

[sinful topaz]

TLDR
. Remove Ranking, Bring back level matchmaking or something similar
. No Ranking means less toxicity
. Repurpose Rank Borders' Colors and Stars into level milestones
. Playing the game for the funs > Playing to climb ranks

Reasons for these in the blob of text up above

[hasty vault]

It might be a good idea to remove the current rank system in the population as there is a lot of criticism of it.
However, if the rank frame is to be diverted to level rewards, it would be nice to have an alternative compensation, such as distributing weapon charms according to the highest rank attained, rather than ignoring the efforts of players in the current rank system.
I also believe that when the ranks are re-implemented, the ranked and casual modes will be split and re-implemented when the player base increases. The developer should disclose to the community the approximate number of players needed for it.

Translator used.　JP→EN

[hardy wedge]

Remove rank is actually a good thing to do

[sinful topaz]

As far as I know, the reasons why people climb the ranks is because they want to or they want the BFF portrait. There's no other reward for climbing the ranks.

If it's possible, they could let people keep their current rank and use it as a headstart for the level milestones. People who were gold will start in gold and continue from there. Or if they're already BFF then they stay in BFF.

I don't have any game dev knowledge so I have no idea if it's hard to code that

[acoustic oxide]

It's been suggested a few times before I think, but while there's a new thread on it- im absolutely in favor of it being removed at least temporarily until the playerbase can support two queues. Some kind of compensation like the ranked portraits being allowed in off season etc would be great too but I'd just be happy to see it gone.

[hardy wedge]

It's really hard to chill when losing ince means death, before rank was simply perfect(not perfect but...you know...!)

[sinful topaz]

leveling matchmaking wasn't perfect, most of the time it was bad but at least to me, losing was more fun when it was a close game then it is right now

honestly there's no difference in lvl matchmake and rank matchmake, a gold player going against a silver or lower may as well be a lvl 80+ player going against a lvl 20 or below

[wide oxide]

I disagree that ranked matches should go away, or that ranked play is less fun than casual. Especially in a game like FvF that is inherently competitive.

But I do think that the current Ranked system feels tacked on and doesnt work well. One major issue is that it isnt THAT much different from the level based matchmaking. The second is that it isnt separate from the casual queue.

I understand not wanting to split the player base, but the queues should be separated. They can just make it to where you can queue for both at the same time, and whichever queue pops first, is what you play.

Ranked also needs more incentive. One of the great things about ranked in other games are things like Top 500 players, weapon charms for each ranked tier reached, special skins, titles, etc.. Obviously the dev team is smaller, so things like this is much harder to pull off.

[sinful topaz]

I do understand that there are people who enjoy competitiveness in games and I'm not opposed for rank to come back at some point.

As of now tho, I don't think the game population can handle a casual and a ranked queue. There's already 2 public queues 1v1 and 2v2 but don't forget that some people do private matches. I'm from the Oceania area and the normal population for me now is 80-120. Last thing this game needs is adding 2 more queues to spread the already thin populations during off peak.