Ranked Match Guide - Last Updated: 2015/12/09

[GM]Castiel

Table of Contents

Getting Started

How to join
How does the search work?
Rules for each Game Type

What is ELO?

Basic explanation
Placement matches
Seasons

Other Notes / FAQ

[GM]Castiel

Getting Started

How to join

1) Click Ranked Match
2) Select the Game Type you’d like to play
3) Start the Search
4) System automatically finds players around your skill level and matches you to them
5) Once your team and the enemy team have been found, you will enter the match automatically

Note: To prevent rank fixing and abuse, you cannot join with a team. The ranked match only lets you as an individual join a random group.

How does the search work?

The search looks for players with a similar skill range, which is determined by an Elo system. It will find players at a similar skill level and expand if not enough players are at that level. If it still cannot find enough players it will expand again. It will repeat this several times before finally making a room and letting a match start. As a result of this, while the aim is to get as evenly matched of a team as possible; you may still face people slightly above or below you.

Even though you may have a full team when the game is created, it is still possible that people will leave during the game. If that happens the system will try to find a replacement player for your team. If a player leaves the match they will be auto-reconnected when they next try to search.

For an explanation on the Elo system please see What is Elo?.

Rules by GameMode

The rules for ranked matches are locked to certain settings.

Team Death Match
- 0s Respawn time
- 160 Kills
- Map Pool: Ship 2.0, Egypt 2.0, Toy Castle, Sub Assault

Search & Destroy
- 5 Rounds
- Map Pool: Black Widow 2.0, Eagle Eye, Castle, Compound

Wave Mode – Arctic Base
- Standard

Wave Mode – Sandstorm
- Standard

[GM]Castiel

What is Elo?

Basic explanation

The new ranked matches use an Elo system for determining player skill. The Elo system uses a rating score (Elo Score) and compares it to other users to determine if they are around the same skill level.

If you win a match you gain Elo Score. Likewise if you lose a match, you will also lose Elo score. The amount gained/lost is dependent not only on the outcome of the match, but also the compared skill level of the teams playing and your own personal performance as well.

If a team loses against a lower ranked team, they will suffer a large decrease in Elo, while the lower ranked team will get a large increase in Elo. Likewise, if a higher ranked team wins, they will only get a very small increase, while the lower ranked team will only lose a small amount.

Ideally, to balance out the chance to win with the rewards for doing so, you want to find similarly ranked opponents.

Ex. Getting Headshots, Kills, assists and avoiding death will all serve to boost your Elo gains, or minimize losses. Likewise, dying a lot and not helping the team will cause you to lose out on ELO or lose more if the team loses the match.

- Note: A player who jumps into a match will gain/lose a reduced amount of Elo Score over one who joined the game from the start
- Note: Leaving early for any reason will remove a certain amount of Elo from your Elo Score
- Note: To prevent abuse and confusion, we will not reveal a player’s Elo Score.

There are 4 different ranks and 6 classes within those ranks. To move up to a new rank you must first ascend through all 6 classes in your current rank.
Ex. If a player is at Silver 4^th Class and wants to move up to Platinum 1^st Class (as all should aspire to) then they will first need to play and/or win enough matches to ascend through Silver 5^th Class, Silver 6^th class and all 6 Gold Classes.

The classes are listed as follows:

Placement matches

When you first start playing ranked matches in a season, your first 10 matches will not show a rank for you. These matches are used to calculate your starting rating for the season. After the first 10 matches you will be given a rank based on the evaluated performance which will be reflected in your stats and will be used for your next match. As you play more from this point your rank will update and continue.

Seasons

Your stats and ranking will depend on your performance during the current season. Each season will have a specific start and end date which will be announced before hand. The 1^st Season will start right at the launch of 2.0.

Once a season is over the Ranked system will be disabled until the next season starts. When the next season begins all players will be reset to their pre-placement stages and will be able to re-try for a new ranking.

[GM]Castiel

Other Notes / FAQ

- Achievement Effects are not applied in ranked matches (unless it is the specific ranked match achievement)

- Ranked Match achievement requirements are based off of your Elo Score for that mode.

- For Gold and Up: Not playing a Ranked Match for 14 days will reduce your Elo Score. You will receive a warning 3 days before the reduction occurs.

- For Platinum this time frame is reduced to 7 days.