Feedback and suggestions: Ranked multiplayer - Main game
I noticed a mention about planned ranked mode for the "main game" as well. Would really like to see this! Here are some thoughts from a veteran BF player, who has played several competitive fps games during the years as well.
I believe Strikepoint would be the ideal ranked competitive mode for the game. I am not saying others should be excluded, but this is the closest to a traditional competitive squad based mode this game has to offer. Since this is based on small amount players, single players skill level has a huge impact on the result, and thats why on this mode it is extremely important to get evenly skilled players vs each other. This mode "needs" ranked / good skill based matchmaking, and on the other hands suits really well as a ranked competitive mode.
To get the ranking right, representing the skill of the player, the rank can't be based on amount of cumulative kills or team wins/losses alone. The individual player's relative score and/or KD ratio has the be taken into account when counting the ranked point changes. Often there are players who carry the team, and on winning team there can be clearly worse players than on losing team. Many games fail on this. With this, I believe you could get solid skill based matchmaking and balanced fights. Ranked also should require committing to the full game, and sanction leaving. Replacements for leavers are welcome too, 3v4 gets unbalanced quick.
I would slightly upgrade the mode for ranked too. The mode has not got much updates or attention since the release. The core works really well. I would add a map vote to the beginning. Could there also be a little more variance to the starting spawn directions between rounds to add variability? I personally would make the rounds slightly longer, by for example increasing the capture time by a bit. Compared to other comp games, these games and especially the rounds feel a little fast. Game to 6 wins feels quite nice though. There can be many opinions about the lenght for sure. There also seems to be some kind of jump abuse, to advance further in the start location by jumping before the round starts, which should be addressed.
It is also important to find the games fast. I would perhaps allow same amount of bots per team if necessary to the lowest rank games to speed up queue. I would also consider limiting or cycling between similar game modes (squad/team dm, domination/king of the hill) to focus the players more in the active ones. Also if we would have ranked Strikepoint, I don't think any other kind is needed, not to dilute the player base. Perhaps it should be in portal as an option for random play and testing.
I personally believe this would add the longevity of the game overall and would be really welcome.addition. What do others (and admins) think?
