Madden 27 Ranking System
H2H Leaderboards Should Measure Skill, Not Games Played
I’ve been playing Ranked H2H and I think there’s a pretty obvious problem with the current leaderboard system: it rewards volume too heavily.
For example, I’m currently 28–10, which is a 73.7% win rate, and I’m ranked around #14,500.
Meanwhile, I can see players ranked significantly higher with records like 44–25 (63.8%), and even someone around the top 300 at 114–57 (66.7%).
I’m not saying my record automatically means I’m better than either player. The problem is that we really have no way of knowing, because games played has such a huge influence on ranking.
Some of us simply don’t have time to play 10–15 H2H games every day. I work 9+ hours a day, have a wife and kids and simply don’t have time to play everyday but want to remain competitive and have a fair chance to rank just as high as others without playing 6-8 hours a day. Playing more should help establish how confident the system is in your skill level, but it shouldn’t automatically make you a “higher-ranked” player.
I think Ranked H2H needs an Elo/Glicko-style skill rating system.
Everyone could start around the same rating and gain or lose points based primarily on the strength of their opponent.
Beat someone rated much higher than you? Big rating increase.
Beat someone significantly below you? Small increase.
Lose to someone significantly below you? Big decrease.
Lose a close matchup against someone significantly above you? Smaller decrease.
You could also require something like 60–75 games before becoming eligible for the official Top 100/Top 1,000 leaderboard, so somebody can’t go 8–0 and claim they’re the #1 player in Madden. Or even implement a rule that you must play a certain amount of games per week to remain in top 100 / etc.
A Glicko-style system could take this even further by tracking rating confidence. Someone who is 28–10 might have a very high skill rating with less certainty, while someone who is 114–57 has much more data proving their rating is legitimate.
That still rewards people who play a lot—their rating becomes more established—but volume itself isn’t what makes them highly ranked.
The leaderboard should ultimately answer one question:
“Who are the best H2H Madden players?”
Not:
“Who has enough time to play the most H2H games?”
I love Ranked H2H, I’m 31 now and have been playing Madden since I was 8 and just want a shot for us all to fairly prove we are amongst best. I believe making the leaderboard a true skill-based ranking would make climbing it WAY more meaningful.
