Few things to clarify.
- I belong in a unit (Cameron's Highlanders) and my icon displays it as well. I dont know where you got the idea I am a lone wolf or I am pushing this for lone wolf.
- I've already inferenced drop weight and ladder system are coming. what I was pushing for was to have it in earlier "...sooner than later..." Yes, PGI did say Ladder system is coming I asked and got confirmation. When who knows which is why I wanted it sooner becaus MWO is in a big lull right now.
- Huge number of teams playing is already happening. However we do not have a system to support it. Private match? Nope, they said it was coming. Can you match up against similar skill team? Nope, you hope ELO works. If we had ladder, chances are much higher you will play against team of similar skill for challenge and getting better.
- Ladder system are VERY common and a MUST have in PvP games. Especialy competitive games and it needs to support team and solo players. MWO does poor job of supporting solo players. Actualy team players too since it lacks ladder system.
- Ladder and ELO are two different things and you cannot lump them together, they go hand in hand but are not the same thing. If you don't know the difference then you need to Google and get better informed. Here is high level overview. ELO is a formula used to give a rating to player (from Chess). Ladder is a Ladder tournament system. Most games utilize both by giving ELO to a player and allocating the player or a team of the given ELO range in a ladder bucket. You don't have to use ELO but if a game doesn't have a ladder system, it will not have a succesful PvP movement.
ELO in MWO was rushed and poorly implemented. What PGI is doing is basically giving ELO per mech you have which is stupid. It should be to the player's account that has ELO. Applying this stupid implemention to other competitive game would look like this...
- Every champion you play in League of Legend is given their own ELO rating. No, LoL gives you ELO to your account.
- Every race you play in StarCraft is given their own ELO rating. No, SC gives you ELO to your account.
What do you think happens? If top player in LoL or SC2 pick a champ or race they don't usually play or new champ that they have low or no ELO rating? They're going to join a game as new or low ELO and destroy people. That's not fun.
Also because there is no cut off in PGI for ELO in Match making. Even if you drop in mechs with ELO rating, your drop will be with/against people who are far below or above your skill. That is not fun. It is stupid.
That is why way PGI implemented ELO per mech is stupid and not having cut off by not grouping people into ladder is stupid as well.
Lot of people hate public ELO number and Ladder system because reality is once that number or ladder system groups people into segments. Its the segment itself people are afraid of. Thinking I'm a badass when you realize you got put in Bronze Ladder rather than Platinum you thought you belonged. People's ego can't take it.
On the flip side, people also get very elitist with their 'rank' or 'ladder group'. That said. You cannot have healthy competitive aspect to PvP game without ladder system.
By the way, all of this apply to both team and solo player (lone wolf as you call it). Doesn't matter which group you want to play with. Oh and don't you know since you are part of unit? People are already holding ladder tournaments on their own for 12 v 12. Why don't PGI just make it into the game so we can have a ladder in the game rather than doing it manually outside the game with diplomats arranging games.
It is stupid.
Edit: Source for ladder confirmation. I asked in ATD 41 and it was answered.
http://mwomercs.com/...ost__p__2500477
Bryan Ekman, on 28 June 2013 - 12:43 PM, said:
Ask the Devs #41
Blood78: Could we please have some sort of ranking information available to the public. Whether it is straight up ELO number, percentile number, ladder rank, and so forth. If answer is no, please explain why because you cannot have a healthy and a real competitive aspect to a game without such info being available publically.
A: Elo is not something that players need as a ranking system, it’s a number used by a really fancy calculator to match you against opponents. As for ladders etc, yes, we they are coming.
Edited by Blood78, 14 November 2013 - 04:16 PM.