Call of Duty 4 rocks – the ranking system, not so much
You shouldn’t blame yourself for your addiction if you cannot stop playing Call of Duty 4. You and the rest of the FPS gamers feel the same way (excluding a few whiny Halo fans). However, there is one serious flaw in the game, and it is ranking system.
For those of you who aren’t in rehab for COD4 yet, here’s how the ranking system for multiplayer action works: you start off with two ranks, one a number rank, and the other a rank based on the military ranking system. As you progress and earn XP through completing challenges, objectives and winning games, both ranks go up.
Interestingly enough, the ranks never really stop going up. Once you reach the highest level, 55 and commander, you are given an option to start over at the lowest number rank, 1, but with a new insignia that shows other gamers that you have started over, but are really ranked significantly higher than the standard ranks.
In fact, you can repeat the process many times, scaling to the top and dropping back down, but each time receiving a new and unique insignia.
Triston, get something important to write about, you might say, or quit whining about that which doesn’t matter. I say, dear readers, that this ranking system is a serious problem.
The problem lies in the fact that there really is no way to distinguish a really skilled player from someone who has just ranked up a lot. Ranking is based on XP earned, and in no way is a reflection of kill to death ratio, games won, or anything of the sort.
Halo 3 has an interesting take on it; the number rank fluctuates based on player performance and skill, where the insignia will continue based on XP until you receive the rank of 4 star general.
So, there really is absolutely no point to having both a number system and an insignia system. Beyond that, there is really no way to judge whether someone just completely wastes his or her life playing the game to rank up or whether the person is genuinely talented.
The best part of all of this is that Infinity Ward could simply release a game patch to allow the number side to fluctuate much like Halo. That way players can judge more accurately the skill of the people they are playing with. And who doesn’t like bragging rights, eh?
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22 Responses to “Call of Duty 4 rocks – the ranking system, not so much”
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January 23rd, 2008
umm…its a game and honestly, you play it for fun. and you can still check out your friends wins/losses ratio. this game blows halo 3 out of the water in every other way and i love the system, it keeps me playing unlike halo 3 did!
January 24th, 2008
this game is like crack! I’m an addict and I can’t stop it. The Best FPS period The ranking keeps me playing as well as the challenges which is a brilliant tactic. One thing I see wrong with the Rank, there is no way to know what prestige rank they are unless you have achieved it or asked somebody about it. keeps me guessing all the time…
January 27th, 2008
This game makes halo look like tecnicolour crap. and its multiformat so everyone can play!
January 28th, 2008
You couldn’t really base it effectively off of stats like K/D ratio AND have unlockables…
Think about it: Starting out at lvl 1, the player has practically nothing – no [worthwhile] perks, no special sites, less than par weaponry… How is one to advance based on skill if they are sandbagged from the very beginning.
The only change I would make is to let the player take SOMETHING with them when they enter Prestige mode instead of making them start at the absolute beginning again.
February 1st, 2008
Call of duty four is ten times better than halo 3
The one thing i dont like is the time it takes to gain levels! it should take much longer to make it last a long time!
February 5th, 2008
I think its highly unlikely that they will change the ranking system. I see your point, but the game makers have made it this way so that the game lasts. The life of the game will be significanly reduced if it were to change.
February 5th, 2008
You are just a loser who cannot rank up or play the game for that matter. Halo sucks. The ranking system is screwed look on the internet loser!
February 8th, 2008
Just to clarify…
“Interestingly enough, the ranks never really stop going up. Once you reach the highest level, 65 and commander…”
——————-Actually, the highest level is 55(56 being the xp needed to prestige into the next cycle)
I do agree that the ranking systems could be improved but it’s really just nitpicking an amazing game. Yea, the higher rank doesn’t necessarily mean the more “skilled” player however it does give insight to how much experience the player has with the game. The “novice or casual” player can always choose NOT to prestige and simply keep all the weapons that he/she has unlocked.
I actually wish that COD4 people would release a patch extending the prestige mode because it keeps you going back for more. I think the main thing the prestige has going for it is when rivalling your buddies. I wouldn’t play as much as i do if i didn’t want to keep up with my friends who are constantly trying to level up against me.
February 21st, 2008
I can see what your talking about with the ranking system.
Anyone ca rank up just by playing a lot of games. Even if they do a shitty job they will eventually get the XP points the more games they play.
I was talking about this the other day with some friends i play with on COD4. And we all agree its a little odd.
-Heidi
February 24th, 2008
well Halo3 is too repetitive and wow….CoD4 is so like addicting. Halo is full of all those kids that dont have a bed time and like screaming into mics.Halo has 2 many 5yr olds and needs to get outta here with those crappy cartoony graphics.
CoD4 obviously craps it up a notch with its realistic take on warfare
February 25th, 2008
This is a great game; the only thing I hate about it is the fact that you can get UAV then use that to get airstrikes and the chopper abilities without a real statute of limitations. It seems in some games once a team has the advantage with better players they just roll their stockpiled specials near the end of the game. This leads to constant spawn deaths on allot of the maps and kills the fun of the game. Maybe they should consider having these options for teams that are badly losing to give them a chance at coming back and not getting shut out.
February 25th, 2008
The ranking system is genius u can see who is a true gamer and who the noobs are. the game wud be mutch shorter if we didnt have prestige mode.
February 29th, 2008
This article is kinda stupid. First off, we can all safely say this kid is some Halo 3 fanboy, hence the ending where he talks about it. Next, get your facts straight. It’s up to level 55 genius. To the guy who said that you should take a weapon wit you in prestige mode, no. I mean, obviously you’re probably gonna be skilled if you choose to go into prestige mode. You do have the choice to go into it.If you are skilled, all you would need is maybe an Ak-47. I would hate to leave all of those weapons, but If you do go into prestige mode, you would have to not suck to play. You start with an M16 and an Ak-47 which a lot of people use anyway. That’s all a part of having skill. You have to use what you’ve got.
March 20th, 2008
Its up to lvl 55 not 65… FYI
March 21st, 2008
sorry, that was a mistype.
June 22nd, 2008
I would like to know how you go about getting into prestige mode I ave already gotten my five stars so do you now have to start over or is there a place to go in the game?
June 22nd, 2008
I got the book to go along with the game but it only goes to five star it give no mention to there being any other ranks any help would be good.
June 30th, 2008
To all you Halo fans; Get a real game. COD4 is the best game created ever. As for ranking, if you select barracks –> Leaderboard –> Score, you can see what you are ranked against the world of COD4 Players. This ranking system increases with XP’s. It also decreases if another player somewhere on earth passes your rank. I’m guessing that you did not know this. My rank is currently 114538. Time played total of 18 days. Prestige mode 6. My point – you need skills to be number 1.
July 12th, 2008
its called a five star general for future refferance. and cod rocks and i didnt get the prestige mode until i read ur page thx.
August 9th, 2008
I wish the ranking system stats would allow you to see the kill/death ratio and the kill streak in ascending/ranking order. That way we could see who really are the greatest players as opposed to just seeing the number of kills from people who simply play the game 24/7.
I think it would have been more interesting (and prestigous) to only allow entrance to prestige mode after fullfilling all the challenges and/or having a certain kill/death ratio. I’m currently a level 55 commander whose died twice as often as I’ve killed yet I’m allowed entrance to prestige mode even though I still suck at the game. That just seems wrong.
October 9th, 2008
shut up and stop whining about halo and mistypes. just play the God damn game.
November 8th, 2009
I think it should be like red Faction Guerilla ranks, 10 xp for winning, 1 xp for a kill, 20 points for a capture. I don’t have it yet so as far as i know a rank might require anywhere from 10-100000 xp so don’t get mad at me. By the way i am not implying that COD4 should be like RFG, I don’t like the multiplayer very much, and I am not talking about the in game points, only the out of game xp.