Ranking up in Gears of War 2

It seems as though some confusion still remains about the Gears of War 2 ranking system. When the game first debuted in November of 2008 gamers did not really understand the ranking system. In previous MMPs of the shooting variety one's skill level was attained by the number of kills or points they obtained. The more kills or points you amassed the higher your ranking would be. That is simply not the case in Gears of War 2. There is far more to the equation than that, but it is what makes the game so much better than similar entities.

Gears of War 2's TrueSkill ranking system is based off of the ELO system which is commonly used in chess. The ranking system is far more sophisticated than systems seen in other games. In the Gears of War 2 system kills and points are not used exclusively to rank a player rather his or her wins vs. losses and favoritism to win the match is used to calculate the points given and thus it influences the ranking of the player. If you are rank 1 and you are playing someone who is ranked at a 3 you will be considered the underdog. The player at rank 3 playing a person at rank one will automatically be favored to win based on their skill level and their win to loss ratio. At the other end of the spectrum is a player who is a rank 3 loses to a lower rank player they lose more points than if the reversed happen. Many games have since adopted such a strategy for ranking; Street Fighter IV comes to mind.

There are several theories and tactics for ranking up with the TrueSkill system but the basic point is always the same. If you are a lower level player you can rank up quickly by playing and defeating higher level players. Because the higher level player is always favored by the system to win you will get more points, as a lower level player, if you win. You will also lose less points as the underdog than you would as the favorite. The goal for many players is to attempt to play higher ranking players at all times. Beating an underdog is just not enticing enough in regards to point to be worthwhile.

Another acceptable tactic for ranking up is finding a full room to play in. If you win the match in a full room you will be judged against each individual player in the room. You will be given points for every single person you beat and thus you will rack up points quickly. For example if you play in a room with ten different people and you beat all of them you will get the points for beating each person individually. If you play in a room with just one other player you will only get points for beating that one individual person.

As you move up the ranking ladder it becomes harder and harder to rank up as you will be pitted against players who are at a lower skill level than you. The more favored you are in the match the less points you will be given for a win.

Regardless of the tactic you use or the strategy you employ to rank up you will need to play the game and play it a lot in order to obtain a high ranking.