The Leaderboard Means Nothing

[Sgt Grizzly]

First off, Hi to the community! I'm an old school PS player(got he game the first day it came out after following it for 2 years), and I'm very happy to be back anticipating SOE's next installment. The screenshots look great and I'm happy to see T-Ray still on the project.

That said, I have a problem with the leaderboard from PS and would like to see some changes - feel free to add suggestions as I can't think of everything.

I bring this up as a person who was actually ranked #1 on the Konried Leaderboard for TR(during my time). The fact is, however, although I'm a good player, the only way I got to the #1 was because I had the time to play often this racking up the kills.

While I would still like to see a leaderboard that shows overall stats, there should be some way of recognizing the best players, even the ones who can't afford to play more than a couple hours a day.

I squared off with many players during my reign of terror only to come to the conclusion that there were MANY skilled players who were simply not recognized because they couldn't dedicate the time. I'd like to see that changed for the future.


Grizzly

[Sirisian]

There was a leaderboard? I didn't even know and I played on and off for years. Learn something everyday. :P

[Firefly]

My leaderboard is in my pants. It's a big One.

[Miir]

I tend to agree... I was in the top 10 on Emerald for a month or two after release but that was pretty much because I was between jobs at the time and had less to do with my skill level.

I hope "if" they have a leaderboard in PS:N they do it based on K/D vs time played or something. So at least someone that plays 15 hours a week will rank against someone that plays 60 hours.

[Traak]

Originally Posted by Miir

I tend to agree... I was in the top 10 on Emerald for a month or two after release but that was pretty much because I was between jobs at the time and had less to do with my skill level.

I hope "if" they have a leaderboard in PS:N they do it based on K/D vs time played or something. So at least someone that plays 15 hours a week will rank against someone that plays 60 hours.

Player logs on, HARTs to near a two-enemy-empires battle. Whips out CUD, reveals, OS's busiest spot on the map as per reveal. Logs off. Does so every three hours or so.

We have a new leader!

If kills per minute was the criteria, it would encourage this behavior.

[Miir]

Originally Posted by Traak

Player logs on, HARTs to near a two-enemy-empires battle. Whips out CUD, reveals, OS's busiest spot on the map as per reveal. Logs off. Does so every three hours or so.

We have a new leader!

If kills per minute was the criteria, it would encourage this behavior.

Good point.

Perhaps something like Orbital strikes could be an exclusion from the stats. Since not everyone has immediate access to it.

[LordReaver]

What you ask for is improbable. There are way too many variables to include to get a real comparison.

For example, how to do calculate leadership, support, or tactics? Lets say, person A is really good at killing, but person B is really good at evading. Who is the better player?

Leaderboards are really more for comparison than who is better than who. Although, I wish they would start adding how many hours people play.

[Sgt Grizzly]

Originally Posted by LordReaver

What you ask for is improbable. There are way too many variables to include to get a real comparison.

For example, how to do calculate leadership, support, or tactics? Lets say, person A is really good at killing, but person B is really good at evading. Who is the better player?

Leaderboards are really more for comparison than who is better than who. Although, I wish they would start adding how many hours people play.

I understand what you're saying about more technical aspects of the game but perhaps a simple kill/death ratio could serve to showcase top killers. As for things like squad tactics...I suppose you could do it like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 which allows players to set targets like, "defend a flag", and receive points for things like killing an enemy within the capture radius.

In addition they could have maybe two boards; one showing overalls points and one showing points per hour or something.

[Firefly]

Or, maybe we could nix all that MMO-RPG bullshit and just play the game. As you said: the leaderboard means nothing.

[Sgt Grizzly]

Originally Posted by Firefly

Or, maybe we could nix all that MMO-RPG bullshit and just play the game. As you said: the leaderboard means nothing.

I'm not a MMO-RPG player so I have no idea what you're talking about, really. I play FPS games almost exclusively, save single player games, and find a little competition can make the game more interesting. For me at least.

[Arkaiden]

Kills an hour, assists an hour, repairs an hour, heals an hour, hack an hour, and deaths an hour options to view.

There ya go, low play time people recognized.

[Raymac]

With baseball season fast approaching, I'm reminded of the nearly unlimited number of stats that can be collected and measured. Of course there is no way to measure intangibles, but there are alot of other things that can be tracked and for players to look at. I don't think we need super detailed stats to promote TheorySide, but if they can track something, then post it.

Plus, no matter what the stats say, there will still be debate on who is the "best".

[Rbstr]

I never gave two shits about he leader board or who was on it...except for about a minute when someone said I was on it, I checked it, and stopped caring again.

I do get some pleasure out of gold stars in BC2...those are actually easier to get by healing/ammo than killing people.

[Lonehunter]

K/D still isn't a good way to track a leaderboard IMO.

as a total support cloaker in a big battle I'll run around repair/healing, placing CE, repairing turrets and vechs, pullin an AMS, or Gunship.

All of those things can impact the game in a big way. If there's a leaderboard for kills, there better be one for support.

[LordReaver]

I think no matter what reasonable system you use, you will have to take it with a pinch of salt.