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New Maps, Ranking System for Gears 2
Epic Games' next Gears of War 2 update will be a significant overhaul, followed by the release of a new map pack.
The developer said Friday that it will be changing the game's ranking system to one based on experience instead of purely on skill, an RPG-style system that Epic hinted at just last month. The update is due March 24.
"The new system gives you 100 levels of player experience, gained through scoring in public matches," Epic says. "The game still uses TrueSkill to set up the most competitive matches possible, but skill ranks are now hidden. Players who quit matches early see their experience docked as a penalty."
Another welcome change will be the addition of bots in public matches. AI-controlled players will take the place of people who drop during an online match. The bot option currently is only available in private matches.
Epic will also be implementing various fixes, addressing balance issues and updating matchmaking.
Due on March 31 is the Snowblind Map Pack, a four-map collection with a wintry theme. The maps will be available on March 31.
The update will also add nine new achievements based on the new map pack and ranking system.
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Thank god Epic have finally done the right thing. Many people will probably slate them for essentially ripping off of Halo3 but honestly who cares.
I cant to get back on GoW2 with all these improvements on the way
to Zorda2097
Because they were trying to follow in Bungie's footsteps with their machmaking for Halo 3
Nice! anyone know if this will be out for windows?
Both Epic and MS have stated "officially" that GoW2 will not come to PC. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised to see it come out on PC this Holiday Season though.
Stupid question i'm sure..but why didn't they use this system in the first place?
Probably the same reason the other multiplayer Gears 2 issues were present, there wasn't enough time/resources to QA/playtest the multiplayer component thoroughly. This is not the sort of thing where there's a clear cut answer as to what works, usually it takes time to refine ranking systems.
Halo 2/3 and COD4, games that arguably have the best MP ranking systems for console shooters, they all had serious time invested in playtesting all aspects of the MP, Halo 3 and COD4 even had multiplayer betas months before release. And IMO, still Halo 3's multiplayer being built on Playlists (i.e. Not being able to play public matches in a single game mode like CTF, when you want to) is complete garbage, and is the major reason I played very little online Halo 3.
There's no disputing that Epic was on a fairly tight schedule with Gears 2, with the fact there was exactly 2 years between Gears 1 and Gears 2's release dates, that most likely leaves a little more than 2 years of development time.
Definitely not the best scenario that the MP had/has so many issues, but I definitely respect that they're not on such a high horse that they won't go back and make things better.
Because they still have another game to sell you in 2 years.