Elite: Dangerous rank changes

[kilvenny]

Below average always sounded negative to me so I can see why its gone. Above average makes no sense if there is no below average. What is average, what does it really mean? If you think about kills average wasn't really average in terms of the full scale.

I was hoping they would introduce a class suffix.

So you became dangerous class 1 when you reached that rank and as you moved up the rank towards deadly your class increased.

I always felt that with the way the rankings were set once you reached the higher ranks you needed some sort of tiering so you could feel you were making progress rather than flat lined.

 

[Styggron]

I think I prefer the new ranks. I never liked the word average. Also, competent seems to be better placed lower in the order. You would hope that more pilots were at least competent.

When I read your posts I can hear them in your voice from Lave Radio.

 

[ste]

If its because of having a non combat rating, maybe there should be separate.

If we have to change it maybe something like,

Non combat rating.

Unknown
Mostly unknown
Novice
Advanced novice
Apprentice
Adept
Competent
Expert
Master
Elite

Combat Rating

Harmless
Mostly harmless
Novice
Advanced novice
Apprentice
Adept
Competent
Dangerous
Deadly
Elite

More importantly than the name is getting the balance right in what is needed to rank in level. It should be slow, very slow, and hard, very hard.. erm..



I like the badges though, Maybe a couple of different colours for the last 3 like someone suggested, A platinum Elite Badge, Gold Master - Deadly, Silver Dangerous - Expert.

 

[SnowGhost]

I don't like it either. I fail to see why it had to be changed.

 

[FrogsFriend]

I liked the humour in trying hard to reach 'Poor', 'Below average', etc. and will be sorry to see them go.

The change to the ranks has a hint of the modern 'there are no losers, everyone who takes part is a winner and gets to take home a trophy' school of thought.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Removing "average" makes sense...it's loaded word these days and can be misinterpreted. It seems ranks also have been tuned to cover some military ground.

Overall I like it.

 

[Daeron]

If its because of having a non combat rating, maybe there should be separate.

If we have to change it maybe something like,

Non combat rating.

Unknown
Mostly unknown
Novice
Advanced novice
Apprentice
Adept
Competent
Expert
Master
Elite

Combat Rating

Harmless
Mostly harmless
Novice
Advanced novice
Apprentice
Adept
Competent
Dangerous
Deadly
Elite

More importantly than the name is getting the balance right in what is needed to rank in level. It should be slow, very slow, and hard, very hard.. erm..

Much better than trying to fuse it all together into some rather dubious conglomerate, stepping on the originals.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I liked the humour in trying hard to reach 'Poor', 'Below average', etc. and will be sorry to see them go.

The change to the ranks has a hint of the modern 'there are no losers, everyone who takes part is a winner and gets to take home a trophy' school of thought.

Well, focus of Elite games has changed. There will be lot of people NOT involved in killing fest.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Much better than trying to fuse it all together into some rather dubious conglomerate, stepping on the originals.

But this is a sequel, not original. FE2 and FFE also changed a lot of things. I expect trend to continue

 

[Thargon]

If its because of having a non combat rating, maybe there should be separate.

If we have to change it maybe something like,

Non combat rating.

Unknown
Mostly unknown
Novice
Advanced novice
Apprentice
Adept
Competent
Expert
Master
Elite

Combat Rating

Harmless
Mostly harmless
Novice
Advanced novice
Apprentice
Adept
Competent
Dangerous
Deadly
Elite

More importantly than the name is getting the balance right in what is needed to rank in level. It should be slow, very slow, and hard, very hard.. erm..



I like the badges though, Maybe a couple of different colours for the last 3 like someone suggested, A platinum Elite Badge, Gold Master - Deadly, Silver Dangerous - Expert.

Even this is a better organisation of the ranks that they proposed. However, I'd still much rather just keep the original rankings.

 

[Steve_T]

The only ranking I had a problem with in the original was "Poor", as others have mentioned. But, that aside, I'm not too bothered about the new rank names.

When I'm Elite, I'm still Elite.

 

[ste]

I liked the humour in trying hard to reach 'Poor', 'Below average', etc. and will be sorry to see them go.

The change to the ranks has a hint of the modern 'there are no losers, everyone who takes part is a winner and gets to take home a trophy' school of thought.

It will not be long before the ratings are just

Awesome
Super Awesome
Awesomely Awesome

But even that could have the potential to make the Awesome feel like losers to the Super awesome.

But that definitely seems like the trend with games now. Are the future kids really as shallow and attention span-less as most devs believe? I dont think things have changed that much myself.

 

[Calico Jack]

I liked the humour in trying hard to reach 'Poor', 'Below average', etc. and will be sorry to see them go.

The change to the ranks has a hint of the modern 'there are no losers, everyone who takes part is a winner and gets to take home a trophy' school of thought.

Yay! Everyone gets to be Elite!

Now grab your circle of safety-paper...

 

[Steve_T]

...Are the future kids really as shallow and attention span-less as most devs believe? I dont think things have changed that much myself.

I'd like to respond to your post by saying... Oh look! A text message!

 

[Daeron]

But this is a sequel, not original. FE2 and FFE also changed a lot of things. I expect trend to continue

True enough, but titles represent something very contained and symbolic, even in a world of change. Like the Elite logo, or the name "Elite" itself. You're at the very foundation of the origins here. Those things that define the essence of the game, down to the core. More of a reboot than a sequel perhaps. But not a complete metamorphosis?

 

[Lobstris]

Surely All Men Are Equal - just some are more equal than others and have beam lasers?

 

[Captain N]

Maybe they just wanted to avoid boring and repetitive titles and replace them with something more distinct and evocative.

If you can decouple the old ranks from nostalgia and think about them, is it not just a little bit lame to have two ranks named 'average'?

And what's 'below average' anyway? There was no such rank in Elite. It was always nine ranks.

Regarding the winners / losers mentality, the Elite ranks were always primarily about how much time you had spent playing the game. Somewhat like levels in an MMO. A completely useless metric for evaluating any kind of skill, outside of Iron Man, anyway.

 

[jabokai]

I suggest these as replacement ranks. :smilie:

n00b
Carebear
Newtonian Flyer
Banned
Infracted
Unknown
Pwner
PKer
Griefer

 

[ScottGust]

Idk..im torn on this issue. The masochist in me likes the traditional titles "harmless, mosltly harmless" but really, who wants to work their way up to...POOR. YES, after all my effort, im finally Poor, Lol. I like the new ranks but also feel there needs to be more of a mix of old and new even if it means adding tiers.

 

[ste]

Should they be changed you need to ask yourself 2 questions.

The benefits of changing the ranks? Erm, None.
The negatives of changing the ranks? They make less sense than they did before. I imagine trying to explain it to someone, 'So dangerous is higher than Master? ok, what about expert, now I'm confused.'

Its 3 negative ratings - Harmless, Mostly Harmless, and Novice before you are given a positive rating - Competent.

I imagine most play thrus would go like this. Turn on game. Harmless, 5 mins later Mostly Harmless, 20 mins to get a nice positive rating Competent.

You only suffer a negative rating for 30 mins max, 30 minutes in the game and Everybody is Competent, no inferiority complex. Lots of happy kids feeling very rewarded and a warm feeling inside that they have accomplished something. Devs job done.

I say leave it be, and make it 40 kills before you reach mostly harmless and so on.