[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] st3ven9640 It depends on who you play, and who you beat. If you're a 50, beating non 50's means pretty much nothing, and you can basically discard those wins. The only thing that helps secure your 50 is wins against other 50's. I had an account that I got a dubs 50 on, and probably won like 20 straight against all 50s in the playlist. I signed in another account, and tried to derank it just to see how long it would take. Ended up taking over 120 straight losses, since the account on my team was a lower level, and they didn't really count for much.[/quote] 120 losses? Wow......It's a pity that the system gets abused so much by people who derank just to sell accounts and such, but it's still one of the better ranking systems for a shooter in general.

It depends on who you play, and who you beat. If you're a 50, beating non 50's means pretty much nothing, and you can basically discard those wins. The only thing that helps secure your 50 is wins against other 50's. I had an account that I got a dubs 50 on, and probably won like 20 straight against all 50s in the playlist. I signed in another account, and tried to derank it just to see how long it would take. Ended up taking over 120 straight losses, since the account on my team was a lower level, and they didn't really count for much. [Edited on 10.07.2012 1:58 PM PDT]

This is what I thought. Like you said before, there's obviously no way to ever actually "lock" at a rank, so I suppose you could infinitely extend the number of wins on a 50. I guess the difficulty just lies in the fact that 50s will at best receive theoretically "even" matches against other 50s, since they can never play against someone higher. Again, none of this is actually relevant in the slightest; I just thought it was an interesting discussion topic.

You are kind of right. if someone is on a streak his trueskill rating will be higher for it, but thats as far as it goes. you are right in a sense that if you win a lot at any other rank, you will be expected to beat certain people based on their overall record and own trueskill rating. On a 50 though, winning a lot of games in a row will only increase the "lock" on the 50. You will of course be expected to beat most people. Theoretically losing to a team of 4 40s beat a team of 50, playlist 5 stars, the trueskill of the 50s will drop, but it will still take a while before they lose it, based on how many wins they already have. Now as for the team of 40s, they will almost certainly go up for it, and probably gain the next 2-4 levels much faster than usual.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] meagsIZbeast there is no rank locked 50 if thats what you mean. Every 50, no matter how many wins, can be lost. The ceiling you are referring to isnt important really. No one can say if there is a spot that you stop gaining trueskill, nor can anyone disprove that. The only way to know is by beating all the top players, with the best records, every time and never lose a single game. But even if you did, losing to anyone would drop your trueskill dramatically so you would still be able to lose it eventually. As for what affects losses, the party size doesnt matter. Only the aggregate trueskill of the other team matters. Streaks dont matter in themselves, but rather add to the players trueskill, as long as that player had beaten other good players in the first place. The streak in of itself doesnt matter though.[/quote] I was under the impression that streaks worked thus: The more games someone plays in a certain playlist, the less deviation is available for wins or losses. As the gamer plays consistently, the deviation or "uncertainty" continues to drop. However, if the player begins to have sudden, unexpected results (winning 25 games straight is an example, if a bit extreme), the deviation and uncertainty begin to rise, allowing the player to move more quickly in either direction. SO if someone is on a streak and is on the opposite team, if I beat them, does that uncertainty get tallied in the enemy team's aggregate?

there is no rank locked 50 if thats what you mean. Every 50, no matter how many wins, can be lost. The ceiling you are referring to isnt important really. No one can say if there is a spot that you stop gaining trueskill, nor can anyone disprove that. The only way to know is by beating all the top players, with the best records, every time and never lose a single game. But even if you did, losing to anyone would drop your trueskill dramatically so you would still be able to lose it eventually. As for what affects losses, the party size doesnt matter. Only the aggregate trueskill of the other team matters. Streaks dont matter in themselves, but rather add to the players trueskill, as long as that player had beaten other good players in the first place. The streak in of itself doesnt matter though.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] meagsIZbeast there is no way to actually know. It is based on who you beat, and who beats you. For example, you can win 100 games against 45s on your 50, but if you lose to people with high trueskills then you are in the middle. That means if you go on a losing streak it is far easier to lose the 50 than otherwise. Thats the closest answer I can give atm.[/quote] Yeah, in the OP I was trying to keep it simple by assuming that all wins were worth the same value: But they're always very different based on the skills of the players, their current streaks (something impossible for you to know), and even how big a group they're running in (that affects it too, right?). As far as to whether or not a defined "ceiling" exists that is maxed out at a certain invisible score that is obtained which would normally rank you up, it's probably impossible to tell.

there is no way to actually know. It is based on who you beat, and who beats you. For example, you can win 100 games against 45s on your 50, but if you lose to people with high trueskills then you are in the middle. That means if you go on a losing streak it is far easier to lose the 50 than otherwise. Thats the closest answer I can give atm.

I thought it worked like cfb ap poll.

No, I have no idea on the specifics. I was just making educated guesses based off personal experience. You can lose quite a few games if you piled on the wins though. I see no evidence of any ceiling.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] shortD42 is aBK It's not equal. You go down easier than you rank up. If you lose against 49s it's much worse than losing against 50s. Same goes for victories...beating 50s is more important than beating 49s. However, if you win 100 games it would take a bunch to lose the 50. Not 100, but enough to have a little losing streak. I've played a lot of Doubles and Snipers 50 and not lost them after small losing streaks so they do add up. I do not think it's as simple as win 100 games lose 100 games. More like win 100 lose 25 or something like that. There is no ceiling that I know of. It's just easier to level down then up. I'm not entirely sure though. I think it has a lot to do with winning games in a row. Winning 100 and losing 50 (winning 2 and then losing 1) over and over again will not help that much.[/quote] I know that the value is higher for wins if you beat people higher than you, and the opposite is true for losses against people lower than you. Logically, it follows that if you're a 50, you shouldn't gain as much for wins, so no one is higher than you. The best you can do is beat 50s with more wins than you, I think. Like I said, there's probably not a definitive answer out there anyway.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Mythical Wolf [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=14414600][b][u]In depth explanation of the Halo 3 skill ranking system. [/u][/b][/url][/quote] I've reas that thread at least five times. Definitely an interesting read, but I don't recall it answering my question here. Expected someone to link it though.

[url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=14414600][b][u]In depth explanation of the Halo 3 skill ranking system. [/u][/b][/url] [Edited on 09.29.2012 10:39 AM PDT]

It's not equal. You go down easier than you rank up. If you lose against 49s it's much worse than losing against 50s. Same goes for victories...beating 50s is more important than beating 49s. However, if you win 100 games it would take a bunch to lose the 50. Not 100, but enough to have a little losing streak. I've played a lot of Doubles and Snipers 50 and not lost them after small losing streaks so they do add up. I do not think it's as simple as win 100 games lose 100 games. More like win 100 lose 25 or something like that. There is no ceiling that I know of. It's just easier to level down then up. I'm not entirely sure though. I think it has a lot to do with winning games in a row. Winning 100 and losing 50 (winning 2 and then losing 1) over and over again will not help that much.