As we first mentioned two weeks ago, the Halo 2 Leaderboards are officially gone from Bungie.net. This is something we've discussed at length for quite a while and ultimately we feel that the Leaderboards are not worth keeping. Unfortunately the leaderboards ended up being a shrine for cheaters and hackers and for the most part did nothing but cause legitimate players pain.
We don't have the resources to manually investigate and monitor every single player on the Leaderboards nor do we feel that is warranted. That is time and energy better spent on creating new playlists and making the core online experience better for everyone. Keep in mind that only a tiny percentage of actual players are affected by the Leaderboards - only 1,000 of several hundred thousand ever make the list. The amount of work required to cater to this small minority compared to the overall return for the community just isn't worth it.
We sincerely apologize to the few players out there who have played hundreds of legitimate games to work your way up the leaderboards. You will still keep your rankings and your stats as a token of your l337 skillz. Unfortunately the reality is that the vast majority of people who do appear on the leaderboards have only got there through some form of cheating.
Your rankings and player stats will remain unchanged and there will be no noticeable difference in Halo 2 other than the absence of the "Top 1000" lists on the Bungie.net stats page.
[Edited on 10/19/2005]
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The leaderboards being gone is a good thing, however there are still people that are cheating just for the heck of it. One thing I'm concerned about is that I played Halo 2 on Xbox Live from Nov. 9th to June 6th non stop, I mean I got home from school and turned on the Xbox till I fell Asleep and one reason I was so addicted was my Level/Rank. So I'm concerned about weather or not Halo 3 will have Leaderboards and/or levels/ranks. I strongly believe that the leveling/ranking system was why I was so addicted to this game for so long. The leaderboards was not the main reason because I realized I could not get on them. SO I THINK WITH THE HALO 3 LAUNCH THERE SHOULD BE NO TOP 1,000 LEADERBOARD, BUT THERE SHOULD STILL BE A LEVELING/RANKING SYSTEM. that is just my idea peace