Rank (Halo 2)

This article is about the rank system in Halo 2. For more articles of the same name, see Rank.

Halo 2 rank images

The ranking system in Halo 2 is the numeric representation of a player's multiplayer experience. An identical system based on the Halo 2 rank system is also employed in the competitive playlists for Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Overview

Halo 2 uses a skill-based matchmaking system, informed by a numeric value of 1-50 to represent a given player's skill level in any given playlist. When matching players for online games, the algorithms in question try and pair up similarly-skilled players to ensure roughly evenly-matched games. The displayed 1-50 rank is an abstraction of an XP value, hidden to the player and calculated behind-the-scenes. Each game completed awards or removes XP, depending on the result of the match - this means that poor performance in a game can result in losing rank, while winning results in players ranking up. Ranks are calculated purely on wins and losses, meaning actual in-game performance such as KDR, Flag captures, bomb plants, hills captured etc do not affect the final result; merely being on the team does.

Rank is calculated per-playlist, meaning that a player's performance in one playlist does not affect their rank in another.

XP calculations

Once a game is completed, the game awards or removes XP from each player depending on the final result. This is achieved by consulting a table (shown below), dependant on the difference in level. In broad terms, winning or losing matches against similarly-ranked players nets a lower XP gain/loss, whereas winning matches against players with higher skill gaps will gain greater rewards or greater loss. For a given player in the game, the table is consulted to perform a matchup against every single player of an enemy team in the game - if the player has completed a match of 8v8 slayer, the table would be consulted to determine the XP gain/loss for all eight opposing players. Once these values are tallied, the total is divided by the amount of enemy players, to gain a final XP value for the game as a whole.

Level difference	Higher win	Higher loss	Lower win	Lower loss
0	100	100	100	100
1	92	108	108	92
2	85	115	115	85
3	79	121	121	79
4	74	126	126	74
5	70	130	130	70
6	66	134	134	66
7	63	137	137	63
8	60	140	140	60
9	58	142	142	58
10	56	144	144	56
11	54	146	146	54
12	53	147	147	53
13	52	148	148	52
14	51	149	149	51
15+	50	150	150	50

Worked example

To give an example of this system in use, consider a free-for-all match in which there are four players;

• First place: Player A (Level 10)
• Second place: Player B (Level 7)
• Third place: Player C (Level 8)
• Fourth place: Player D (Level 5)

To calculate Player A's total XP gain, the table must be consulted three times - once for each player they matched up again. In this case, they won against a player with a three level difference, a two level difference and a five level difference. Thus, it can be determined that Player A earned 79, 85 and 70 XP - respectively. This value is then summed to get a total of 234, before divided by three to get an average value of +78XP. This calculation is done for every player to determine each player's XP gain/loss.

1-50 ranks

With the player's total XP values known, the game can display a single rank number as a representative of their overall skill. Ranks are indicated by a 1-50 value, with a new player holding rank 1 and the highest-ranked players holding rank 50, with most players averaging around rank 10. Each rank has a simple icon alongside its number, with the final seven ranks holding a unique symbol - a nod to Bungie's love for the number. Each rank has an XP bracket assigned (shown below). However, in order to prevent frustration at constantly flipping between two ranks if games are repeatedly won and lost, players will keep their 1-50 rank value even if they drop below the original requirements to achieve it, and won't de-rank until they hit the mid-point of the previous rank's requirement. For example, if a player needs 10,000XP to hit a new rank, achieves 10,000XP but then loses a game and drops below the 10,000XP total, they won't revert back to the previous level until their XP total hits 5,000XP.

Rank XP requirements

Rank level Minimum XP Maximum XP 1 99 100 199 200 299 300 399 400 499 500 599 600 699 700 799 800 899 900 999 1000 1099 1100 1199 1200 1399 1400 1599 1600 1799 1800 1999 2000 2249 2250 2499 2500 2749 2750 2999 3000 3249 3250 3499 3500 3749 3750 3999 4000 4249

Rank level Minimum XP Maximum XP 4250 4499 4500 4749 4750 4999 5000 5249 5250 5499 5500 5749 5750 5999 6000 6249 6250 6499 6500 6749 6750 6999 7000 7249 7250 7499 7500 7749 7750 7999 8000 8249 8250 8499 8500 8749 8750 8999 9000 9249 9250 9499 9500 9749 9750 9999 10000 10,249 10,250 1 billion

The 1-50 rank held by a given player determines which players they will match up with in multiplayer matchmaking, by aiming to match players up with similarly-ranked players. The matchup requirements are listed below.

Rank XP gain modifiers

With the systems listed above, one last consideration is the XP modifiers given by rank. In order to help new players in being able to level up, lower-ranked players are not penalised as hard when losing matches while they are low-leveled. This % value peters off as they level up and by rank 29, is no longer in effect. However, Halo 2's online XP is a zero-sum system, meaning that there is a set amount of XP points available to the entire player population as a whole, and the raw XP gain/loss systems ensure when a player loses against another player, the winning player gains the same amount of XP as lost by the loser. In order to maintain this system, the higher-ranked players begin seeing the opposite affect applied to their wins. Upon reaching rank 42, players will begin earning a lower percentage of the XP they would otherwise earn, with this penalty increasing per-rank, capping out at max-rank players at level 50 only receiving 50% of the XP they earn for a win.

Lower-rank loss-mitigation values		Higher-rank win XP loss
Level	Loss factor	Level	Win factor
	0%	-	100%
	2.50%		95%
	5.00%		90%
	7.50%		85%
	10.00%		80%
	15.00%		70%
	20.00%		65%
	27.50%		60%
	35.00%		55%
	40.00% 50.00%		50%
	45.00% 55.00%
	57.50%
	60.00%
	62.50%
	65.00%
	67.50%
	70.00%
	72.50%
	75.00%
	77.50%
	80.00%
	82.50%
	85.00%
	87.50%
	90.00%
	92.50%
	95.00%
	97.50%
+	100.00%

Additional considerations

A rank is recorded for every playlist an individual plays in, with the exception of non-ranked gametypes and custom gametypes. There were leader boards for the majority of the playlists, however Bungie removed them because of cheating and hacking problems.

Production notes

The rank system found in Halo 2 was designed by Halo 2 multiplayer lead Max Hoberman, based on his experiences in the rank systems for Bungie's previous game, Myth. In Myth, players were able to achieve up to twenty-five ranks in multiplayer play, each with a unique name and icon with the highest rank being the "Comet". Due to how fun and addictive he considered the system, Hoberman knew he wanted to implement a similar feature for Halo 2. Hoberman was suggested by designer Michael Evans to look at the Elo rating system used in Chess tournaments, which starts all players in the middle of the ranking scale and moves them up or down depending on their successes and failures. Hoberman liked this system, but wanted to preserve the element of progression from Myth, and decided to try and combine the two. Hoberman's intent was to create a system like Elo, in which players gain or lose ranks by exchanging points in matches, while also having a flat progression scale from 0-25. Hoberman designed a specification for the system largely arbitrarily, and ultimately was able to implement the feature relatively hassle-free.

To test the system, Hoberman wrote an article for distribution internally at Bungie and Microsoft, detailing in-depth how the system worked in a hope that crafty players would be able to analyse the system and find ways to break it. This testing included an open letter sent to all employees, offering any player who could break the rank system free Bungie merchandise and the chance to have part of one of Halo 2's multiplayer maps named after them (among 10 other prize categories) - though no employee was able to claim this prize. Nonetheless, the launch of Halo 2 soon found issues with the system due to the unexpected prevalence of cheaters and hackers using fake Xbox LIVE accounts. The article written by Hoberman was later published on Bungie.net, and remained online until the site's shutdown in 2021.

Various iterations for Halo 2's multiplayer rank icons, as recovered by the Digsite project. The raw icons for these ranks can be downloaded from the Digsite Halo 2 GitHub repo.

The rank icons for the rank system were designed by David Candland. In the original mockups, there were only 25 ranks (a holdover from the Myth ranks), each represented by an icon of the various Halo universe species such as Grunts, Jackals, Elites and the final rank being a Prophet. The icons as of July 2004 include the following ranks:

• Grunts - 5 ranks (represented by the emblem present on Grunt armour)
• Drones - 3 ranks (represented by a stylised interpretation of a Drone)
• Jackals - 3 ranks (represented by a Jackal shield)
• Hunters - 2 ranks (represented by a stylised interpretation of a Hunter)
• Brutes - 3 ranks (represented by a stylised interpretation of a brute shot)
• Elites - 7 ranks (represented by an energy sword)
• Prophets - 2 ranks (represented by a Hierarch headdress)

By August 2004, the number of ranks had been doubled to 50, all bearing a shield background with a simple number. This was done due to the Covenant-based ranks being unclear during internal discussions, with questions about the Covenant's ranking system brought up. For example, when the Changing of the Guard occurs later in Halo 2's campaign, the Brutes are promoted to replace the Elites in the Covenant, meaning they would now technically "outrank" Elites - something that the Covenant-based multiplayer ranks would not be able to account for. Hoberman also intended to ship the ranks with unique identifying names to help foster more communication and easy recognition of the ranks, though ultimately was unable to do so after increasing the rank count from 25 to 50 - finding it infeasible to come up with so many unique names. However, such a system would later return in the rank system created for 2010's Halo: Reach. A month later in September 2004, the system seen in the final game was created, with the final seven ranks retaining unique iconography. In the final system, rank 49 is represented by comet - a nod to the original Myth system in which the top-ranked player was "The Comet".

Trivia

• The fact that the last seven ranks are different from the previous ones is an obvious reference to Bungie's favorite number, 7.
• The last seven ranks of Halo: Reach are loosely based off of the last seven ranks of this system.

External links

• Bungie.net in-depth detail of the Halo 2 rank scheme
• Halo 2 rank XP calculator on Google sheets