Factoring In Skill With Pilot Ranking

[WarTooth]

Hey All,

I upped an LA7 and got 5 kills.  2nd time a meager 3.  Oh did I mention my pilot skills are average at best.  This is more times than not the average for even me.

I am wondering, other than points, is there a way the plane upped can be factored into the pilot ranking?

If I flew an LA7 (or Spit16, 109-K4, Tempest, F4U-C etc.) all the time it would give the impression that I am among the best.  Like you I've seen some pretty modest planes flown by sharp pilots shoot those perk plane "Aces" right outta the sky.

How can pilot ranking come in line with actual skill?

WT

[MjTalon]

Hey All,

I upped an LA7 and got 5 kills.  2nd time a meager 3.  Oh did I mention my pilot skills are average at best.  This is more times than not the average for even me.

I am wondering, other than points, is there a way the plane upped can be factored into the pilot ranking?

If I flew an LA7 (or Spit16, 109-K4, Tempest, F4U-C etc.) all the time it would give the impression that I am among the best.  Like you I've seen some pretty modest planes flown by sharp pilots shoot those perk plane "Aces" right outta the sky.

How can pilot ranking come in line with actual skill?

WT

Flying the above planes will not give the impression that you are amongst the best. Trust me. It will give everyone the impression that you do not have any type of piloting skill what so ever. ( Disreguarding the 109K, she's a beast to fly correctly but deadly once you have mastered her. )

[1Boner]

Flying the above planes will not give the impression that you are amongst the best. Trust me. It will give everyone the impression that you do not have any type of piloting skill what so ever. ( Disreguarding the 109K, she's a beast to fly correctly but deadly once you have mastered her. )

Perpetuating the myth.


Sounds to me like he just may have had a good night.

[Denholm]

No thank you.

[Ack-Ack]

How can pilot ranking come in line with actual skill?

WT

When players stop manipulating the rank/score system.  For example, some players will score maybe 3-5 flights under fighter, only engaging in low risk missions (i.e. vulches, bomber hunts, score padding w/2nd account, etc.) to get a high K/S, K/D, Kills Per Hour, and Hit %.  Then these players will score every flight afterwards under attack so their fighter stats won't go down when they die.

As long as pilot ranking/score can be manipulated in the above fashion, it will never come in line with actual skill.


ack-ack 

[SoonerMP]

[

How can pilot ranking come in line with actual skill?

WT
[/quote]


This is easy, don't fly an Lgay. Expand your horizons and fly something that takes a little more work like the K-4, FW-190, or the any of the Corsair series.

[Ack-Ack]

[

How can pilot ranking come in line with actual skill?

WT



This is easy, don't fly an Lgay.

Just because a person flies an LA-7 doesn't mean they are less skilled than someone that flies another plane.  However, it does speak volumes about the person that thinks so.


ack-ack

[SoonerMP]

Ooohhhh... Oh no he didn't.

[thndregg]

When players stop manipulating the rank/score system.

The cows are definitely not coming home.

[humble]

Basically you'd have to have a very complex formula. 1st thing would be to weight score by plane type. The current ENY isn't truly balanced. For example a pony and nikki are both "5" where the pony is much more survivable...leaving that aside a pilot with a "5" ride would get 1/8 the score of a pilot in a "40" ride as an initial basis. so a pilot with a 1/1 KD ratio in a eny 40 plane would be equal to a pony driver with a 8/1 K/D ratio. You'd also need to eliminate alot of catagories like hit% and kills over time that can be manipulated by vulching or a good horde run. you'd also need a cumulative multiplier targeting kills/sortie, multiple sorties landed & kill streaks. Basically once you have a system that rewards two 3 kill sorties in a 109E more then 5 10 kill sorties in a tempest, pony etc your on the right track. Oh....and A-20 sorties get double bonus points

[Anaxogoras]

ack-ack, I think the kill points category forces people to fly more a handful of sorties if they want to have a high fighter rank.

I made a suggestion a couple weeks ago that the kill points category be modified by ENY, and a lot of people liked the idea.  If I recall, however, HT was quoted as being against such a system.  If you think about it, HTC doesn't really care that the scoring system does not reflect ability or skill.  If they did, they would take the ENY of the aircraft you fly into account, and they would also get rid of the field capture stat in attack mode.

Another idea was to modify score by how many friendly or enemy were present when you got your kills, which is unclear in implementation but well motivated.

[Latrobe]

The only way to determine a pilots skill is to face them in combat. A great pilot can easily kill an average pilot in a P-47 vs Spit 16 fight (Where the great pilot is in the P-47). I don't think there is a way to factor ACTUAL skill into the score system. I, for one, would like to see the scoring system be rid of.

[Chalenge]

By the classic definition of 'skill' the guys that rank the highest have 'skill' but we all know (or some believe) that they are easy kills in a one on one co-alt fight so we have to consider that rank does not take into account actual knowledge but leans in favor of oppurtunity or chance.

Therefore rank means nothing.

[Ack-Ack]

ack-ack, I think the kill points category forces people to fly more a handful of sorties if they want to have a high fighter rank.

If you fly in a heavily populated arena I'm sure it does but in the less populated EW and MW arenas, that's how it's done.


ack-ack

[Delirium]

How about we do away with ranking, score, and landing (kill) messages altogether?

Guarantee it would improve gameplay from what we have now.