Factoring In Skill With Pilot Ranking

[Shane]

Yeah rank is meaningless....

I was defending a base (2-3 of us) vs a rook morning horde of about 10+ cons.. they finally established their cap, so i'm talking smack in tower...

this one rooktard PM's me (yeah, PM's, lol)  and tells me to up so he can kill me.. i inquire if he'll take that bravado to the DA... surprisingly he agrees..  i let him choose the ride.. spit1's... okaaaaaayy... say 7k pre-merge alt cap (base is 6k, deck is 4k)...  of course he shows at 10k+... he dies anyway... re-ups 2 more times in a spit5 vs my spit1 and even with alt still dies horribly....

So.. i get accused, "you either have stall limiter off, or you're cheating."  Of course I have the stall limiter off, duh...

I tell him i've only been playing AH 5+ years and then get called a "DA cheater"   yeah, right, okay... you been playing 7 months huh?  talk less learn to fight more, or stick to buffs and vulch hordes.

sad thing is...  this dweeb is ranked 167 overall... just goes to show the ranking system is entirely meaningless.

[SmokinLoon]

Why would I need to rope someone I could easily out maneuver?


ack-ack

Typo.  I didnt mean "400yrds".  I meant 400ft. 

I am sure many P38 pilots tried to out maneuver a Spit8/16 without the rope... and I'm sure just as many were shot down. 

I'll look you up in the LW arens and we'll put this to the test.  rgr rgr?   

[SmokinLoon]

Yeah rank is meaningless....

I was defending a base (2-3 of us) vs a rook morning horde of about 10+ cons.. they finally established their cap, so i'm talking smack in tower...

this one rooktard PM's me (yeah, PM's, lol)  and tells me to up so he can kill me.. i inquire if he'll take that bravado to the DA... surprisingly he agrees..  i let him choose the ride.. spit1's... okaaaaaayy... say 7k pre-merge alt cap (base is 6k, deck is 4k)...  of course he shows at 10k+... he dies anyway... re-ups 2 more times in a spit5 vs my spit1 and even with alt still dies horribly....

So.. i get accused, "you either have stall limiter off, or you're cheating."  Of course I have the stall limiter off, duh...

I tell him i've only been playing AH 5+ years and then get called a "DA cheater"   yeah, right, okay... you been playing 7 months huh?  talk less learn to fight more, or stick to buffs and vulch hordes.

sad thing is...  this dweeb is ranked 167 overall... just goes to show the ranking system is entirely meaningless.

I agree.  Rank is meaningless.  It has to do more with the plane a person is in, and how often they are able to pick-n-choose their target.  In a 1v1 scenario... the odds are much more normal.  In the main areans... the "uber" guys are not earning thier rank in the 20+ ENY planes.  Right Shaney?    

[Shane]

I agree.  Rank is meaningless.  It has to do more with the plane a person is in, and how often they are able to pick-n-choose their target.  In a 1v1 scenario... the odds are much more normal.  In the main arenas... the "uber" guys are not earning thier rank in the 20+ ENY planes.  Right Shaney?    

easy enough to check....  gimme a sampling of these "uber" guys you're referring to and then you can call up their stats and see what they're driving.

for example in tour 104 (440 kills), here's my rides, with high eny (under 15) values notated (my ftr rank is #187 - 232 kills and attack is #487 - 195 kills)

*P-51D 129
*La-7 73
P-47-D11 27 
*Tempest 26 
*Typhoon IB 16 
F4U-1 15 
P-38L 13 
*P-47-D40 9 
*F4U-1D 9 
P-38J 9 9
*N1K2 9 
P-47-D25 6 
*F6F-5 6
A-20G 6 
*Ship Gunner 6 
P-51B 5
Fw 190A-5 5 
Spitfire Mk V 4 
P-40E 3
Bf 109G-2 3 
P-47N 3
*F4U-4 3 
P-39Q 3 
P-38G 3 
*Fw 190D-9 3
*Spitfire Mk XIV 3 
Yak-9U 2
Spitfire Mk IX 2 
P-39D 2
*Spitfire Mk XVI 2 
*Ki-84-Ia 2
*Wirbelwind 2 
Bf 109G-14 1 
Bf 109K-4 1 

let's do some math...

* kill totals: 298 66%
non-* kill totals: 142  33%

I happen to like pony and la7, many fly hogs, jugs, 38's or 109/190's of which most aren't high eny planes to begin with, so the results will be interesting.

Then compare with the top 10 ranked  and then the top 10 ftr ranked. This of course doesn't necessarily factor in flying styles per se.


top 5 ranked  kills in low-eny planes  (quick estimations):

Shawk 250 out of 1600 (15%)
Pacerr 85 out of 1250  (6%)
Zymurgy 35 out of 660 (5%)
Bruv119 500 out of 1167 (43%)  <-----highest %
JB21 20 out of 698 (2%)

Top 5 ftr ranked kills in low-eny planes:

Shawk 250 out of 1600 (15%)
Croft 5 out of 447 (1%)
Pacerr 85 out of 1250  (6%)
Steve 18 out of 701 (2%)
Shreck 46 out of 820  (5%)

Now whether you consider any of the above to be "uber" is subjectively your own opinion. 

[Anaxogoras]

I agree.  Rank is meaningless.  It has to do more with the plane a person is in, and how often they are able to pick-n-choose their target.  In a 1v1 scenario... the odds are much more normal.  In the main areans... the "uber" guys are not earning thier rank in the 20+ ENY planes.  Right Shaney?    

I played for rank this tour to see what it's like, and while I agree that a good rank hardly means I'm a good stick (I prefer the title "honorable dweeb"), I got most of my kills in 20+ ENY planes.  I don't consider myself great at dueling, probably just average, but I don't think dueling is that important because about 1% of the fights I get into in the main arena are 1vs1.  Succeeding in a multi-vs-multi environment like the main arena requires a different mindset than dueling.  You can't saddle up and go for the kill on the guy you outmaneuvered because his friend will kill you first.  Mental discipline and SA are far more important for a good rank in the main arena than technique.  Sure, you need technique, but once you reach a certain level the only way to increase your score/rank is mental discipline and SA.

Here's the  breakdown of my fighter/attack kills this last tour:

Bf 109G-14   68   
Bf 109G-6     59   
Bf 109K-4     12   
Bf 110G-2     5   
Fw 190A-5    29   
Fw 190A-8   104   
Fw 190D-9   39   
Fw 190F-8    92   
Me 262        81

Therefore, 364 out of 489 kills were in 20+ ENY aircraft, or almost 75%, and I ranked 9th in fighters and 6th in attack.

Edit: don't make too much of the 262 kills, I did terrible in it this tour, died 9 times.  Twice ripped the wings off, two times took a bullet to the head from B-24s in a head-on attack, another time augered trying to land with a pw!

[Gumbeau]

The scoring system is a marketing and retention tool. Once you wrap your head around that fact it becomes much easier to understand the logic behind its present form.

Asking a business to turn a tool used to help its bottom line into something that would most likely result in quite the opposite is rather silly.

[SmokinLoon]

The fact remains that any of the top 5 or top 10 in fighter stats are NOT earning their rank with 20+ ENY planes, they are earning them with high performance planes.  I hardly will tip my hat to someone who is at the top with the La7, Spit16, or Nik2 as their most abundant rides ( I didnt list the P51D takes some learning and other than being damned fast and damned long winded...).  Granted, most of the best performers do well across the board on average, but to maintain their rank they simply can not rely on the average or below average plane.   

Just a week/10 days ago I watched a player land kills consistantly in a Nik2 for about 2 hours and I finally challenged him to take something different just to see if he could... he grumbled but said he would "just to show me" and I didnt see him land kills for another 1.5 hours or so and guess what... he was back in his Nik2 and he did try in other fighters because I watched for him and he was in flight the whole time.  Yeah, this is a game and yeah everyone pays their $15 alike so being able to take up what you want is their right I 'spose, but dang... give credit where credit is due and it belongs with the guys who take up the less-than-uber planes and land kills.

Anyone who can consistantly take up the F4U, P38, 109, 190, and other such planes (and land kills) that are not rides just to hop in and go (16, lala, HOki2, Hurri IIC, etc) but takes time to *learn* deserves a tip from my hat.  I'm trying desperately to learn the 109 series but cant seem to get the knack just yet.  Someday. 

One has to wonder if those "l337" play the game for enjoyment or just to be the best.