Why Score is a Joke...

[papjohns]

Yes, score may be a joke to some, probally most, but there are others who put way too much stock in it. I've never had a really good score, but I play to have fun when and where I can. If I wind up a tour with a decent score (for me  )then so be it. However maybe we're looking at this thing from the wrong perspective. As it is right now, I agree that rank doesn't mean a whole lot. Example, don't fly for three days,   and you'll find your score has probably changed, and not for the better. You may finish a tour with a great rank, only to find that next tour you couldn't hit a bull in the bellybutton with a base fiddle! This is the category I fall into, not that I've ever had great rank, just the second part.

So what if a scoring system allowed you to keep your rank and carry it over to the next tour, provided you met certain criteria. For instance, say we had a system where ones rank change based on a numerical designation? What if we all were ranked, using our stats, and "conditions" to advance to the next level?

What if we had a ranking system that went something like this?

1. Basic Pilot
 a. Basic Pilot I
 b. Basic Pilot II
 c. Basic Pilot III
2. Intermediate Pilot
 a. Intermediate Pilot I
 b. Intermediate Pilot II
3. Advanced Pilot
 a. Advanced Pilot I
 b. Advanced Pilot II
 c. Advanced Pilot III
 d. Advanced Pilot IV
4. Master Pilot
 a. Master Pilot I
 b. Master Pilot II
 c. Master Pilot III
5. Air Marshal

In order to advance to the next level, as stated above, the AH Pilot must accomplish a set of tasks....IE as a Basic Pilot, you would be required to land at least two victories in order to move up. To move up from say Master Pilot II to Master Pilot III, one would have maintain a K/D ratio of say 13to1 throughout the tour, or something like this. Each progressive step up would require the passing of a task/s. Control of task groups could be determined by K/D ratio, or by some other means. At the end of the tour, if you haven't made it to the next level, you don't lose your "rank" and start over, you keep it and continue to try and make it up the ladder provided you were logged on at least a fixed amount of time. Maybe four hours a week, or so?  For someone to actually lose a rank they would have to not log on to the game for an extended time. (this could always be worked out later)

With so many threads out there about score, I was hesitant to post this. Well kick it around see what you think nothings set in stone, the levels can be switched or what have ya,  this was mainly an idea to get us all looking in a new direction.    

This is a'la warbirds, which is based on "skill" and longevity (essentially). What do you think the "race to the top" would look like ...? I am on the fence about this...

[ink]

Yes, score may be a joke to some, probally most, but there are others who put way too much stock in it. I've never had a really good score, but I play to have fun when and where I can. If I wind up a tour with a decent score (for me  )then so be it. However maybe we're looking at this thing from the wrong perspective. As it is right now, I agree that rank doesn't mean a whole lot. Example, don't fly for three days,   and you'll find your score has probably changed, and not for the better. You may finish a tour with a great rank, only to find that next tour you couldn't hit a bull in the bellybutton with a base fiddle! This is the category I fall into, not that I've ever had great rank, just the second part.

So what if a scoring system allowed you to keep your rank and carry it over to the next tour, provided you met certain criteria. For instance, say we had a system where ones rank change based on a numerical designation? What if we all were ranked, using our stats, and "conditions" to advance to the next level?

What if we had a ranking system that went something like this?

1. Basic Pilot
 a. Basic Pilot I
 b. Basic Pilot II
 c. Basic Pilot III
2. Intermediate Pilot
 a. Intermediate Pilot I
 b. Intermediate Pilot II
3. Advanced Pilot
 a. Advanced Pilot I
 b. Advanced Pilot II
 c. Advanced Pilot III
 d. Advanced Pilot IV
4. Master Pilot
 a. Master Pilot I
 b. Master Pilot II
 c. Master Pilot III
5. Air Marshal

In order to advance to the next level, as stated above, the AH Pilot must accomplish a set of tasks....IE as a Basic Pilot, you would be required to land at least two victories in order to move up. To move up from say Master Pilot II to Master Pilot III, one would have maintain a K/D ratio of say 13to1 throughout the tour, or something like this. Each progressive step up would require the passing of a task/s. Control of task groups could be determined by K/D ratio, or by some other means. At the end of the tour, if you haven't made it to the next level, you don't lose your "rank" and start over, you keep it and continue to try and make it up the ladder provided you were logged on at least a fixed amount of time. Maybe four hours a week, or so?  For someone to actually lose a rank they would have to not log on to the game for an extended time. (this could always be worked out later)

With so many threads out there about score, I was hesitant to post this. Well kick it around see what you think nothings set in stone, the levels can be switched or what have ya,  this was mainly an idea to get us all looking in a new direction.    

this whole idea would just bring out "score whoring" even more.

[doomed]

In warbirds it gave birth to the bomb and bail or the load up the fastest plane in the game with bombs drop em on a small base and run home for score. Or my favorite sit in a ac on the ground under and hanger of a base under heavy attack and watch the proxy kills pile up while your afk. The race to the top game has bad bad consequences.

I say just do away with score all together, if you want to see someones stats look em up but either way some like score some dont but it aint gonna change thats for sure lol.

[Dichotomy]

'you couldn't hit a bull in the bellybutton with a base fiddle!'

yep you're from Texas  

sorry... do continue the debate gentlemen.  

Oh yes

I'm not, never will be, and am not interested in the scores.  Frankly I'd be embarrassed if I got my 'name in lights'.  I'm not kidding about that either. 

[Nutzoid]

Ink, Doomed I think your missing the point. If we're going to have a scoring system, this was just an idea of how it might work and the person actually make progress toward his or hers next level. The suggestion of landing two victories in order to move from Basic Pilot to Basic Pilot I was just an example. It might be required of a Basic Pilot to land a certain number of victories in a GV, who knows. The point was simply to have "rungs" in the ladder, so to speak. Not that landing anything would be one of the measuring tools.


Nutz

[Nutzoid]

LOL yup Dichotomy, 

Nutz

[ink]

I think they should have an arena, just for this, you start as a rookie, and work your way up, your idea would work well (along those type of lines) in a dedicated arena.

[guncrasher]

I think they should have an arena, just for this, you start as a rookie, and work your way up, your idea would work well (along those type of lines) in a dedicated arena.

naw I think they should have an expert arena, all the guys that feel superior should only go there and leave the rest of us to just have fun  .

semp

[Ack-Ack]

naw I think they should have an expert arena, all the guys that feel superior should only go there and leave the rest of us to just have fun  .

semp

I'd get bored flying all by myself in the Expert arena.


ack-ack

[grizz441]

I'd get bored flying all by myself in the Experten arena.

Fixed.

[ink]

I'd get bored flying all by myself in the Expert arena.


ack-ack

no you would get bored having to walk all around picking up your 38 parts, that my 20 mils blasted all over the place.


oh crap........dont hit post...dont...hit...P...p...p...p

[bj229r]

I disagree.  As important as 1v1 skill is, there are many situations in the MA that require just as much skill to be lethal.  There are so many different types of shots that develop in this game based off of different merges/alts/planes that 1v1 fighting cannot begin to address.  Reverses on much faster aircraft, reverses on turny birds, escaping 3v1-4v1s when you are out E'd, 90 degree deflection tatering, crossing shot development from hundreds of different situations, knowing when to fight, knowing when to flee, evading to the rhythm of a bogey trying to line you up, the list goes on.  As skilled as some guys are in this game in a 1v1, they flounder in the MA because they have an incomplete skill set.

True enough....I used to !@#$$!@ STRIVE to get a good overall rank, (fighter would be like 300, rest would be quite low and offset the fighter) but at some point it sunk in that certain guys would beat me like a red-headed stepchild, even if I was in a Spit, and they a D3A. At that point, the rank thing became utterly unimportant to me (which in turn made the game heap much more enjoyable )

[W7LPNRICK]

It's far more fun to charge into a GV battle full blast in my T-34/85 shooting on the run, not worrying about getting killed, than it is, to sit in a safe spot, for over an hour waiting for dufus to drive by so I can kill him, then wait another 15 min for nothing to come by, then drive back and land my one safe kill. BFD! It's a game. It's supposed to be fun...? Nobody's gonna vote you in as the Uber-Cartoon-Plane-Pilot of the century.

[stealth]

Your in the beginning of the month score gets harder and harder as more play.

[papjohns]

It's far more fun to charge into a GV battle full blast in my T-34/85 shooting on the run, not worrying about getting killed, than it is, to sit in a safe spot, for over an hour waiting for dufus to drive by so I can kill him, then wait another 15 min for nothing to come by, then drive back and land my one safe kill. BFD! It's a game. It's supposed to be fun...? Nobody's gonna vote you in as the Uber-Cartoon-Plane-Pilot of the century.

I am curious; who is this directed at...? I am going to go with...not me; otherwise you obviously didn't read more than the first sentence.