Official Ranking System Discussion and Theories

[Smok3y]

And Smok3y, I will try this time starting off with some average/not great games then knock out some consecutive 1000+ K/D games and see where I end up. My first ever game of Nuketown Zombies I was carried to round 27 with 43 downs :oops: , that record is still on my leaderboard now and I still managed to get shotguns with that in my history. Whereas last time when I started off with over 1000 K/D it took me a while to reach the knife emblem.

Excellent, don't give up just take a break

I wasn't expecting to get mine so low, was expecting a weekend of grinding out some good results.

Please let me know your findings if you do start from scratch to see if there is anything that can be added to the improvement/consistency theory.

Cheers!

[Smok3y]

**ALERT INCOMING WALL OF TEXT!** (TLDR at end)

I thought it would be a good idea to contribute towards the ranking discussions based upon my own findings/experimentation so that those still chasing may be able to take at least 1 thing from my findings.

First of all let me say, as everyone is fully aware that this ranking system is a crock of ****!

Why? Because it’s supposed to (as far as I am aware) be based on skill & while it does try to implement this approach it fails, however I guess with any system its open to exploitation. Why do I think that? Because I have shotguns and I honestly would not consider myself above an average player.

A further note, playing zombies exclusively to rank up does exactly what any decent zombie player or general gamer says: It will kill your enjoyment.

So why did I even attempt this? Being more a halo player I was intrigued because I generally play FPS & I haven’t come across a real ‘skill’ based ranking system since halo 3. The whole prestige system from COD has always annoyed me as it’s more akin to an MMO, the more time you’re online the more sparkly items you have to show & is zero indication of any skill. With that in mind I tried to beat the system to test its true identification of skill.

I achieved my shotguns after exactly 14 days from the start of the so called experiment. I can attribute the achievement to 2 things; reading this thread in its entirety & making my own assumptions on popular theories without any forms of more concrete evidence.

From this thread I would like to give a personal shout out to: Som_Pr0digy, his was the overarching theory I was sticking too with a few things I thought important thrown in.

Below are the stats taken straight after the game giving me shotguns:

Kills – 16598

Downs – 82

KDR = 202.41

Deaths - 39

Accuracy – 83%

Headshots – 36%

Revives – 119

Doors opened – 93

Perks Drank – 161

Grenade Kills - 234

Gibs – 14’279

Travelled Miles - 141

AS you can see very fresh stats.

• Firstly I started from scratch at zero

• I had 2-3 regular custom games with friends & started with a few 250kills-1 down games which in hindsight is pretty damn awful even by a noobs standards.

• I played nuketown once for about 10 minutes, I played farm twice, once solo to a very low round and the second time coop to around the 20th level.

• I played 3-5 games of PUBLIC tranzit & although did not get to even a median level I was able to revive a lot of people.

• 1 game of die rise public all died on round 6 as we didn’t open any doors….

• Single bone – double bone – Skull was achieved in less than a 3 day period. 1 rank up per day.

• Skull + Knife was achieved at 6.5k kills with a KDR of around 160

• As shown above Shotguns were achieved at 16.5k kills and a KDR of 202

• Highest round was 34 solo on Town

• Following the advice of Som_Prodigy I was playing a game before & after 7pm eastern time.

• The KDR for the 2 matches prior to my rank up to shotgun were 186 and then 188.

• I hit a KDR low of about 108 before marching up to 200+ (improvement)

• Of the last 7-8 games, 4-5 of them were at least 1000-1 KDR (consistency)

How do I believe the ranking system works?

On improvement & consistency while hitting certain milestones.

The same week I received skull/knife my friend also received the same, however his KD was sub 40 which completely threw me off. My only explanation is improvement, he was not a great zombies player but in that specific week he started hitting some 30+ rounds with 1000+ kills. I really have no other explanation as to why he got this with such a low KD.

• I personally think that if you started from scratch and knocking out round 40+ from day one it will be harder for you to reach the higher ranks purely because your room for improvement is restricted.

• I’d also like to state that maybe 70% of the total games I player were on EASY difficulty in custom & that’s what really pisses me off.

• I believe it is important to play a mix of games with a few PUBLIC games in there. A friend was trying to do the same thing as me, had better stats but a lower rank. As soon as I advised him to play a couple public games and he did, he got his knife.

• I believe the defining period of getting my shotguns was when I stopped playing so much in groups and would do custom solo, therefore giving me a great boost in KDR.

In my eyes the quickest way to shotguns is a new account/reset followed my some poor to average games deliberately on public/custom/solo & then smashing out some big numbers in terms of kills/high rounds. I’m still out to jury on the high rounds thing but you never know!

My idea how to make the system better? For a start anything done on easy should not count towards rank or at least not knife or shotguns. Stats etc should ONLY be taken from online PUBLIC matches therefore making everyone have to deal with the nightmare that is random noobs. Finally adding in a stat reset function as a standard as the individual still has to earn the rank. Oh and 1 last thing would be to either add more ranks or spread them out further, top rank should be reserved I think for the most hardcore of successful zombies players.

Does shotguns make me a better player? Hell NO! but I am improving & do now have an incentive to play better to keep them, although to be honest I might let it go as the knife emblem is far superior!

Jerry’s Final thoughts: While I believe the system to not be accurate I could be entirely wrong & probably am! However the end result is that:

• I have genuinely improved as a zombies player

• There is a genuine sense of fear/loss when I play which adds to the tension of such a game

• I genuinely WANT to get better at the game & improve myself & with so many games out there that offer limited campaign experiences that don’t warrant a 2nd play through this really takes me back to the days of playing old school HARD games like Donkey Kong and super Mario with no save feature & limited set of lives. I play better because I want to be better & not see an alternative ending. (although that helps)

• Finally a sense of achievement when you do well

So with that being said you could argue the system is great because of these aspects.

TLDR: System is borked, not a true reflection of player skill. Quickest way to shotties is start with some bad public/custom games & then go big. Chasing rank is pointless & will kill your love of the game if done too rigorously. Despite the system seeming flawed, some of the end products are great.

**Apologies for the wall, hope it can help someone!**

Unfortunatley I'm honestly not surprised about the improvment factor, and it is definitley true that a relativley bad player has a more efficient chance at getting shotguns then a good player...which makes no dagum sense...

There was a kid with a 28 k/d...started doing easy custom town games getting a k/d of appromimatley 180-250 every game and recieved shotguns...so apparently someones whos terrible and does decent is more efficient at zombies then someone who does amazing and then does slightly better...terrible implementation of ranking...

I having player 3 days IN A ROW, playing 5-8 games a day with 1000-1 k/d didnt rank up because it wasn't a large enough margin of improvment...

I def feel as though the improvement factor is held higher than the consistency factor...but regardless looks like Imma have a harda** time trying to achieve shotguns but will attempt...again...there should be a standard of improvement not a relative measure...because then the ranks are in and of itself relative...people with shotguns are great compared to "their" stats but not the entire population of slayers out there...thats a defintive LACK of a true rank...but unfortunatley that seems to be what it is...

Thank you for posting your information, unfortunbatley stat reset is near impossible (as of right now i believe) as they've patched all the means to do so...and I'm not starting a new account...so looks like I may be stuck with knife for a good while... I've taken a break from playing for a good bit...(4 days hahaha i love zombies too much, if thats possible) so imma jump in guns blazing and try to set a relative bar for myself...think Imma get to 38...then continue to go up 1 round for each next game and hopefully rank up...

my method will be essentially:

38-suicide

39-suicide

40-suicide

XX-suicide ect. ect...will Post results

Good Luck!

I agree with pretty much all that you are saying. I also think a part of the problem is player expectation. I guess we expect someone with the highest rank to be one of the best players & not just decent in 1 game mode on 1 level (or a glitcher).

I think we would all like the rank to represent true skill & if we should ever come across a high rank in a public lobby we should be thinking this guy is at least pretty decent & not, oh another glitcher which is the current school of thinking.

The rank i believe is actually not for anyone else to benefit from other than yourself as tweeted by Jimmy, its an indication of how good you are right now with zero relation to anyone else & therefore the satisfaction should not be taken from believing that with max rank you are one of the top players but merely one of the players that has shown a greater amount of improvement.

fight the good fight my friend!

[schittus_d]

Please let me know your findings if you do start from scratch to see if there is anything that can be added to the improvement/consistency theory.

Cheers!

Well I think you are on to something with your improvement theory, looking at my post from a few weeks ago I got off to a great start with my stats. I had 11287 kills with 11 downs, a k/d of 1026, 317% accuracy with 32 revives, and the skull emblem. It wasn't until I played a game online and got just 55 more kills and 5 more revives when I ranked up to the knife.

Now this time, my stats were reset around the time when I got Die Rise, so my first few days of playing were terrible and I was getting loads of downs and hardly any kills. After getting better at Die Rise, I then played a few games of Tranzit, and after getting to round 47 on Tranzit with over 3500 kills + 1 down (on easy mode) I ranked up to the skull w/knife with what I would consider WORSE stats than last time:

9176 kills

59 downs

155 K/D (at one point this was in the low 20s, it was 97 before I started the round 47 game)

13 revives

18% headshots (poor but when I play Tranzit I always get the knuckles on round 1, so thats 13/14 rounds of 0 headshots)

346% accuracy

So other than my accuracy, every other stat is worse than last time and I ranked up quicker (just 4 days to go from 1 bone to skull w/knife). Also a good percentage of those kills were done on easy mode, I don't usually play that unless I'm invited to a friends custom game, but I thought I would try it out to see if it worked.

So in summary, it would appear that improvement is the key to ranking up. But it must depend on other factors too, because I have a 2nd PSN account that I have used before for boosting my revives on my main account, and I have tried ranking up that account as well over the last week but I have had far too many downs and it took me many games to go from 1 bone to 2. I don't play on that account very often though so who knows, there are obviously many factors in play.

If and when I get the shotguns, I shall update here again. Unless of course my stats are reset yet again!! If they are it might not be such a bad thing anyway, it seems easy enough now to get to at least the knife level in less than a week!

[Kurasaki]

Yeah I suppose in that regard I should be happy about a knife as that means I have yet to reach my full potential and still have room to grow...which I can agree with to an extent...

The ranks are definitley as you said "relative" to the individual with no gold standard but rather simply the bar that one sets for themselves... explains why some get knives at 60-70 (i.e. they have a low bar to leap) whereas some get theres at 150( meaning their average has given them a higher obstacle to overcome)...

The way I see it the ranks are as follows

1 Bone (0%)- Youve just begun your journey

2 Bones (15%)- Youve begun to show you have some understanding

Skull (50%)- Your at half of your full potential wherever that may be and have much room to grow

Skull with knife (80%)- Youve shown that you excel in most areas and continue to excel the bar you set for yourself

Skull with shotguns (99.99999%)- Youve exceeded above and beyond "your" skill measure and have achieved your true potential...but everyone has a thing or to to learn...

The percentages being there rather than k/d as everyone sets a different skill level for themselves to hurdle...reason why the k/d does not insta-buff you to the next level

Also Jimmy Z recently tweeted "Roses are red, violets are blue...Leaderboards"...perhaps affirmation that on average beating our own scores is how to level up...one doesnt have to have the last game be amazing to level up (as in I play 1000 k/d games, then have a 250 k/d game but level up because thats when the "grading period" ended) but simply a set of "good" games relative to their stats within a certain grading period in order to rank up, or potentially rank down if the games are all poor...

jimmy zielinski:‏

The rank "system" is not a bread crumb path, there is no end or goal, rather it is how good you are right now.

Showing that there is in fact some form of periodic grading that can buff or debuff you...how many games that grading period contains or time needed to pass is unknown...

[BEYOND]

Sadly got deranked from playing Turned.

i knew it would save deaths to your profile, but I thought I could at least fit in 3 or 4 games. I worked so hard to get to the Skull/Knife, all for it to go away in a matter of minutes.

While I understand the specifics of the ranking system are unknown, am I still on the edge of getting back my Skull/Knife? Will I only need to play a few games to get it back?

[SeaboundSlayer]

Sadly got deranked from playing Turned.

i knew it would save deaths to your profile, but I thought I could at least fit in 3 or 4 games. I worked so hard to get to the Skull/Knife, all for it to go away in a matter of minutes.

While I understand the specifics of the ranking system are unknown, am I still on the edge of getting back my Skull/Knife? Will I only need to play a few games to get it back?

I played Turned and my K/D shot down by about 25 and I still have shotguns. Maybe you weren't playing Turned very well, and that was why you were de-ranked? I won almost every game of mine.

[BEYOND]

Sadly got deranked from playing Turned.

i knew it would save deaths to your profile, but I thought I could at least fit in 3 or 4 games. I worked so hard to get to the Skull/Knife, all for it to go away in a matter of minutes.

While I understand the specifics of the ranking system are unknown, am I still on the edge of getting back my Skull/Knife? Will I only need to play a few games to get it back?

I played Turned and my K/D shot down by about 25 and I still have shotguns. Maybe you weren't playing Turned very well, and that was why you were de-ranked? I won almost every game of mine.

Yeah, I didn't play Turned very well. Out of those 4 or so games, I only won 1. I came second in all of the others though.

The thing is, when I finally got to my Skull/Knife, I stopped 'farming' kills at Town/Survival. I went back with public matches with randoms. I also just got Die Rise too, that caused a lot of deaths in my early games.

In other words, the second I got my Skull/Knife rank, my K/D was always then going down very slowly. Which, I am sure unlike you, got your shotguns and consistently played well after.

I initially earnt my Skull/Knife at a 78 K/D. I now lost them today at 69 K/D. I am guessing I need to get it back to 78 ish?

[BEYOND]

Far out.

Initially earnt my Skull/Knife emblem at 78 K/D. Then lost it at 70 K/D. Now, I have gotten my K/D up to 78/79 and still haven't gotten it back.

[ZoMBiE MaSSaCrE]

This is the best ranking system out there. :D

[Kurasaki]

This is the best ranking system out there.

I hope your joking...if not please explain...because Halo 2 had a far more superior ranking system than this

[Dahniska]

Been a while since I posted here, so I'll post and share my observations/experiences.

I've played regularly since back when BO2 came out. I started with a relatively low K-D, and was stuck with the knife emblem for a long time. As the months passed, I went from thinking "oh wow, I made it to round 29, gosh this was really lucky" to "round 40? easy" because I've improved that much as a player.

I got my shotgun a while after getting Die Rise. Took many games (mostly solo, going to round 40 or higher) for me to finally get the shotgun emblem. I remember that at the time, I had about 270 K-D (pretty sure I had over 200000 kills). It was ridiculous how hard it was to get.

Ever since then I've been watching my K-D ratio closely, and my goal has been to maintain it at about 350 K-D.

I don't have the statistics exactly since I am at work, but here's what I remember from last I checked, yesterday.

1700+ revives

~549000 kills

~1600 downs

1.53 accuracy

Most of my games are TranZit, or Die Rise. I avoid Nuketown overall simply cause I hate Jug's random spawning, and I find the other options boring.

I aim to use M&S, Ray Gun and/or the Sliquifier in most games. M&S is amazing to get your accuracy up. To me, kills matter more than any other stat (except downs). I think TranZit and Die Rise are the two best maps if you're looking to rank up: TranZit, because it's generally easy and the bank allows you to set up for a good game early; Die Rise, because of the Sliquifier. I recommend these to other people. I've reached 70+ in solo on each of these maps without glitches.

Focusing on stats can get boring though, so I do play public matches or matches with my friends often. I use Solo mostly to rebuild my K-D if I have bad days. I've only ever gotten perma-Jug on accident and if you want to rank up, you should never get it.

Custom Games shouldn't count towards stats. I have a few friends who got shotguns and imo at least 2 of them didn't deserve them (they reset their stats, then used GK room/easy custom games to build K-D).

So yeah, if you want shotguns and you're having a hard time, my best advice is to get better at your maps and play a lot. Solo is best for getting up K-D, but remember to have fun. Don't give up, success doesn't often come quickly.

[ZoMBiE MaSSaCrE]

Here's a great written guide on how to rank up and it explains the ranking system.

http://tinyurl.com/RankUpOnZombies

@Guy Above Me

If they don't deserve their shotguns then it wont be long before they lose them playing regular games.

[Matuzz]

Here's a great written guide on how to rank up and it explains the ranking system.

http://tinyurl.com/RankUpOnZombies

@Guy Above Me

If they don't deserve their shotguns then it wont be long before they lose them playing regular games.

I'm sorry but that does not explain ranking system no one has been able to explain it.

All I know is that if the explanation contains some average KD requirement its wrong.

[ZoMBiE MaSSaCrE]

Here's the new link for the guide (thx for commenting)

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =132904305

Anyway, I strongly believe it's K/D. All my friends have tons of kills, play time, high rounds and are stuck at the knife or skull. One of my friends reached a 215 K/D and he was given the Shotgun rank. I'm not sure why you think it has nothing to do with K/D. It is confirmed that the emblem is based on skill. So, what do you think ranks you up then?

[Smok3y]

Here's the new link for the guide (thx for commenting)

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =132904305

Anyway, I strongly believe it's K/D. All my friends have tons of kills, play time, high rounds and are stuck at the knife or skull. One of my friends reached a 215 K/D and he was given the Shotgun rank. I'm not sure why you think it has nothing to do with K/D. It is confirmed that the emblem is based on skill. So, what do you think ranks you up then?

I believe everyone is aware that the emblem is 'supposed' to be based on skill but no one knows 100% what is Treyarchs definition of skill & there is plenty to go on. I agree with what Matuzz is saying but to go a step further, I'm of the belief that KDR contributes to determining skill but is far from being the only factor & may not even be the leading factor. I subscribe to the 'improvement' theory of ranking up :)

[ZoMBiE MaSSaCrE]

Yea lol I know it's not all about K/D. If it was then people could start a new account and get 500 kills 0 downs and be top rank. But as you get all the other stats, the game must begin to focus on your Kills/Down ratio. I have seen hundreds of people stuck on the Knife rank. This guy is ranked 81 with about 250,000 kills, 100,000 headshots, and just a ton of revives, perks drank, gibs, and doors. BUT his K/D ratio is a bit over 100. No matter how much he does, he can't rank up because of how many Downs he currently has. I'm am sure Treyarch would base the skill off how often you die. Why not?

[The Clay Bird]

so just curious what is the highest K/D ratio anyone has seen WITHOUT at least knife. i have a 78 k/d now and still just skull. lots of revives and headshots too... :?:

[ZoMBiE MaSSaCrE]

so just curious what is the highest K/D ratio anyone has seen WITHOUT at least knife. i have a 78 k/d now and still just skull. lots of revives and headshots too... :?:

You're close to the Knife I'd say. I got mine at a 90 k/d as most people do. I never went for headshots and I still ranked up. I had one of the worst headshot ratios ever because I used a lot of knuckles, ray gun, and mustang and Sally.

If I did get an LMG I would just spray at the chest area. This leads me to believe headshots do not play a huge factor. I would check the some other stats but I can't see leaderboards thanks to treyarch. :(

[mmm chocolate]

so just curious what is the highest K/D ratio anyone has seen WITHOUT at least knife. i have a 78 k/d now and still just skull. lots of revives and headshots too... :?:

Havent seen anyone elses, but i currently have a kills vs downs ratio of 1151.3

And i have the skull. No knife.

Heres my stats

Kills 11513

Downs 10

Headshots 5191

Deaths 6

Perks 44

Doors 100

Accuracy 3.14

Miles 135

Gibs 16105

Grenade kills 2023

Revives 0

This is the third time my stats got reset, by no fault of my own. They were supposed to be restored, but got reset instead, twice. So yeah, i was pissed off. I should have over 150,000 kills by now.

Before last reset, i made it to knife rank with 16,000 kills and only 125 downs. No revives.

But anyway, i only play tranzit now just to rank up again, no quick revive, leave game around round 30 at the diner with shield on my back and galvaknuckles, emps and claymores.

I'm starting to think you need a certain number of downs to rank up as well.

[way2g00d]

psn: way2g00

Rank : Shotguns achieved just now.

Activity: No blue eyes.

kills 13983

63 downs

67 revives

755 grenade kills

2245 head shots

deaths 40

15518 gibs

147 perks

103 doors open

51300 hits

181 miles

Less than 50 games played overall.

High rounds 50 solo

co-op 39 4 players.

grief 1 win 0 loss farm

1 loss Town (Disconnect)

Overall k/d:221.95

[ZoMBiE MaSSaCrE]

psn: way2g00

Rank : Shotguns achieved just now.

Activity: No blue eyes.

kills 13983

63 downs

67 revives

755 grenade kills

2245 head shots

deaths 40

15518 gibs

147 perks

103 doors open

51300 hits

181 miles

Less than 50 games played overall.

High rounds 50 solo

co-op 39 4 players.

grief 1 win 0 loss farm

1 loss Town (Disconnect)

Overall k/d:221.95

Great job, and you have K/D of 221. I try to tell people they need a K/D of 180-200+ but they always say "k/d means nothing" Obviously you do because 90% of people who get them have a k/d in that range.

[way2g00d]

Thanks. Apart from K/D I strongly believe these are the points that can help rank up.

1. Staying in the game till game over and reviving team mates even if you end up dying.

2. Having a decently high amount of Kills and rounds per game.

3. Getting more revives per game.

4. Head shot percentage.

5. I randomly noticed few times that I stayed in game after everyone died out I hear a splash sound. Not sure if this is something random or I am hearing stuff. But this could be a factor.

However I noticed that Grief does not have big role in this because I only played 2 games and have a 1:1 win:loss ratio.

I started off with 500+ k/d but with some stupid downs in past 10 games I thought I had no chance because my k/d dropped to 200. However I was consistent with my revives and kills through out last few games. I even unlocked Fast revive during game with minimal downs. And Used it in the same game for about 5 times.

EDIT: I thought I would add this as reference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy0Me9FQGkI

[Lenne]

Congrats, Way.

Finally you got them. :3

[way2g00d]

Congrats, Way.

Finally you got them. :3

Nah I didn't. I got them on ps3 with a new account. It's fairly easy to do with new account tbh. But I guess it still is something to be happy about. Challenge is to keep them as long as possible. Lots of ppl have this misconception about k/d I think its important to perform good in a team based games and help your teammates any time you are on spot. I strongly believe that's what helps more than just maintaining a High k/d.

[ZoMBiE MaSSaCrE]

Yes, you want to get as many other stats as possible.

Higher K/D + lower stats = lower rank.

Lower K/D + higher stats = lower rank.

High K/D + higher stats = higher rank.

^ This may be the key :D