Halo 3

Originally posted by Final Blaxican
If I had the flu but I had 300 pounds of muscle and was a foot taller I'd still be stronger than you. Having the flu won't change that.

You disillusioned, just because you equal X amount of weight does not mean you equal X amount of muscle. There is of course the "desire" to win, that's what the UNSC/Elites have. Because, after all it isn't the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog.

Have you ever fought somebody with the flu? They are physically weaker, thus gagging and body aching. In that circumstance I would indeed be stronger.

Originally posted by Final Blaxican
No one [b]wants a soldier who's heart is in it. But they stick with what they've got because for 99% of soldiers their hearts more into survival then straight-up victory halfway through their tour.

In football you don't lose your ****ing leg if you sit down on the wrong patch of grass. In football you're not expected to catch the ball with bullets whizzing an inch away from your head and will kill you. In Football you don't have to watch a house with a family get bombed for "strategic reasons". In football if you lose you go home and laugh with your wife and kids for the entire summer. In football you get 2.5 million dollars a year... to catch a ****ing ball.

War is not like Football, and you accuse me of being dishonorable to soldiers yet any vet who would hear you compare war to a game of ****ing football would slap you. [/B]

You sir have obviously never played football, because you easily could lose a leg. Its not like there is just two people in a field passing a ball between each other, you have three hundred pound men coming at you from all angles. There is a reason military recruiters set up at High school football games...

Originally posted by Nactous
You sir have obviously never played football, because you easily could lose a leg. Its not like there is just two people in a field passing a ball between each other, you have three hundred pound men coming at you from all angles. There is a reason military recruiters set up at High school football games...

I have to admit, Nac. Though I see your point, there is a stark contrast between a playing a game where you are completely padded, with 300 lb men coming at you from all sides and being in combat with bullets flying everywhere and grenades exploading everywhere, and your friends dieing next to you.

Originally posted by THE JLRTENJAC
I have to admit, Nac. Though I see your point, there is a stark contrast between a playing a game where you are completely padded, with 300 lb men coming at you from all sides and being in combat with bullets flying everywhere and grenades exploading everywhere, and your friends dieing next to you.

There is also a stark contrast between hitting a player and killing an innocent as well...

yea... your point?

Never mind...
I hope I did not give the impression of someone who supports "things" because I don't. My point was that you have to care about what you are doing to put your life on the line for it.

Like I said, I got your point. You have to believe in what you are fighting for.

And anyone who joins the military expecting not to see any action is a fool, and I don't believe that we have fools fighting in the Middle East.

Originally posted by Nactous
Nope, because I'm mentally retarded.

But in all seriousness, I am a person that is considerate of the needs of others, whether it helps me or not.

Infact, I know people who donate to many good causes without ever tying their name to it. I mean I even had to drag the information out of them. They don't even take the tax write-offs.

Yeah, I will often donate in a friends name, and never think about it again.

Who got the new 3 Mythic maps? I got them yesterday and im already sick of "Assembly". 7 out of 10 games is in freaking Assembly. Getting the skull on "Sandbox" was frustrating!

Originally posted by Darth Vicious
Who got the new 3 Mythic maps? I got them yesterday and im already sick of "Assembly". 7 out of 10 games is in freaking Assembly. Getting the skull on "Sandbox" was frustrating!

A friend of mine got them and he has been playing non-stop, but that is probably because he is an achievement ho.

Originally posted by Zack Fair
A friend of mine got them and he has been playing non-stop, but that is probably because he is an achievement ho.

Im only an achievement ho when it comes to Halo. For the most part, I try getting as many as I can for any particular game but will be fine if I dont get them all. Some are just too ridiculous like Gears of War 2 "Party Like Its 1999" were u have to play 1999 rounds of multiplayer.

I hope no one's implying that there's something wrong with being an achievement hunter. 😛 Achievements for the most part kinda give me a reason to keep playing somethin', but at the same time, I don't persistently go after ones whose requirements I find ridiculous, unless it's something that can be more easily acquired with a friend online.

meh That said, looking forward to the Mythic Map pak when it's available for me (kinda). More skull searching and what not right?

Originally posted by Ridley_Prime
I hope no one's implying that there's something wrong with being an achievement hunter. 😛 Achievements for the most part kinda give me a reason to keep playing somethin', but at the same time, I don't persistently go after ones whose requirements I find ridiculous, unless it's something that can be more easily acquired with a friend online.

meh That said, looking forward to the Mythic Map pak when it's available for me (kinda). More skull searching and what not right?

Not at all. I think achievements add playability to a game. Back in the day when u finished a game, that was it. Achievements let u get more for ur buck.

As for Mythic, so far there are 3 maps and u can get the skulls on Forge mode. The Sandbox one is too freaking frustrating and difficult but theres a version of the map from another player that lets u get the skull in seconds.

Yeah. you go through a teleporter and hold down the right bumper so when you come out the reciever you automatically pick it up.... but then you get blasted right away. the others are easy enough to find. The one in Assembly is up between the two large wires going from the center to the yellow side and the one in orbital is... Well its where that big drop is between the sniper and rocketlauncher. U go to orb mode and fly upwards and its in the corner.

Originally posted by Darth Vicious
Im only an achievement ho when it comes to Halo. For the most part, I try getting as many as I can for any particular game but will be fine if I dont get them all. Some are just too ridiculous like Gears of War 2 "Party Like Its 1999" were u have to play 1999 rounds of multiplayer.

Also the Serious 2.0

I mean you get it eventually but you will probably get Party like its 1999 first.

WTF is wron with Halo 3s Team Slayer. Me and my crew decided to play Team Slayer on diffrent accounts. We managed to get to level 9 easily. Then the S**t hit the fan! We won and this is no lie or exageration, about 20 games in a row against team either the same rank or higher. We didnt go up once! Mind u, we wont most of the games by 20+ points. Is there a special criteria to rank up? All 4 of us are about the same rank. The only exception, Im level 36 on Lonewolves (I started using the account earlier) and they are in the single digits. Is my 36 in LoneWolves affecting our ranking on Team Slayer?

This is a mini-guide based on the original true-skill explanation of El Kafungus of Bungie.net. His original explanation may be accessed here: http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=14414600

Note that I do not take any credit for this as my own work, it is only a summary of El Kafungus's explanation.

What is the trueskill system and how does it work?
Well, the trueskill system is a skill rating system that is used for many games on XBox Live and more than likely PC. If you haven't already guessed, the reason I bring it up is because Halo 3 uses the trueskill system.

The trueskill system works on two basic valus, your uncertainty value (sigma) and your actual skill (mu). I will refer to them as sigma and mu from now on.

Your sigma is basically how the game accounts for luck; it is the numerical representation of what your skill could be. Play consistently for a low sigma, or play inconsistently for a high sigma.

Your mu is the actual representation of your skill. Win games to raise it, lose games to lower it.

The mathematical relation of mu and sigma is (mu) - k(sigma) where k is a constant assigned by the developers. This means that your skill is actually higher than the number you see, but the game does not give you the benefit of the doubt.

These are the basics of the trueskill system, and so I do not deter people from reading by creating a wall of text, I will include the "What does this mean to me?" section in the next post.

What does it mean to me?

Why don't I level up after winning X games in a row?

Mu increases after a win. Always. The increase is proportional to the winner's Sigma and the Mu difference between the winner and the loser. So, if your Sigma is high, you will proceed faster through the ranking system (in BOTH directions). If your Sigma is low, you will both gain and lose rank more slowly.

So, I want a high Sigma value?

While it sounds as though a high Sigma value is desirable, it CAN be a double edged sword. A high Sigma can mean you increase by one level for every win. It also means you decrease by one level for every loss. In addition, a high Sigma means that your skill ranking will be significantly lower than your actual skill owing to the conservative nature of the Ranking = mu - (K * Sigma) ranking equation.

Also, Sigma value starts out VERY high. So, if this is your friend's first time in a particular ranked hopper, and he wins consistently, his rank will rise meteorically due to his high Sigma.

Why do I win 10 games and not level up, then delevel when I lose 2? Help!

There are several possible explanations for this. The easiest one, and the one that fits the Trueskill system EXACTLY as explained by Microsoft, is that losing against a team that is X (I believe 6 or more, but experimentation is needed to determine the true value) skill points below you can cause you to lose as much as 5 times the Mu value that winning against even level teams gains you. Of course, winning against a team that has X more skill levels than you can net you as much as 5 times the Mu gain. The reverse is true as well. Winning against a weak team can count as little as 1/5th of an even skill win.

Second, and this is enlightened conjecture, your Sigma value was low at the beginning of your streak, and since your win streak is raising it, the conservative ranking system (Remember, Rank = Mu MINUS (K times Sigma)) is kicking in to reduce your apparent skill level. Your real Mu is higher, but your higher Sigma is having a negative impact.

Some Myth Busting

Trueskill DOES NOT take into evaluation performances inside the game. The ONLY statistics that Trueskill takes from a game are the Mu and Sigma values of all the players, and how you placed.

This means that out of all of these statistics:
Getting the MVP
Having a High K/D ratio
Getting the most medals
Skill levels of those you killed / killed you
Weapons you used
Headshots
Captures, detonations, stops, ousts, etc.

NONE of them matter when calculating the Mu increase/decrease. Any link between any of these and the skill ratings are purely correlative and not causative.

Summary

If you're worried that you're not getting your fair shake in the ranking system, look at the last 50 games that you've played in that hopper. (If you haven't played 50 games, play more. The system needs more data.)

Take your win/loss average. If it's 65% or above, and you've been in that playlist for a while, you've probably increased in level 2 or more times over the last 50 games (or you will in the next 20 or so). Otherwise you are going to be hovering around the same level or dropping in rank.