UPDATE: March 30th 2020

Tomorrow’s release of Operation 3 heralds the arrival of some Ranked improvements we announced earlier this month.

As part of our continued work to improve the Ranked experience, we’re focusing our playlist offerings to make sure everything is a good experience in terms of time to match and our ability to provide balanced skill matches within the mode.

Beginning tomorrow, Execution and Guardian will no longer be available in Ranked. We are also postponing the arrival of FFA in Ranked at this time.

While Execution’s numbers boomed at release, it has since become one of our least played modes by population along with Guardian. As for FFA, we do not believe the current Ranking system can offer a compelling enjoyable experience in a non-team based game mode with the current design without significant work.

We believe Gridiron will be a compelling single-life based mode when it arrives in Ranked (a few weeks after the release of Operation 3). For Guardian fans, it will be available in quickplay and through special event appearances, a la Dodgeball. We’ll be evaluating the impact of these decisions as we think about the future – gone today doesn’t necessarily mean forever.

We are continuing to work on delivering an update to address 0 points being awarded on a Ranked Win as soon as possible (if you don’t already know, 0 on a win is a protective result where round(s) lost against an inferior opponent would have caused you to lose rank prior to this game prior to the protection being implemented).

Our goal is to deliver a change that means winning matches should result in a points gain almost all the time – though remember the amount of gains you make will depend on both your current rank, the number of rounds won / lost and your overall performance.

See you online tomorrow,

TC

Original Post

As part of our ongoing improvements, we’re evaluating all aspects of Gears 5 as we continue to refine and improve the game.

Some of these improvements we can address by tweaking existing designs. In other areas, bigger steps are needed as some of the game’s foundations are – simply put – not in the right place. We’ll talk more about this process and what we’re addressing over the coming weeks and months in more detail, but today, our focus is on Ranked.

Ranked System

It’s clear that our Ranking System is not delivering the experience we want or you expect.

For players, we see your frustration with the lack of transparency, how it can feel unfairly punishing in certain situations and how playing Ranked actually gets in the way of your enjoyment with the game.

The Plan

We are fundamentally reworking the entire Ranked System of Gears 5, moving away from the model we have now to something we feel delivers a fun, clear, rewarding experience for playing in Ranked – whether alone or with a team. This process will take time.

In the meantime, we’re doing our utmost to improve your day-to-day experience with the Ranked system we have today.

Immediate Ranked Improvements

With the launch of Operation 3: Gridiron, we’re introducing the following changes:

Splitscreen players will no longer be able to play Ranked matches (excluding 2v2 Gnasher)

Players under level 30 will no longer be able to play Ranked matches – unless playing with a higher level friend.

In addition, as early as possible into Operation 3, we hope to deliver updates that will greatly reduce the chance you gain zero or minimal points from a Ranked Win. Stay tuned for exact timing.

While we know the wait for the Ranked Overhaul may feel frustrating but fundamentally reworking the design is a big process. We hope this shows our commitment to pushing Gears 5 forward and supporting the game for a long time.

Thanks for being on this journey with us and for giving us critical, actionable feedback that will help us make the best Gears game yet.

We’ll see you online.

TC