In wake of its exclusively limited release last week, Microsoft’s real time strategy sequel Halo Wars 2 finally launches today for both the Xbox One and PC. One prime element that players will not be finding in this year’s Halo is the ranked competitive matchmaking system, as Microsoft just confirmed that this feature has been postponed and will instead be coming “shortly after launch.”
This system, which has been described as a “formal ranked competitive system” not unlike Halo 5’s, which was intentionally held back from release during its launch, developer 343 Industries explained in a blog post.
Biggest of the reasons being that 343 believes that a social/unranked environment will be “more inviting and less stressful” to any new players. The lack of a ranked competitive system affords all players the equal amount of time to practice and attempt different strategies and tactics. Second, pushing back on the ranked system will give 343 the time it needs to respond to any balance issues that will most probably be popping up. Talking about the same, the blog post says,
Delaying a ranked seasonal model also allows the development team to monitor and respond to any balancing issues that usually only arise after players have spent considerable time exploring units and developing strategies and synergies, it’s easier for players to be exposed to these ‘hot-fixable’ issues in a social, no-stakes environment than in the midst of heated ranked competition.
Further, 343 provided one more reason for delaying the ranked system. It has been described in the blog post as under,
Lastly, we’re looking to time ranked playlists/seasons with DLC releases which allows the team to roll in any new fixes or tweaks that couldn’t be addressed via a ‘hot fix, and the introduction of new leaders is a natural opportunity to reset and roll-over a new season.
And lastly, 343 mentioned that you should consider this time between Halo Wars 2’s launch today and the introduction of the ranked system as a “pre-season” of sorts.
