This is a repost from a thread I made on the MLG forums. I figure some people here will find it useful too, so here it is. Halo: Reach's arena system is a brand new system, unlike anything seen in any other shooter. Understandably, there is some confusion about how exactly it works, so I'm here to hopefully give some answers. I got tired of posting repeatedly in the other threads about how the Arena system works. So I'll post some of the common misconceptions people have about the Arena here, and try to clear them up for you. First off, I'd like to quote Bungie's weekly update from last week. There was a paragraph buried in there that probably got overlooked, but explains the biggest things people have been having problems with. Read that again, it is important. Moving on. Here are some common questions/misconceptions and the answers to them, in no particular order. My daily ratings have been 1700 every day but I'm not Onyx this system is stupid. Daily rating is for "your personal record keeping," it does not determine your division. TrueSkill determines what division you get put in, with the game rating determining what order it puts you in. The game sorts players 1-8 by the game rating, and the top 4 earn an increase to their invisible TrueSkill level. All that matters is having the highest in that particular game, what specifically that highest amount was does not matter. 1550 and 1800 are the same, if that person did the best out of that game. Every game is counted towards your division ranking. Only the top 3 are counted towards your average daily rating. This means just quoting someone's daily rating won't tell you anything about their skill. Daily rating and division together can say something about how good a player you are, but because the ADR only takes the best 3 games, you might be really inconsistent and still get amazing daily ratings. My friend only won 40% of his games, but he's in Onyx and I'm in Silver with 60%! It's like FFA trueskill rankings. Top 4 go up, bottom 4 go down, rather than just the winning team going up while the losing team goes down every time like Halo 3. This way, going beast mode and losing thanks to bad teammates can still earn you a rank up, and getting carried all the way to victory might place you below somebody on the losing team. It should be noted that losing applies a points penalty, so if the best player on the losing team has equal or just slightly higher stats to the worst player on the winning team, he still loses. I'm guessing your friend that won 40% of his games is consistently placing at the top of his losing team, ahead of at least one person on the winning team. Yesterday I was Onyx, today I am Gold, and I didn't play any games in between. What happened? There is limited space in each division. Bungie to my knowledge has not and will not release the exact percentages of the population that are expected to be in each division, but the number is tied to the Arena population overall. While you only need 5 days of earning a daily rating to be placed in a division, you need to keep in mind that there are going to be people earning their division after you. When they get placed, if their TrueSkill is higher than yours, they go above you in Onyx and you could potentially lose your spot. Keep playing well and you'll maintain or increase your division. Keep in mind that this isn't a grind. Bungie is using an accelerated trueskill system that they claim can place you accurately very quickly. Just a few games a day to earn a daily rating should be enough to bump you up, if you're consistently beating people in your new division. Don't just earn that black star and assume you're done though. Wow, it is way too easy to reach Onyx, any nub can do it! Your percentile within your division will be visible. I don't know whether it waits for the end of the season, or after a certain number of days, or what, but it will be there. You might feel insulted that Scrubby McNubtard made the same division as you, but you'll be able to see that you're at a very high percentile, and he's low. Taking percentile into account, there are a lot more ranks than just the 50 we had in Halo 2 and 3. Bungie.net says I'm Onyx, but I don't have a star yet in game, what's up with that? I'll just quote Achronos from the Bungie.net forums I got 1775 daily rating on my first day look how great I am! Great! You were probably playing Bronze division people. Man up and reach Onyx, then let us know your daily rating. I've got a 5 star Onyx rating I'm so good! Great! Every Onyx player has a black star with a 5 in it, every Gold player has a gold star with a 4 in it etc. There is no 2 star Onyx, no 4 star Onyx, no 10 star Onyx. Help! I've played at least 3 games per day for 5 separate days but my division isn't showing up! I wish I could help you, but the best I can do is tell you you aren't alone. As of this writing, this issue is not listed among Bungie's known issues lists, but the problem is apparently not uncommon. The best thing to do until Bungie confirms it as a known issue is to report your situation and all relevant details in Bungie's ARENA, RATING, & DIVISION Impressions/Feedback thread. For further reading, here is a compilation of the very long arena Q&A session Ferrex had with the Bungie forums. That is where a lot of my information comes from, in addition to the weekly update quoted above. That weekly update also has the specifics of the arena rating formula in both geekspeak and normal speak, for those interested. Edit: I found this thread on Bnet very similar to this one. The guy writing it seems to have his facts straight, and his thread is longer and more detailed than mine, because he covered everything and I tried to focus on just the stuff people were having trouble with. I suggest checking it out if you're still unclear after reading this thread. I'll try to add to this if I find more things that I can answer. I hope this thread helps, and good luck in the Arena everyone!
Updated the OP: Help! I've played at least 3 games per day for 5 separate days but my division isn't showing up! I wish I could help you, but the best I can do is tell you you aren't alone. As of this writing, this issue is not listed among Bungie's known issues lists, but the problem is apparently not uncommon. The best thing to do until Bungie confirms it as a known issue is to report your situation and all relevant details in Bungie's ARENA, RATING, & DIVISION Impressions/Feedback thread.
That was quite helpful. :] And, for those who wish to play around with your numbers, I've made a nice excel spreadsheet. (Note: I found one that used a basic version of what I did, so I suppose that I will give credit to them for this idea.) However, mine is much more concise, and is way easier to do. All you need to do is plug in your Kills, Deaths, Assists, Betrayals, Number of People, Score to Win, and Win or Loss (W or L, respectively). Try to avoid changing any data in any other field, as it will screw up the formulas. Here is a screenshot: And, here is the download link, I promise there are no viruses. Rating Calculator.xls