Since the beginning, I’ve always viewed Halo games as social experiences (‘member LAN parties?). Of course, since Halo 2, the franchise has offered modes for the more competitive-minded players. Halo Infinite‘s ranked mode, however, hasn’t quite impressed many of its sweatiest fans. Developer 343 Industries has taken note, and announced that alterations to the system are on the way. The CSR (Competitive Skill Ranking) system is getting some changes in Halo Infinite, and ranks are being reset.
The changes should make ranking up feel more earned. As written in a blog post by Halo community manager, John Junyszek, the CSR of Infinite was “overly generous since launch.” Players in ranked were finding themselves too high up the ladder. The incoming tweaks will instead place them in a rank that better reflects their skill. The ranks will reset, but that’s not as bad as it sounds — so don’t uninstall Halo Infinite yet. Following the changes, all ranked players will be placed in the next lowest tier.
“Since we saw that the CSR system was being overly generous since launch, these changes are being rolled out to help bring things closer in line to where they should be,” Junyszek explained in the post. “This period led to a full tier inflation of ranks and, as a result, most players should expect to be placed a full tier lower (Diamond players will find themselves in Platinum, Platinum players will find themselves in Gold, etc.) after this rank reset.”
Climbing the ladder
It certainly sounds odd that ranks in Halo Infinite are getting reset in the middle of the season, but no worry. Your advancement back up the ranks won’t take too long, Junyszek says. Normally, your CSR is a bit lower following placement matches in ranked. However, this will change somewhat to “help make sure you have a shorter climb after your placement matches.”
The changes will roll over in the afternoon of February 22. Junyszek mentions that these changes aren’t the last coming for ranked. 343 will announce new updates in the near future.
“We believe that these targeted changes will help improve the ranked experience for players of all skills by providing more accurate, balanced, and fair matches,” Junyszek wrote. “That said, this isn’t the end of our updates to ranked, it’s only the beginning. There is still more to go after, and we’ll continue to make updates based on your feedback and live game data.”
