Uno Ill Nino said:
Second, ranked games are fun for people who are competitive. There are a lot of people out there wasting their time trying to be the new "Fata1ity" or whoever, but then there's people like me who like having their stats tracked. Number of kills with certain weapons, matches won and lost, kills vs deaths, etc. Nothing wrong with that.
I think of myself as a competitive person most of the time, I like achievements (I attempt to complete most games as much as possible because of them) and I still hate Ranked. There's no real sense of competition there for a number of reasons. One being the stacked teams, two being latency issues and three being stuck with idiots that claim weapons but can't use them properly at all. At least during Player Matches (with friends) you can control most of these issues with people you know, but other than that, Ranked isn't better than Player bar the achievements. Even those aren't properly executed for the most part: if they were more creative à la Dead Rising or Crackdown,
then the majority of GoW's would've been boast material since you wouldn't be able to fall back on patience. Only some (like the Torque Bow) are the exception.
Points aren't really worth it either, not the way they're set-up in Gears. They reward the person who plays it the most and not by actual skill per sé (a fault in many, many games). They're made even less important 'cause of the abusers in Execution (before the patch) and because of the modders. Yes, some want to make a name out of themselves by being the "number one in this or that", but points don't prove all that much sadly.
I like specific numbers mind you, as in how many kills you got with which weapons. Something as thorough as say, Super Smash Brothers Melee, Meteos or Advance Wars DS. But sadly, Gears of War doesn't go that far... And I understand your opinion of the achievements, nothing wrong with getting 'em so long as you aren't obsessed by 'em (buying games solely for the achievements, trading accounts with others, ...).
kaizoku said:
As for playing ranked matches, I'm in the UK so a lot of the time no one is on when I am so I need to play with randoms. Pre-patch it was easier to get a 4 vs 4 game going on a ranked match as so many more people were playing it there and playing it seriously. In player matches you got n00bs or guys messing about etc which I wasnt looking for.
Not really. I'm online at about the same time as you and the situation hasn't changed noticeably at all. The only thing I do see (before the patch too, to avoid any confusion) is more variation in the maps when Europeans are online too: after midnight, there are too many Gridlocks or Raven Downs...
It would have indeed been easier to join a 4 vs 4 match if you took stacked teams into account, however.
kaizoku said:
Its not just a matter of putting time in (ok sure if you played for 3 years; time might be a factor) but a large element of strategy and skill is involved too. 100 kills with any weapon is a hell of a lot of ranked matches and if you're not very good theres no way you will get that sniper or torque bow achievement.
Oh but it is. I agree with Lumpy on this: why do you think 'a lot' of people have certain hard-to-earn achievements like the Torque Bow? Not many are all that good with it and those people probably unlocked them because they were playing with friends. Warzone especially allows such an approach: if someone's down, they could call the friend who tries to earn an achievement with the Torque Bow / Sniper / Pistol / Boomshot and he can shoot the downed body with relatively little effort. Or they can claim said weapons without any interference. Same goes for the host achievement. Only a matter of time until you achieve a 100 kills. Would've been more interesting if there was something like "kill 4 people in 1 round with the Torque Bow 10 / 20 times". Personally, I only started 'achievement hunting' after the patch because to me there's no fun whatsoever in having others help you with something like Pistolero or Don't Hurt 'Em.
Again: not throwing any accusations around here nor dismissing your pride (I too would be proud with the bow achievement). Just saying that the achievements in this game (as well as others) aren't all that hard to unlock.
