Mercenaries, the update 0.9.451 is already here! It features the previously announced fixes and content:
- The new Evacuation map, available in Deathmatch and Team Elimination modes.
- Fixed some of Hold-to-Aim issues.
- Fixed a number of additional issues with the group matchmaking, including the ability of any group member (beside the creator) to kick other members of the group.
- Partially fixed the Team Auto-balancing logic in matches with groups.
Apart from that, we are happy to introduce the test version of the Competitive matches and Ranking system. Now, when selecting a map, You’ll be able to decide if you want to participate in a ranking or training match. The difference is simple: in training matches you risk nothing and are free to try new weapon or tactics; in the ranking matches, however, you bet your rating, also known as MMR (Matchmaking Rating).
How is the rating calculated?
As we have mentioned before, Hired Ops uses the Glicko-2 algorithm to calculate every player’s MMR. This system is essentially a further evolution of the Elo Rating, that was introduced into the gaming from chess and has since been used in many competitive games.
The players start on their competitive matches path with the basic rating value of 1500. Over the course of the match the system compares every player against other participants by the amount of experience gained since the last evaluation and awards win, loss or draw in the competition. To put it simply, if you have gained more experience than your rivals, you have won in comparison to them.
The rating is evaluated on round end, match end, and on connection or disconnection of other players, and the MMR value is dependent on the amount of time that have passed since the last re-evaluation. For more technical details of the calculations please refer to this article on the system’s official website.
Ranks
Based on your MMR, you get awarded a particular rank:
The ranking icon is displayed next to your nickname and allows other players to quickly assess the level of their adversaries.
What’s next?
We’d like to point out that this system is running in the test mode, so we’d like to receive your feedback on how smoothly and transparently it works. We’d also like to remind you that the MMR progress will be reset several times as we introduce the new features and start new testing phases.
The currently available functionality is just the beginning of our work on the competitive mode, however, in the closest upcoming updates we’ll be primarily focusing our attention on the overall technical stability of the project and the previously announced features like the 32-bit version of the game, hit detection and minimap.