A community update came out yesterday discussing the ranked vs. unranked server “issue” that has been being debated by the community for some time.
This is part of what was said about the “Ranked Servers”
“Ranked servers will be where the hardcore bump heads and clash knives. All Ranked Servers will be configured to provide the definitive competitive Battlefield experience.”
“Ranked servers will be heavily administrated and have Punkbuster on. The integrity of the stats system is of paramount importance to EA (and of course to those participating in it) and so we will be monitoring things constantly. At the end of the day, Ranked servers will be a safe, regulated environment on which the most competitive players will be spending their time. If this environment doesn’t sound right for you, that’s great. That’s what Unranked servers are for.”
This is what EA had to say about unranked servers and where the article gets interesting:
“Unranked Servers
These servers are the wild cards – every one will be different, set to suit a specific part of our community (that part can be an individual player turned server operator, whole clans or even fan websites). The one thing these will all have in common, however, is the lack of pressure to meet the high standard of play we will expect on Ranked servers (i.e. don’t be a nuisance, don’t break EA’s Terms and Conditions and strive to be a team player).”
Here are the EA Terms of Service by the way. Interesting read.
Now I am as excited for this game to come out as the next guy. However, having played both Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam I find serious fault with these statements and resent just a little the implication that those of us who are more likely play mostly on “Unranked” servers are somehow less competitive or “hardcore” then those that will play on ranked servers. In both of the games currently being played you go to clan servers for the best games and you go to the EA servers if you are an asshat or what to beat up on them. While this is clearly a generalization of the existing situation with Battlefields 1942 and Vietnam, do you really expect things to change much for BF2?
In my not so humble opinion, the “Ranked” servers are going to still grab the players who are the scorehounds, chopper whores, or other folks just generally out to get the best score possible for themselves. Hopefully the asshats will migrate to the ranked servers as well and leave the rest of us alone.
On the other hand, those of us who generally play on clan servers due to the fact that they are; 1) are the only place to play mods, 2) are more likely to be free of asshats and 3) generally have a better level of competition, will be relegated to the “Unranked” servers. Why EA would want to segregate out its most dedicated fan base I am not sure, my guess is somewhere they are getting some more money from this setup or are planning to get more money from this, but that is just a guess. However aside from a curiosity regarding these “unlockable” weapons, I can see no reason to spend anytime on a ranked server. I dont know, the whole thing just baffles me.
Just a small rant from me on a Saturday night 🙂
Oh yeah. They also announced that the BF2 Editor will not be out a month ahead of the game as they had hoped. More likely it will be released just before or at the same time as BF2. 🙁
read the whole thing here