This guide intends to explain to you how to optimize your time/experience gain ratio in Gears of War 2’s ranking system legitimately: i.e. no boosting and no glitching.

A Basic Overview:

To go up in rank, you need to complete games and gain experience. The more experience you earn, the higher your rank. The highest points scoring games are the respawning game modes, but the quickest have little or no respawns. This leaves a dilemma of which to pick? Hopefully this guide will help explain which one choice is the best choice for YOU.

The experience gained at the end of every game depends upon three things:

1. The number of points you received in that game in total (not the number of kills, captures etc that you achieved, these do not affect the experience awarded).
2. The game mode you were playing.
3. If you quit the game before. Quitters receive a -1500 exp penalty at the end of their next completed game for every game that they have quit from.
    

The Basic Experience Formula:

Average experience awarded per game = your average points per game for that game mode

This is a list of actual game mode values:

• Warzone- 1
• Execution- 0.95
• Guardian- 0.83
• Submission- 0.47
• Annex- 0.23
• KOTH- 0.28
• Wingman- 1.09
• Horde- N/A atm

Source: [Here]

Annex has changed from 0.26 –> 0.23, Guardian 0.91 –> 0.83, Submission 0.49 –> 0.47 and Execution 0.98 –> 0.95 in updates

From this we can see that Wingman and the game modes previously grouped as ‘Elimination’ (Warzone, Execution, Guardian) are more effective at converting points into experience than the ‘Territories’ (KOTH, Annex, Submission).

It appears that the player is ‘rewarded’ for the lack of/reliant upon others spawning systems in place for the ‘Elimination’ game modes, and ‘penalized’ for the almost unlimited respawning in these other game modes. However, in these ‘Elimination’ game modes, fewer points are usually earned in comparison with ‘Territories’.

EPIC has tried to balance the new experience system so that the experience earned per game is balanced throughout all of the different game modes. Crucially, this theory ignores the average time for these games to finish…

To combat this uses YOUR answer to the Basic Experience Formula, in this formula:

Speed of Experience Gain Formula:

Speed = Average experience awarded per game (answer from Basic Experience Formula)*Game Duration

This is a list of approximate Game Duration values:

• Warzone-1
• Execution-1
• Guardian-0.8
• Submission-0.4
• Annex-0.5
• KOTH-0.5
• Wingman-1.15
• Horde-N/A (as of now)

The higher your answer, the quicker your experience gain from that game mode is. Your answer is in ‘average experience gained per arbitrary of time’, the average duration of a Warzone game is taken as 1 unit.

Using the information you have gained:

What really matters here is how good YOU are. If you have a points per match ratio of over 1000 in the ‘Elimination’ game modes, it is advisable for you to play these more than others in order to increase your rank quicker.

However if your points per match ratio in the ‘Territories’ game modes is more than 8000, it is advisable for you to play these (the 8000 comes from the use of the ‘game mode values’ and an assumption that the average ‘Territories’ game take twice as long as the ‘Elimination’ game modes).

When not in a party and the ability to fix which gametype being played is not available, you have to work out your values for each playlist not just an individual gametype. This may affect which playlist you choose.

I have found that the ‘average’ gears player feels that the Guardian-Submission playlist is their ‘playlist of choice’. Personally, as I do disproportionally well in Execution-Warzone I tend to prefer utilizing this playlist. Those skilled in territorial warfare (i.e. capturing, holding and breaking points) are obviously tended towards the Annex-KOTH playlist as they score well in these game types. Wingman is a safe bet if you have a skilled friend who allows you to win more games than you lose and therefore earn a high number of points per game.

To find your average points awarded per game either:

•  Go to http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/WebStats/default.htm and click ‘Sign in’, then enter your email and password for your gamertag and you can view all of your stats.
• View the leaderboard section of the GOW2 menu
• Press (Y) when in the multiplayer lobby after a game to view your stats for that game mode.

Hopefully you should now be able to figure out which is the quickest way for you to rank up. Any suggestions on how to improve the post are welcome, and I will try to answer any questions.

First up is Courtyard, (one of my favorites) set in an urban locale surrounded by tall buildings. The whole map looks like a big rectangle, with teams spawning on the two longer sides. As you do down into the Courtyard, players can get a glimpse of their opponents across the way doing the same. Low cover is plentiful. At one end of the rectangle, you can climb stairs to a landing that, while exposed, offers a commanding view of the level. Underneath this landing is an enclosed space where close combat is. At the other end of the rectangle lies some more substantial cover that should shield you from elevated snipers. A light snowfall and some healthy foliage gives Courtyard a great winter feel.

Next  Under Hill. This map is dominated by a large enclosed garage that contrasts plenty of places to duck your head down with deceptively long sight lines. Leading out of the garage are two roads that extend onto an open suspension bridge. The roads and parking areas that separate the bridge and the garage are dotted by cars–perfect places for players fresh out of their spawn points to take cover.

The third map needs no introduction, as most players will recognize it from Gears of War. Fuel Depot is back by popular demand, with a light dusting of snow. The sniper is still a hot item, the central warehouse is still a shotgun-heavy slaughterhouse, and the gas pumps still explode with deadly force.

Last but not least is Grind Yard, a long industrial corridor jam-packed with cover and lined with elevated walkways. Coming at each other from opposite ends of the long rectangle, teams can pick their way through ruined cars and steel scrap to vie for center control. In the middle of the map is a large structure that butts into the battlefield, offering a ramp up to an elevated lookout tower and some powerful weapons. Players making a bid for this position will have to watch out, because the ramp is pinched between two lower platforms that are easily accessible by either team. Opposite the lookout tower is a high balcony that lines one long side of the map. I would have to say that after playing all the maps that Grindyard would have to be my favorite.

After playing the snowblind map pack. I would have to say that this is one of the best map packs epic has ever shipped for a gears game. The attention to detail and the overall design are top notch. You wont be dissapointed if you are debating on weather or not to get this map pack, do it. You wont regret it.

After 24 hours of gameplay with Gears of War 2, MajorGamer (xXWhoDeyXx85), xHolySchnikiesx, & myself have collaborated to bring you our thoughts on the latest update from Epic. First off, this update has made playing Gears of War 2 much less stressful. While there are still those “WTF!?!” times, they are fewer and farther between. We have decided to break this post into many subsections to cover all aspects of what was included and done well in TU3 as well as what’s still missing.

Lag

One of the main complaints since the release of Gears of War 2 has been lag. Whether it is man made through the use of lag switches and standbying or unintentional due to poor host choices, lag has plagued Gears of War 2 from day one. During a laggy game you almost feel as if you are being held captive. Is it better to stay and play in a game where you’re constantly teleporting to random locations and can’t land a shot to save your life or is it better just to quit and take the penalty? With the introduction of the regional filters and standby / lag switch detection in TU3 it seems like the lag has subsided. The lagginess is not gone by any means.  The only difference is that now the laggy games are exponentially less frequent. I suspect that as time goes on and poor hosts are weeded out and lag switchers / standbyers are banned the number of lag filled games will be reduce even more than they already have been.

Cheating

Cheating has been a hot topic among the Gears of War 2 community. It seems like since the day it came out people have been finding and exploiting every possible way to cheat in this game. I’m very happy to say that Epic has stepped up to the plate on this one. They have been diligent about finding and fixing exploits such as the shield glitch since TU2. Lag switching / standbying though has seen no changes…until now. After TU3, anyone who forces host, uses a lag switch or standbys will be punished. As far as we have heard / read the punishment will be that the lag switcher will lose their ability to gain exp. as well as their ability to be host.

Penalties

As discussed above, Epic has created new penalties in TU3. Lag switchers will lose their ability to gain exp. and host games while those who quit will get a 1500 exp. deduction for each game they quit.

Weapon Changes

The chainsaw has been a major complaint in Gears of War 2. Not only is it annoying when the entire opposing team uses the chainsaw as their primary weapon, it’s also extremely annoying when you are vacuumed into a chainsaw. Thankfully, Epic listened and unlike the Dyson vacuum, the chainsaw vacuum has lost it’s suction. It has also become a lot harder to simply run around with your chainsaw revved. In previous installments of Gears of War 2, a person could be running straight at another while they’re unloading on them with a shotgun or any other weapon and the person attempting to chainsaw would never lower their weapon. After TU3, it seems that has changed. In both online and offline tests the characters seem to lower the chainsaw much easier than before. Some have reported changes in the shotgun such as it seeming to be less powerful but according to Joe Graf the shotgun was not changed in TU3.

Ranking System

The new ranking system resembles that of Call of Duty or Halo 3 using experience points to determine rank rather than true skill. However, true skill still exists on Gears of War 2 but for the sole purpose of matchmaking, you can’t actually see your true skill rank within the game. The new ranking system is denoted by a number that shows up in front of your gamertag on the leaderboard. The rankings go from rank 1 – 100 compared to the previous 1 – 5. I for one was extremely happy to see this new ranking system. I hated true skill, mainly because you never knew how close you were to ranking up or anything. With the introduction of exp. at the end of each match you see how close you are to the next rank just like you would any other achievement.
Note: The experience earned in each match is not a 1:1 ratio with the number of point you score in the game. Each gametype has its own ratio. For the breakdown of each gametype’s ratio, check out our Gears of War 2 Points to Experience Points Ratio Breakdown.

Other Thoughts

In TU3 Epic made the choice to have bots replace quitting teammates. These bots exist only to balance the team so for example, a 3v3 team would contain 0 bots but a 3v5 team would see 2 bots to balance out the two teams. I think this is a great addition to Gears of War 2 along with the penalties for quitting. It’s frustrating when you’re trying to play and the game becomes 1v5 or 2v5. While the Gears of War 2 bots could never be a replacement for a human player, they definitely beat a blank. The playlists have also been completely restructured. Where before you had playlists like Territories and Players Choice, those have been replaced with Annex – King of the Hill, Submission – Guardian, & Execution – Warzone. Players Choice has been while Wingman has remained an option.

As with most others, I was curious what the actual breakdown was of the points to experience points after TU3. As most already know, TU3 added a whole new ranking system based on exp. What most people started to notice was that the points you got in the game did not match the number of exp. points you received at the end of the match. Joe Graf has posted in the Gears of War forums that each gametype was different but that wasn’t good enough. Along with my trusty companion, MajorGamer, we figured out exactly what these ratios were for each gametype and thought we should share them with the rest of the Gears of War 2 playing world. Ok…enough talking…on to the numbers

Using this chart is simple. For every point you earned in the game, you receive the associated ratio of exp. For example, in Annex, one game point is worth 0.23 exp. points while in Wingman 1 game point is worth 1.19 exp. points.

It is also worth noting that there is a 500 xp win bonus, and you get 250 points in Guardian for winning the round as leader without dying.

Update: Experience points earned in-game are now doubled permanently. So with that all the ratios above are double. The Ratios below are the origanl ratios doubled to show the permanent double xp.