For Honor was designed from the ground up to encourage competitive play, and now the development team wants to raise the game's competitive bar with the introduction of ranked play through a public test for Duel Tournaments. For Honor's Duel Tournament feature is a structured tournament system where warriors will battle it out not just for bragging rights, but also for glory in a new ranking system. All players start in a qualifier stage, where they will have to participate in 20 matches before being ranked into one of five tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond – the highest rank) based on their performance. These tiers are then divided into five groups, ensuring that battles are fought between warriors of similar skill. Because this is a public test of the Duel Tournament feature, progress and rewards will not be saved after the test period concludes on July 4.
This is just the beginning of ranked For Honor play, as the team will release the full feature in a future update for all platforms. The For Honor Team also has some upcoming competitive opportunities for those looking to prove themselves on the battlefield before the ranked feature launches. Stay tuned on the Blog for more information on that soon.
Meanwhile, in preparation for the upcoming public test, we spoke with Damien Kieken, game director for For Honor, to get some additional insight on the public test and what the team hopes to learn from player feedback.
Why is now a good time to introduce the public test for Ranked Tournaments?
Tournaments and competitive play have been part of the team's vision for the game since the beginning of its development. The team has worked hard in order to be able to implement this feature, and now the feature is near completion. We feel it is time to have it tested by our players. We want to make sure everything works as intended, but also take into account players' feedback before its release. The Public Test will allow the team to do that.
How will tournaments actually work? What are players ultimately working towards?
As you enter a tournament, your journey begins in the qualifier stage. Here, players will have to prove their worth by being the best warriors of their pool before moving on to the single elimination playoff phase. One player will reign supreme, but all players will receive rewards depending on their performance. The further you have gone, the better your reward, leaving the best ones exclusively to the champion. When engaging in Duel Tournament, players will devote 30 to 90 minutes for each tournament depending on the number of players and match length, ranging from 4 to 32.
How will the ranking system work, and how will matchmaking play into that?
Participating in the Duel Tournament will determine the player's Duel rank among the community. After playing 20 qualification matches, the player will be placed in one of the five tiers based on his or her success: Bronze (lowest), Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond (highest). Then the player's rank will evolve after each tournament match, based on his personal performance.
Regarding the matchmaking: In order to offer a balanced experience, each of those tiers are divided into five divisions, allowing players to face opponents close to their ranking.
How will scheduling work for the tournaments? Is it as simple as just searching for other groups that are already looking to do the same?
One of the great things with the Tournament feature is that it's always available. Players don't have to register or anything like that. All you have to do is select the activity on the World Map, wait for players of a similar ranking to join, and then you can start playing! Matchmaking will be of course a little longer compared to other activities since you'll be playing a series of matches.
Who can join?
Any PC player who has accessed the game through Uplay up until 12:00 AM UTC Time/5:00 PM PT on June 22 is eligible to join the Public Test! We want as many players as possible to taste For Honor's future competitive experience and give us feedback, so join us!
Why PC only?
The PC platform allows for greater flexibility, efficiency and ease when exploring new ways of iterating our game. This also extends to the Public Test, as there are no approval processes to follow with external partners, as opposed to console platforms.
What are you going to be looking at as the tournaments progress? How will you be taking feedback?
As the focus of the public test is Duel Tournament, we will closely monitor the stability of the Tournament flow and the behavior of the Ranking system. We will also gather qualitative feedback through For Honor Forums dedicated specifically to the Public Test. Once the Public Test is over, we will send a survey to our players in order to acquire additional feedback.
What are you going to be looking at as the tournaments progress? How will you be taking feedback?
As the focus of the public test is Duel Tournament, we will closely monitor the stability of the Tournament flow and the behavior of the Ranking system. We will also gather qualitative feedback through For Honor Forums dedicated specifically to the Public Test. Once the Public Test is over, we will send a survey to our players in order to acquire additional feedback.
For more on For Honor, check out our previous coverage.
