Mighty Party Rank Up

[Carmen Kalua]

Theseinnovations include a Rank system overhaul that puts more weight and reward on winning matches, as well as how Rank and Skill Divisions are represented, and the introduction of features such as Skill Rating (SR) Forgiveness and Demotion Protection.

Ranked Play is the official competitive 4v4 Multiplayer experience for Modern Warfare II, using the official rules, restrictions, maps, and modes from the Call of Duty League, which can be read here. Whenever the Call of Duty League rules are updated, expect changes to the Ranked Play rules to follow suit.

Every Skill Division below Iridescent has three Tiers to progress through. These Tiers provide additional granularity to each Division and help players feel a sense of progression as they climb. Think of these as additional SR subcategories within each Skill Division, separating the range of SR in each Division into thirds.

Returning from the Vanguard Ranked Play system is the Top 250 Skill Division, which is above Iridescent. The 250 best players with the highest SR above 10,000 will be put on the Top 250 Leaderboards for all to see.

Also new to the Top 250 this year, something to help everyone keep track of their favorite CDL Pros who qualify for the Top 250 Leaderboard; each Pro who reaches this Leaderboard will have their CDL team affiliation and player profile displayed on their ranking. Will a Pro finish Season 02 on the #1 spot? Or will a future League player make it to the top instead?

As for squadding up, you are allowed to bring up to three squadmates into matches if they fall within a certain Skill Division threshold, with the highest Skill Division in the party determining the restriction rules:

Bronze through Crimson players will start one Skill Division back (save for Bronze, which will begin with Bronze Tier I) with Demotion Protection enabled for your first 3 matches (see Additional New Features).

Ranked Play competitors know some of the most frustrating times are when a random teammate decides to quit at the beginning of a match or right in the middle of the action. While it is impossible to prevent players from disconnecting, there are a few new features being introduced with this version of Ranked Play to make those moments more manageable:

Like previous Ranked Play iterations, penalties and suspensions can be given to those who quit, disconnect, sit idle, or commit friendly fire too often. Players who show repeated bad behavior will be handed more severe punishments. The system used to evaluate repeated bad behavior has been overhauled in Modern Warfare II to punish bad actors and avoid harsh punishments for players who consistently play the game the right way, or who change their ways after being penalized or suspended more consistently.

Another new feature is Demotion Protection, which will help all players avoid immediate relegation after advancing to a new Skill Division. After advancing to a higher Skill Division, players will not lose any SR within the first three games in the new Division. Following that initial protection, if players do lose enough SR to risk relegation, players must lose two consecutive matches to be demoted out of their Skill Division. Demotion Protection also applies to the first three matches of every Season.

First, there are several Seasonal Win Rewards for this first Ranked Season, starting with a Sticker at 5 wins and a Pro Issue SMG Blueprint, which includes attachments that are fit for competitive play, that is awarded at 10 wins. Additional rewards up this progression path include a Charm, Decal, and Loading screen all the way up to a Weapon Camo, which can be used on any weapon and is awarded after winning 100 matches.

Iridescent and Top 250 members also get an Animated Calling Card, while the #1 Ranked Play player will receive a special, one-of-a-kind exclusive Animated Calling Card and Emblem, which can be considered the ultimate bragging rights from Ranked Play.

2023 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, CALL OF DUTY LEAGUE, CALL OF DUTY VANGUARD, CALL OF DUTY WARZONE, and MODERN WARFARE are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the propery of their respective owners.

2024 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, CALL OF DUTY LEAGUE, MODERN WARFARE, CALL OF DUTY BLACK OPS, CALL OF DUTY WARZONE, and CALL OF DUTY VANGUARD are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.

The ones on age and gender make China an outlier compared with many other countries. In other words, the senior ranks of the party are mostly old, as in over 60 years old, and overwhelmingly male. Younger, women politicians are now commonplace in many countries. But not in China.

Many Chinese will argue this is a positive feature of the system. It is a meritocracy, and you have to prove yourself before being promoted. There is some truth in this. Other east Asian systems also have fewer women in their ranks than many Western countries, but none are as bad as China.

This graph represents the situation at the last Party Congress, in 2017. It may be even worse now, as for the first time in 25 years, there is not a single woman in the Politburo in the wake of the 20th Party Congress, held in October 2022.

Xi Jinping has shown little empathy with the private sector. A number of high-profile entrepreneurs have been targeted on his watch. Will they be so keen to join the party in the future? More to the point, will the party welcome them in?

The one-child policy, which started in 1980, is largely to blame. But so are the same factors that are present in many economies. Women are having fewer babies. In part, this is an individual choice for many women. But it is also because Chinese couples worry that they cannot afford the cost of raising many children, and so stop at one, even though the government now allows and indeed encourages them to have more.

That's really the whole rhythm of the battle. The Cultist will return fire with wind attacks, but seeing as none of the party are weak to them, they'll be easily recovered from. Use Yukari's turn to heal with Mediarama if the Cultist pulls out any big moves, and focus entirely on knocking him down with dark magic and the battle will be over quickly.

The Merciless Judge and Executive Greatsword are found on Floor 184. This is another instance of facing off against two tanks that can do heavy damage quickly. They both have an arsenal of heavy slash attacks and a range of magic, meaning everyone's weaknesses will be on display.

Meanwhile, Yukari will play support, healing when the team needs it. When she needs to attack, she's going to lean on her wind abilities, as neither enemy will resist her magic. Before going in, make sure that Makoto's Persona has no discernable weaknesses. Anubis or Oni are great choices. Also, equip the party with accessories that will up their evasion to their weaknesses. Junpei is weak to ice, Yukari is weak to electric and Aigis is also weak to electric.

Before entering the arena, have Fuuka cast Sylphid Aura to protect the group. When you're inside, the first turn is going to be about buffs and debuffs. Yukari is going to cast Masukunda to lower the enemies' accuracy, Aigis is going to cast Matarukaja to up our attack and Makoto can cast whatever he has on hand. Lowering the enemies' defence would be ideal, as it'll allow us to do maximum damage.

As for Junpei, he's going on the offensive from the moment this battle starts. All he'll do in this fight unless we need to recover is cast Agilao on the Executive Greatsword. When he gets a follow-up attack, he's going to hit it with the exact same attack again.

If you charge any Theurgy attacks during the battle, target them all towards the Judge. The Greatsword can do damage, but it will go down relatively quickly as it's much weaker than the judge. The real obstacle is the Judge, so make sure to use your biggest attacks to carve through his health bar.

When all your buffs and debuffs from earlier in the fight wear off, spend a turn recasting them, then get back to attacking. Remember, if the team gets wounded, Junpei's turn can essentially act as a way of healing twice. Simply knock down the Executive Greatsword, then shift to Yukari. Have her heal, then afterwards, she'll get her official turn. She can then heal again.

Considering our weaknesses are likely to be targeted as we battle, this can be a great way to get everyone back in shape for the next round. Keep attacking and healing when required, and both the Judge and the Greatsword will eventually hit the canvas.

Going in, we're going to separate our strategy into two steps. Step one: Take out the Resentful Surveillants. Junpei and Makoto will be the most effective here as the Surveillants are weak to slash attacks. When either of them act, hit both Surveillants with slash attacks, then use their follow-up turns to inflict additional damage to both of them.

Yukari will focus on healing, but if everyone's safely healed up, she'll use wind attacks on the Surveillants. Meanwhile, Aigis will focus on big physical attacks that hit the whole group. Heat Wave and Myriad Arrows are a great pick. We're going to get both of these guys out of the fight before they can deal too much damage, and then turn our attention to the tank.

The tank is going to respond during this time by charging up and then attempting to hit the team with big pierce attacks, including Myriad Arrows and Vile Assault. We're not going to focus on debuffs until the Surveillants are down, as they can just reverse our buffs, so make sure Yukari is ready to heal if the tank deals huge damage.

From here, we're just going to chip away at its health bar. Hit it with any physical attack to do damage. Just remember that Yukari and Junpei's magic will bounce right off it, so we'll have to stick to physical abilities. Use any Theurgy attacks when they charge and the battle should be over before you know it.

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