So, KDR is dumb. What's the best metric?

The number of likes you have received on the forum

They could give us more stats. The more the better. Many people like to look at them (for whatever reason) and having them there doesn't do any harm.

While normalized SPM is certainly a valid metric, I would also consider 'average score per life' - how much useful 'stuff' a player can on average get done between deaths.

I would also consider the option of expanding one's score to see how much of it is from pure support activities (repairs, healing, ammo-supplying), how much of it is from asset damage/destruction (AA damage, enemy tanks destroyed), how much score is from base defense/attack-based actions (overloading generators, taking bases, hacking terminals) and how much of it is derived from kills.

Base Score / hour * factor for what class you earned said score from. Base the multiplier off the average score of every class - which means ESFs (over x minutes used to counter transports) will probably get *0.1 and medics/LA *1.2. Ish. You get the picture.

Only fair thing I can figure out.

Who cares bout performance metric, just play and have fun.

If you spend all your time comparing yourself to other people you're gonna play like it was work and stress out.

If you don't care about KDR, then why post about it, or even ask to get it removed from the game. I personally am interested in my KDR as a measure of success at whatever activity I am doing.

I notice my KDR goes down in the presence of the spamming Zerg and in Biolabs severely, and spikes up when I have some room to breathe and there isn't someone shooting me in the back of the head all the time.

I also don't care about SPM other than an interesting statistic.

So just leave them alone. They're fine being available to everyone. If you don't want to use it, or refer to it, noone is forcing y ou to.
But stop petitioning to take away options from other players, thanks.

Score per minute without XP boosts and other bonuses would be the best metric. That translates to "how productive are you for your faction when you're logged in". Going AFK would hurt this, but if people need a metric would be the way to go.

KDR can go die in a fire. It really screws with player behavior and has no place in this game other than the e-sports 48 vs. 48 arenas.

I personally worry a bit about my kill death ratio. I can't really help it because its one of the things I use to gauge myself, not so much to compare myself to others. For me, I main medic so staying alive so I can heal and revive others seems to be a positive byproduct of that. Now, If I could have metrics for healing per life or revives per life that I could use to judge my productivity as my preferred class, they could completely get rid of KDR.

SPM differs widely on what class / vehicle you play. People in my outfit can earn insane spm as pilots, many times what the best of x y z class can get with their favs.

Best metric: Opponents who ragequit per hour.

I think KD(R) and XP ruins some of the game. Many cares just for XP, and doesnt think of tactical choices when capping territory.

I think they should make it so XP and kills/death for an area didnt show, until you left it. Then you would earn all the XP at once.
Its kinda annoying sometimes when XP keeps popping up.

I think the problem with KDR is that 'kills' just isn't capturing enough of the beneficial things you can do for your team, and it varies widely by both role and playstyle. You should always be trying not to get repeatedly mowed down, but a medic can be a great benefit to their team with their healing tool, which obviously cannot get kills.

We also have Score per Minute (SPM), but I think "minutes" is even more arbitrary that "kills". The amount of anything you do per minute is going to depend a LOT on the times of day when you can play, the types of fights your outfit looks for, and how often you take the respawn screen as a sign it's time to have a stretch and rest your eyes for a few minutes (things which should not be discouraged by any metric). Score is a good metric; not perfect, but quite good at rewarding many of the things you can do in the game to help your side. It also rewards kills in different amounts than just "kills", giving more points for taking out targets that are probably more of a threat. Of course, for use in any metric, score should be reported raw, without any bonuses for population, membership, or boosts.

So we have ratio with a bad numerator and one with a bad divisor.

I think the answer, then is simple: Start showing us Score / Deaths.

How about real awards, (if we must have them) that don't rely on KDR , but actual performance.

Such as "Dumbfire Master" or "Tank Scourge", that you can wear also as labels. Shows your proficiency at a certain weapon or playstyle.

"Base Defender", "Medic Icon", "Scythe Reaper", "Reaver Ace", "Mossie Master", etc

And don't make them easy to get either. They should be long term rewards, based on specific weapon usage or w/e

Ribbons are fine, but if we are going to play this Achievement, Ribbons and Badges ********, at least give me something relevant to what I do...

Someone who stands in a gen room, defending the destroyed generator from repair, who in 30 mins get only 4 kills is by many lengths more helpful that someone who sits in a tank farming outside the SCU.

With the current inability of the game to track such useful but unrewarding and often boring tasking (welcome to the life of a soldier) the one and only true measure of a players assistance is personal recognition that what you are doing, in its own small way, was absolutely essential to the final goal once complete and the recognition your squad, squad leaders, platoon and platoon leaders grant you for a job well done. Because in 30 mins, that gen didnt go back up once.

Currently, there is no other metric.

There is no good overall metric. Zero. None. In order to have a good metric you would have to look at so many different stats on your own and do your own deductive reasoning. And even then, until score is seperated from XP it won't be accurate.

Example: You look up a medics score. You'd need to look at weapon stats, score per minute, KDR, accuracy, vehicle use, and top kills. If they use a lot of vehicles you have to take that in to consideration when looking at KDR and SPM. Then you use the weapon stats, headshots %, KPM, and accuracy to see how effective they are killing people. THEN you need to look at SPM and KPM and decide how much his rez and healing score actually contributes to his SPM rather than his kills. AND THEN you can get a pretty decent idea of how good the player is.

Anyone who says KDR doesn't matter is a completely wrong. It's not the be all end all stat, but it is important. Find me a Medic with 300 SPM 1 KDR vs 300 SPM 4 KDR and I'll take the 4 KDR. That means I have to do less work babysitting, we'll kill more people effectively (meaning he has to rez/heal less) and he'll get me for rez's if he can/wants to. Less time rezzing = more time doing important stuff.

I'm not knocking the low KDR guys. If you enjoy running around getting farmed, go for it. Have a blast if that's what you like. Just don't expect an invite to any outfit that wants quality over quantity. A good example is Future Crew vs The Enclave.

Who needs a metric? Why?!
I play this game because I have fun. Not because I think someone, somewhere might be looking at my stats and I want my epeen to shine...

The reputation you have with your enemy. Also K/D isn't specific, but it gives the general idea of the player. If it's abnormally high from cheesy playstyles then obviously it's not a straight mathematical equation or anything, it's obviously inflated. But a good player will still manage a 2.0, usually. A good player, I think, is a guy that can at least take two guys with him in a tight situation. Better player is the guy that can take out multiple people in tight situations. Sometimes K/D is a good indication of this, sometimes the player is cowardly, redeploys a lot, and is inflating his K/D. However, if you understand these limitations, it's still a valid tool for the general idea. You can infer a lot from K/Ds.

+1 for FUN

We should instead adjust the K/D to be more specific to play styles. Anyone who is on foot will have the regular K/D, but anyone using a vehicle will have the K based on the duration of their vehicles - basically a ratio between the number of vehicles pulled and kills. It ties back to the resource system, and better K/D is a sign of better resource management. Plus, it makes players indifferent to bailing - vehicle destruction is what matters and should be prevented. This can be identified as VK/D (Vehicle K/D)

Under this sytem, infantry K/D is separated from ESF K/D and Tank K/D, and this will allow apple to apple comparison between fliers, tank crews, and infantries.

KDR of 10 for infantry combat is really good (note, MAX should have a MAX-K/D), but KDR of 10 for tanks and aircraft is easily achievable. By separating them, we can improve communication (of the stats) and not have vehicle users' high K/D dilute the value of ground pounder K/D

These threads are painfully boring and redundant.