Star Rating System Explained
UFC 4
UFC Stars:
UFC 4 has re-envisioned the way players will view fighter overalls. Every fighter in the game will now be given a star value of 1-5 that will serve as a representation of their overall ability in the game.
In addition to the overall star rating, each fighter will also have a star rating for their stand up, ground game, health, and moves. This change will allow players to quickly observe and determine a fighter's strengths and weaknesses in specific areas, without focusing on a single numerical OVR. This allows for a better assortment of fighters when playing online or against friends on the couch. For returning users and advanced players, you can examine a fighter’s individual attribute values as numbers. This will help you determine who has the highest punch power or highest kick speed in each division and allow comparisons of individual attributes on each fighter.
New Attributes:
We have expanded the attribute system to accommodate new gameplay features as well as allow for a more realistic representation of diverse fighting styles that can be seen in the UFC. Here are the new attributes:
- Punch Speed / Kick Speed - Punches and kicks are split in terms of their speed.
- Punch Power / Kick Power - Punches and kicks are split in terms of the damage they cause.
- Clinch Striking - Supporting the brand new clinch system.
- Ground Striking - Supporting the brand new ground and pound system.
- Cardio - Replaces strike stamina and ground stamina.
- Recovery - Replaces heart and toughness.
Top 5 Moves:
The top 5 moves for each fighter will be viewable on fighter select screens. Players will be able to view which moves each fighter specializes in or has the highest move level for. You can also view the inputs required to use those moves during gameplay. This allows for insight on your opponent’s moves as well.
Live Attribute and Move Updates:
In UFC 4, we designed the attribute system to be much more organic and allow fighters to improve/decline through in-game updates depending on the results of their performance in the real world. Following major UFC events, a fighter update will be released on UFC 4 with the new attribute and move updates for fighters.
How we got here:
You may recognize similarities between the new system and 'fighter grade' system that was implemented for UFC 3’s online ranked championships. The 'fighter grade' system put licensed fighters into tiered groups that acted as a modifier for the number of ranking points a user could potentially gain by winning a match. The fighter grades put fighters who were within a specific OVR range, together in the same pool. Anyone with a 95+ OVR, would be an A+ Grade, anyone with a 92-94 OVR would be an A grade and so on. This allowed players to quickly compare their fighter against their opponent and helped to decrease mismatches and mirror matches. We saw a positive response from our community and saw an increase in fighter pick diversity outside of the top fighters.
We also run into interesting issues on the UFC team in regards to balance. Unlike any other EA SPORTS game, UFC fighters do not have great teammates to elevate their weaknesses or to round out their strengths. Sometimes these weaknesses are with submissions, striking, or health where if capitalized on would give big advantages to their opponent. This is a realistic part of fighting, you want to expose weaknesses as a player. If you are fighting Francis Ngannou, you probably want to take him down. If you are fighting Demian Maia, you likely do not want to go to the ground. We need to make these types of strengths and weaknesses clear for our casual player base while also holding to the authentic strengths and weaknesses of licensed fighters. Most users when given the choice between a 92 OVR fighter and a 91 OVR fighter, would choose the 92 OVR fighter. The 92 OVR fighter may have a high Switch Stance attribute, which wouldn't have made a significant difference in the balance of the fight. This lead to a number of mirror or repeating matches with very high OVR fighters. UFC Stars allows us to group together a number of fighters while still holding to their authentic strengths and weaknesses. It allows users to know that their fighter can compete with a range of other fighters, rather than most users choosing the higher OVR fighter.