Changes were made to the way points were awarded in rank battle in season 2 so that you were not penalized as much for losing as you were rewarded for winning until you reached the blue rank of Fujin. This meant that as long as you were generally winning more than you were losing you would eventually rank up.
These changes resulted in what many players called "rank inflation." It's true that the value of each rank was "cheapened" to an extent since it was easier to obtain them, but it also resulted in a wider dispersion of players within the existing ranks so that the majority of the player base was not all clumped into the green ranks for example. A person's rank is still not the best indicator of their overall skill, but at least it gave players a better feeling of progress when it made ranks easier to achieve.
During this time I found most of the characters I played frequently jump into the red ranks while players who had capped at red ranks moved on to purple and even blue ranks. I think there were a few players who disliked the changes to the rank system and found themselves getting matched against opponents who were not on their level, but I imagine this is a problem faced by only the very best of players; a very small percentage of the player base.
I was aware of all this rank inflation, but still felt happy with myself when I finally reached Genbu. Ultimately it didn't change the fact that I wanted to keep getting better. Overall, I was happy that Namco had given me a measuring stick with more points to help me chart my growth.
original twitter post
