DDR X Ratings Featuring Decimal Points!

I would give the single chart an 11.3- the chart makes sense as an 8 on the classic scale, but it doesn't do anything too crazy, especially at the BPM it's at. I would give the doubles chart an 11.1, since it doesn't add much to the difficulty in terms of pad transitions and new patterns, and in fact tones down the section with the gallops.

DREAM A DREAM (Miami Booty Mix) D-?

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To be honest, I hate the X-Scale. It’s too needlessly numerically inflated as it is and adding a decimal point after it would only further ruin the aesthetic value and be total madness. But the number 10 is aesthetically pleasing, it’s the basis of most numbering systems for gosh sake. It works wonderfully as a top value, FAR better than the number 19.

So I’m instead boiling the current spectrum of DDR difficulty back down to a Lv 1-10 scale! Where each numerical jump represents a meaningful indicator of skill level rather than being an arbitrary distinction trying to represent every single possible notch of difficulty. And I’ve provided an upper end and lower end classic chart example for each. Here we go.

DDR Truncated Scale

Lv 10 - Legendary (Golden)
ENDYMION Challenge
MAX. (Period) Challenge

Lv 9 - Nightmare (Black)
Pluto Relinquish Challenge
NGO Challenge

Lv 8 - Extreme (Indigo)
Trigger Challenge
PARANOiA Survivor MAX Challenge

Lv 7 - Super (Crimson)
TRIP MACHINE PhoeniX Expert
MAX 300 Expert

Lv 6 - Intense (Jade)
DROP OUT Expert
SABER WING Expert

Lv 5 - Challenge (Silver)
PARANOiA Expert
Kind Lady Expert

Lv 4 - Standard (Yellow)
AFRONOVA Difficult
DUB-I-DUB Difficult

Lv 3 - Basic (Azure)
AM-3P Difficult
Love <3 Shine Basic

Lv 2 - Easy (Pink)
BUTTERFLY Basic
EL RITMO TROPICAL Basic

Lv 1 - Novice (Teal)
Dam Dariram Beginner
5.1.1. Beginner


By the way this would also replace difficult level names, where the name of each difficulty level correlates with its numerical value.
Yes, I am quite eccentric.

Consolidating back to a 1-10 scale presents the same problems as to why it was expanded in the first place. The gaps in difficulty are too large in your new scale. In my opinion, the scale should be expanded, not condensed. You can see difficulty cliffs starting from 16 onward, just from looking at https://3icecream.com/difficulty_list/16.

The scale should be 1-25, and expanded from 16, similar to how it was in SDVX IV HEAVENLY HAVEN. You can also blend borderline charts together and make it their own level.

Lv.25:
(reserved for impossible doubles charts)

Lv.24:
ENDYMION

Lv.23:
Lachryma《Re:Queen’M》
Steps for Victory
BREAKING THE FUTURE

Lv.22:
鳳
Over The "Period"
Valkyrie dimension

Lv.21:
PARANOiA Revolution
EGOISM 440
MAX 360
VOLAQUAS

Lv.20:
PARANOIA EVOLUTION
量子の海のリントヴルム
灼熱 Pt.2 Long Train Running
New Millennium
ENDYMION
鳳
Avenger

Lv.19:
MAX.(period)
IX
Neutrino
Lachryma《Re:Queen’M》
EGOISM 440
Pluto Relinquish
HyperTwist
POSSESSION
Blew My Mind
Cosy Catastrophe

Lv.18:
PARANOiA Revolution
MAXX UNLIMITED(X-Special)
NGO
Fascination MAXX
最小三倍完全数
Astrogazer
Air Heroes
Tohoku EVOLVED
TYPHØN
MAX 360

Lv.17:
Avenger
IX
GERBERA
SABER WING (Akira Ishihara Headshot mix)
Poochie
New Millennium
Reach The Sky, Without you
TRIP MACHINE EVOLUTION
Emera
POSSESSION

Lv.16:
Over The "Period"
PARANOIA survivor MAX
New Era
Fascination ～eternal love mix～
MAX 300 (Super-Max-Me Mix)
actualization of self (weaponized)
Megalara Garuda
I'm so Happy
Ødyssey
Life is beautiful

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ENDYMION's 10 indicator better be flashing so hard it risks seizures

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Imagine someone just starting out the game and being stuck on 3s for months.


And this presents the opposite problem. Now there's 5 different levels only useful for people who can play the current 19s.

If the scale HAD to be expanded, I would start expanding lower, like at 13. Low 13 and high 13s get separated, low 14, high 14, etc.

But what we have is good. The X-scale is fine in the game for players to understand what they are getting into when they are playing a song for the first time, and for sorting/flare gauge score. The decimal point tier list is fine to keep outside of the game because only high level players will care about looking it up.

While I myself will not advocate for a decimal system, as I find the 1-20 scale to be sufficient to cover the vast range of difficulties DDR has, this suggestion is, for lack of better words, hot garbage. DDR started with a 1-7 scale, that went up to 8 with the internet version 1st Mix, and then by 2nd Mix Club Version 2, it went to 9. Next change was DDR MAX with a 10 foot. The game series has always had difficulty, no pun intended, producing a solid difficulty scale, along with most BEMANI titles that have lived longer than 2-3 years.

The X-scale has been the longest lasting scale in DDR, and they haven't maxed it out, pun totally intended. I think decimals are stupid because it's just a ground for novices and newcomers to just hide in the range they are good at and never strive to improve. at least the 1-20 scale is pretty solid about what it rates as such, and either way, its good enough to encourage newcomers to climb the scale quicker, and get more engaged than if they had a leap of difficulty like the 1-10 scale you suggest.

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It all depends on what one’s goal is. If one’s goal is to make sure that every possible solitary degree of difficulty is expressed then they will favor the X scale or something expanded beyond that. However the jump from one rating to the next becomes pretty arbitrary and becomes less useful at indicating “this requires a higher degree of skill”. With the X scale I think this is especially apparent at the lower levels, where I highly doubt one could point out a noticeable difference between a 4 and a 5, let alone have those ratings serve any sort of purpose for a new player rising their way through the ranks. In this sense I believe less is more.

But this is all of course, my opinion.


If that’s a persons skill level then so be it, I don’t think that would indicate a problem with the rating scale. Nothing wrong with making use of the lower numbers rather than just having them be filler to inflate the higher “expert” numbers.

I... don't understand this complaint. I disagree HEAVILY with the 1-10 scale being brought back, but this isn't even in the realm of reasons why. New players hit their first wall of progression sooner or later. Is it just becaue you arbitrarily think 3 is too low a number and will make players feel bad compared to if they got stuck on. 6s and 7s on the 1-20 scale? I dunno.

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I mean, my pipe dream isn’t so much bringing back the old 1-10 scale so much as introducing a new heavily boiled down one which in my opinion sort of trims the fat that also happens to have 10 as the top rank. An old scale 8 footer would be a Lv 5 on mine. I picture the “ideal scale” calibrated so that Lv 1-5 is casual and Lv 6-10 is expert level challenges, with 9 and 10 especially veering off into absurdity.

I agree with expanding it lower as well. Now that I'm getting better at 13s and 14s I'm feeling like some of those songs simply aren't the same difficulty level. Like yeah some I can say it's like a 14.3 or 14.5 or whatever, but then there are other 14s that I feel like they're clearly not a 14 but they're also not a 15. I mean not everything is about scoring, and some 14s like The Ancient King Is Back have 200 more notes than something like Come Back To Me (Feel It). That alone puts them on different levels in my book, but like I said it's absolutely not a 15.

I also agree with RGTM about expanding the upper part of it and I don't think it matters if the upper levels only apply to people who can play 19s. The portion of the community that can play 15+ is already relatively small tbh and we still have that stuff split out. Like sure there are a lot of players who can do that stuff but most of the community can't. I think the number of players who actually post their scores gives a misleading view of how much of the player base is passing that kind of stuff at all. Still, expanding out in a similar way but not quite the same to how SMX does it is a good thing. Expand it in the middle and upper end.

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Yeah. I think it incentivizes players to keep pushing onwards if they can see a gradual increase in the levels they can pass. That's all.
On Viper's hypothetical scale it would've taken me about half a year of playing before I made it to 5. That would've been discouraging for me because it would seem like still I couldn't play half the song list after so long. But that's just me.

Edit for clarity: I think the current scale is the best balance we can get for new players and pro players alike to track their progression.