H4: XP, SP, SR, Rank, Loadouts - What you need to know

There are some significant changes to the Halo 4 multi-player system, the most obvious one that affects your competitive (dis)advantage are custom loadouts.  If you don't read any further than this first paragraph, take this away: Go into the Spartan Hub (hit Start) and customize your Loadout options to add a Tactical Package and a Support Upgrade.  That said, here's the rest of the nitty gritty that you may care about.

As you play in War Games and Spartan Ops, you'll see that you get points for things and you get "promotions" on a regular cadence.  Currently, everybody in the world has a level that looks like SRxx where xx is a number from 1-50.  You'll also notice that Loadouts are more complicated in Halo 4, with randomized Ordnance Drops that you can individually call down.  What does it all mean?  What do you need to do?  Here is the key terminology:

• Experience Points (XP): Like in every game since Halo 2, you get experience points as you play.  You get different amounts based on game type and your individual performance.  You only gain XP from Infinity Gametypes (War Games, Spartan Ops), *not* from Campaign.  XP is what levels up your Service Rank, or SRxx number.
• Spartan Points (SP): You probably won't even notice that you have these unless you poke around in the Spartan Hub to customize your Spartan.  These are earned as you level up and are spent on Loadout options.  As far as I can tell, Armor and Emblem options are unlocked by levels or accomplishments, but don't cost any SP.
• Spartan Rank (SR): This is a number from 1-50 that represents how many XP you have earned, and roughly replaces the Halo: Reach ranks of Captain, Lieutenant, Inheritor, etc.  Doesn't really have any tie to "skill", is most representative of how much somebody has played Infinity game types.  You must reach SR50 before you can choose a Specialization.
• Skill Rank (?): Starting early next year, players will start seeing a skill rank based on how "good" the are.  This is similar to the per-playlist rankings from Halo 3, or the Battle Proficiency Rating from Halo: Reach.  When it appears, it will be the best indicator of how "good" a player is in a particular playlist.

There's really not much you're going to do with XP and Skill Ranks don't show up until next year.  Nobody is close to SR50, so I'll blog about Specializations later.  What you care about NOW, is SP and Loadouts.