General of the Army

General of the Army (GoA) is the highest achievable rank in Combat Arms, requiring a staggering minimum of 8,000,000 EXP to achieve.

It used to be said that there would only ever be one General of the Army at any period, with rank holding determined by how much EXP one player had over another (The player with the most Exp in the game would be the only GoA). However after a second person became GoA concurrently with the first it became clear that there was a "bug" which allowed for multiple Generals of the Army.

However, whether it is a bug or not has been called into question, as Nexon has not only not acknowledged it whatsoever, but also edited parts of the Combat Arms website in order to retcon any mention of there only being allowed one General of the Army.

Unlocks
Weapons
 * M16A3 Champion (Permanent)

GOA List
These are the true Generals of the Army within their respective servers.

North America

 * pt58- a.k.a. iNoToRiOuS- : The highest ranking GoA in Combat Arms North America, with 24 million exp as of the 5th of June, 2012.
 * -SLR -- The highest ranked GoA in Combat Arms Europe with 11.2 million exp as of the 5th of June, 2012.

Glitched GoAs
These are the "other" Generals of the Army, in order of EXP ranking. Only the top five from each server will be featured.

North America
As of 13 May, 2012, there are currently 82 Generals of the Army and counting. See here for an up-to-date list.
 * -TT-DigitaL - The second place North American GoA.
 * RicoSnake- The third place North American GoA.
 * Greatfullded- The fourth place North American GoA. Was the first person to legitimately acheive the rank of GoA.
 * SQUIDDI4M0ND - The fifth place North American GoA.

Europe

 * BRoot - The fourth player to reach GoA in Europe, and currently ranked as the second European GoA.
 * ManoOh - Currently the third place European GoA.
 * BiggBenn - Currently the fourth place European GoA.
 * Dime030 - Currently the fifth place European GoA.

Ranking History

 * Greatfullded was outranked by -Route22- in EXP in June 2011, though he regained his title in on July 11th.
 * Greatfullded was outranked by -TT_DigitaL in EXP on November 7, 2011, the second time he lost his title in the same year.
 * -TT-Digital was outranked by iNoToRiOuS- on the 29th of January, 2012.

Controversy
While the rank is said to be "one-of-a-kind," it appears as though Nexon has deviated from their original goal and and will allow multiple Generals of the Army at one time.

When BigJaviX (later known as -0ptophobe, -Tigerb00, and now -Route22-) first surpassed Greatfullded as General of the Army, the Community had already been anticipating his progress by tracking his massive EXP gain over the number of recent months.

However, a good number of players didn't actually think that Nexon would allow him to succeed.

Nonetheless, an even bigger surprise came after BigJaviX finally surpassed Greatfullded in EXP. Even though he had overtaken him in title, the latter still retained the rank of GOA, as well as his iconic M16A3 Champion.

At first, it was considered to be a temporary glitch. The community assumed that Nexon hadn't anticipated a GOA so soon, let alone two at one time. So of course, the game would require some fixing to rectify the issue.

However, Nexon didn't address the issue leaving players in the dark whether the glitch was intended or not. It was also widely-believed that most of the top players had achieved their ranks unscrupulously, and an outrage broke out about how Nexon hadn't done anything to punish them.

Eventually, it seemed that the glitch really was intended after all, when the Community learned that none of the Generals of the Army had lost their M16 Champion Rifles after losing their rank, that other regional servers of Combat Arms were experiencing this GOA "bug" as well, and when a new achievement titled "Notorious GOA" was added into the game.

The requirement? Achieve the rank of General of the Army; which made it seem clear that the rank had lost its value if simply anyone could obtain the medal.

Currently, the glitch within the system will grant anyone with enough base EXP the rank of GOA. As such, there are currently more than 350 players (in North America alone) with GOA "status".

However, when Nexon removed all mention of limited spots for certian ranks (1 GoA, 3 Generals, et cetera), in addition to the "Notorious GoA" medal, it became apparent that the policy had been abolished and that now there could be any number of any rank at any time.

Trivia

 * Nexon has not acknowledged the GoA glitch whatsoever.
 * There is an achievement medal for those who become the General of the Army, entitled, "Notorious GoA"
 * There are now 80+ Generals of the Army (in North America/Oceania alone) at any given time.
 * The real General Of the Army rank insignia does not have the star in the middle. The stars are put in a circular pattern forming a pentagon, not a crisscross one.
 * Once achieving the rank of GoA, players can still gain EXP and will seemingly have another rank to get to. However, once a player achieves the necessary amount for GoA, they simply keep gaining EXP past the threshold, i.e. 1,900,000/1,400,000, which will show as 141%. It is unlikely that Nexon will add another rank.
 * Some players speculate there will be a 'prestige' ranking, similar to the Call of Duty rankings where they start off again (at Trainee), but with a unique symbol. This does not seem possible at the time but it is still a possibility.
 * In terms of EXP, the infamous hacker, Tsor who has had his/her stats edited with a memory editor is actually a GOA as he supposedly has over 12 billion EXP.