The Ranked Play Changes Have Been Announced and are Coming in March!
The ranked ladder revamp has been announced! We'll be seeing the changes go live at the beginning of the March season which is roughly a month away! The changes will be patched into the client in February, the same update where we may see a balance update.
Here's how the new ladder will work:
- Card backs will now be earned after 5 wins for a month.
- All ranks have 5 stars.
- When a new season starts, you will reset exactly 4 ranks below your end ranking - stars included.
- Ranked rewards go by your highest ranked earned during the season.
- There may be some rank inflation, but not to the point where everyone will be Legend. (Source)
- No changes to the win streak mechanic. (Source)
- Rank floors (20, 15, 10, 5) are all still in place. (Source)
What do you think? Are these changes enough to make ranked better for everyone? Watch the video from Ben Brode or check out the blog post below. If you think these changes are "simple" and shouldn't have taken this long, Ben Brode gives us some insight into just that.
Quote from DaxxarriBeginning with the start of the March 2018 Ranked Play season, we’re making improvements to Hearthstone’s Ranked Play ladder experience.
Join Hearthstone Game Director Ben Brode as he explains what to expect, as well as the philosophy and intentions behind the update:
Here are the upcoming changes you can look forward to:
- You’ll earn card backs by winning five Ranked games during the season, regardless of what rank you achieve. It will no longer be necessary to reach Rank 20 to earn these card backs.
- After each game, the UI will let you know how many wins you still need to earn the Ranked season card back. You can check your progress between games by visiting the Quest Log.
- All Ranks will now have 5 stars.
- Player ranks will reset to exactly 4 ranks below your current standing, including the number of stars in that rank you earned. Here are some examples:
- Rank 14, 2 stars resets to Rank 18, 2 stars
- Rank 1, 3 stars resets to Rank 5, 3 stars
- Rank 10, 0 stars resets to Rank 14, 0 stars
- Players at Legend reset to Rank 4, 0 stars
Moving to the New System
Some elements of the old and new systems will exist simultaneously when we first make the transition:
- During the February Ranked Play Season, you’ll still need to reach Rank 20 to receive your Ranked season card back. At the season’s end, your rank will reset to four ranks below your current standing.
- Starting with the March Ranked Play Season, you’ll only be required to win 5 games to receive your seasonal card back. At the season’s end, your rank will reset to four ranks your current standing.
The update should allow players at the top of the ladder to jump into the action immediately by matching them against similarly-ranked opponents, providing more engaging matches while reducing the time it will take for them to climb to a rank appropriate for their skill-level each season. This in turn should improve matchmaking for everyone who plays Hearthstone, including those climbing the ladder for the first time. Since players will be more evenly matched at the start of each season, they can make immediately meaningful progress toward their ladder ranking against players of similar caliber. We want the experience of climbing the Hearthstone Ranked Play ladder to be fun, challenging, and satisfying for everyone.
We hope you enjoy the updates to Ranked Play, and we’re looking forward to your feedback. See you on the ladder!
Bye rank 15. I'll never miss you.
I like how if you get stuck at rank 11, 6 or 1, you are dropped back to the last 'floor' (15, 10 and 5 resp).
Unfortunately, there is still incentive to to stop playing right before season end. Because if I drop from 11 to 12 before season end, next season you will be one floor lower.
"enough to make ranked better for everyone?" - to make ranked at least slightly better they need to implement ban-a-class mechanic, just to avoid ranked being a coinflip of good/bad matchups.
Ban-a-Class mechanic LUL SMH
not sure why you made it so you only had to win 5 games. guessing that their will be an adjustment to the overall pool of players in certain ranks with these new stars being added. o well.
Well Angry Chicken will be a whole lot angrier on March 1 when he gets 2 additional stars
Legend is not so Legend anymore?
Legend is for a long time "not so Legend anymore", when nearly everyone over rank 6 has this card back allready.
Except that the 5 to legend grind will still be there for players who haven't hit legend yet, you know the hardest part of the grind?
well... Snowflakes have to have their participation awards... they finally got it.
That makes no sense, at all. Rewards weren't even changed with this update.
Better try next time.
I mean it's nearly impossible not to hit legend every season now. A whole month to go from rank 4 to legend? Definitely going to be inflation.
If you are a constant Legend player, yes. But players that will reset to rank 10 or lower will still have to invest a lot of grind time on the ladder to reach legend. It's not really going to be easy for most of players still
To clarify I was talking about myself and any good players. I understand most people are bad at this game
For many it's more about time than skill. Even with something like a 60% win chance it takes ages to reach legend.
This is going to work out well. It was demoralizing getting to rank 7 or 8 and then getting knocked back to rank 18 with legend players right above me and terrible people right below me. I play nearly every day a little bit, but don't have the time to grind. Rank 4 is the best I've hit. Starting the month at Rank 8 or 9 is really appealing, and might mean I can reach legend in 4 to five months if I decide to really go for it. It also means that everyone at your rank at the start of the month really belongs there. I'm sure better systems can be developed, but I don't see how this is anything but an improvement over the current system. Worrying about rank inflation is one of the silliest things I've ever read ("Deserve's got nothing to do with it."). This is going to improve match-making, straight up.