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!
This is excellent on a number of levels:
4 years for NOTHING??????
grind grind grind grind grind grind
rly ? two years for that ? then i guess we can wait till 2028 to get a properly working game window
Pff, it's nothing. Only for new ones some few changes. Still grinding borring ladder. But now, we lost our hope for new ladder, gg wp, go to arena for next 1-2 years...
It seems like a small deal, but in action, it will matter a lot
So, no changes in the reward system, only the ranks?
So this change looks good overall but they really need to upgrade season rewards if they want to make ladder worth it. Current rewards are soo underwhelming for any type of grind.
Also a bigger issue than ladder is dusting values of cards. I hope they make a change about that soon.
thank you for pointing out the obvious
I think the changes are a good step in the right direction. But I'm not really all that happy.
I still think 25 ranks is a bit too much. I mean, you are in the top 30% or so when you reach 15, which means there are 10 ranks for 70% and 15 for 30% of all players, Legend ranks not included. These proportions might change now, but to me, it still feels a bit too much.
I'm also not so happy about the part that every rank now has 5 stars. One the one hand, it could (and hopefully will) improve matchmaking, especially at lower ranks, on the other hand it becomes even more of a grind if a player tries to get higher up. Sure, the 4 rank reset is nowhere near as bad as right now, so achieving a better rank also pays of for the following month, but 5 stars can seriously slow you down if you cannot maintain a winstreak. It basically becomes rank 5 to 1, only that it starts with rank 20 now. Maybe even with 25, they didn't say anything about whether you still can't lose stars between 25-20 and on the "safe ranks".
Depending on whether you can or cannot lose stars at lower ranks, this also means, that new players might have to spend a serious amount of time to get that golden common card per month. Either way, as JLC776 has already said, a change of the ladder rewards would also be very nice by now. I know that the ladder rewards were originally thought of as a little "extra", but it's hard enough already to get some dust in this game.
I hope this will to some extent improve the new player experience, but progressing in this game still happens at snail pace and can seriously discourage players from continuing.
Again, I think the changes are a step in the right direction for now. But it's no final solution.
I kinda enjoyed the grind from rank 17-ish to 5 or higher because I got to earn a decent amount of gold among the way, and it was all easy come, easy go. Would be great if they introduced some log-in bonus kind of thing or increased quest rewards to keep us F2P tryhards from abusing the system somehow.
With this change I might actually reach legend sometime. I always get to rank 5 by the end off the month, I always thought I never reach legend because of time investment (since my winrates are decent). Starting around rank 9 instead of 17 surely is gonna help alot.
as the time from 5 to legend takes more time than anything to 5 this won't increase your chances. Maybe slightly. If your winrate is still only decent you still won't make it.
Well I get what you mean, I know the grind is harder after 5. The fact is though that every month I will have more time to try to get legend since I dont have to start so low in ranks. Each month I would need less stars to reach legend thus making it easier, since I really think the biggest reason I didn't get legend yet is due to time investment.
My winrates are around 60% most of the time btw. I got to rank 2 a few times aswell.
5 stars per rank is a gap.. but atleast this way I won't have to wait a week or two until all the better players are at the higher ranks to ladder again. I do hope there will be a few more "safe" ranks added, especially considering the rewards for so much effort is pretty underwhelming. That being said, we shall see in March how this will all work out, looking forward to the update!
No word on rank floors is weird. I assume they're still intact.
4 ranks behind your current rank and not top rank of the season sounds not so great. A lot of anxiety to come from wanting to play more, but not wanting to risk losing rank before end of season.
It don't really matter much. Unless you play Raza Priest, you won't make it past 5. So all of the Raza priest can now start at 5 and be legend sooner, while the rest of us grind to 5 every season. Then we'll all curse Cubelock until April comes. It will be a fun month.
I got to legend with zoolock in wild, just play enough, you'll get there