Ranked Mode Overhaul Matchmaking - Frequently Asked Questions
Blizzard just posted an overview of frequently asked questions about the new ranked system and their answers, including the hot topic of if tanking your MMR will help or not. Read all the questions and answers below:
Quote from BlizzardHey everyone! We put together a general matchmaking FAQ here for our new ranked system to help answer questions you may have.
For general description of this new system, please refer to our Year of the Phoenix blog.
If you want to learn some basic concepts of matchmaking, here is our previous blog about matchmaking in Battlegrounds.
Q: How does matchmaking work for each season?
A: There are two matchmaking pools: matchmaking by rating (aka. MMR) and by rank.
When your star bonus multiplier is bigger than 1, or you are in Legend rank, you are (generally) in the first matchmaking pool; when your star bonus drops to 1, you are in the second pool.
Q: Why are there two matchmaking pools?
A: Since each player starts at the bottom of the ladder at start, we want fair matches for everyone (aka. win-rate close to 50%). At that time, your progression on ladder is protected by your star bonus, thus your net expected gain will be positive through the ladder. Once other players run out of star bonuses, matching by rank will allow for good players, or players who want to push themselves a bit, to be able to progress to a higher rank.
In short, having two matchmaking pools helps players progress in the ladder without having to grind as much, while still making most matches fair.
Q: If I “tank” my MMR at certain rank floor, will I be matched with easier opponents next season because you are matchmaking by MMR at the start?
A: No, in general you won’t. At the start of the season we will recover your MMR to certain threshold if it is dropped below that value, which is based on what your rank is in the previous season. Therefore, there would be no benefits to intentionally tank your MMR.
Q: How many stars bonuses do I get at the start of the season?
A: It depends on your current MMR and the rank you reached from your previous season, whichever gives a higher value. Generally, the minimal initial star bonuses you get for each rank floor you reached are:
Best Rank Minimal Initial Star Bonuses Bronze 10 2 Bronze 5 2 Silver 10 2 Silver 5 3 Gold 10 4 Gold 5 5 Platinum 10 6 Platinum 5 7 Diamond 10 8 Diamond 5 9 Legend 10
As you can see, every player starts with at least two stars bonuses.
Q: Do you reset MMR each season?
A: No, we do not.
Q: Will the value of my previous season’s MMR be exactly same as the new season?
A: Technically no, although the change will be very small and the “value order” will be kept (Player A whose MMR is larger than player B in the last season will still be ordered as such). Mathematically, a re-normalization process takes place at the start of each season to keep the distribution in a nice bell-shaped curve.
Q: If I missed one season, will I lose my star bonuses when I return?
A: No, you won’t.
Q: If I missed multiple seasons, will I lose star bonuses when I return?
A: Based on how long you are absent, there will be some small decay applied to your MMR. Therefore, you may (or may not) lose some star bonuses.
Q: Where do the win steak bonuses end?
A: Diamond 5.
i met the same opponent 2 times in a raw today. so i guess new MMR system works.
You could be (say) Gold 1 still with a bonus and get paired against someone on Bronze 10 with a ton of stars who hasn't started climbing yet that month. This would look so dumb on screen that Blizz decided to hide it. But, the match will probably be a fairer fight than the players who ran out of stars to get to Gold and are now slogging it out the hard way.
I got x10 bonus start at the start of this season. I'm currently Silver 9 with x7 star bonus. Did I get scammed? I'm supposed to have x8 star bonus. (Bronze10 to Bronze5 is x10), (Bronze5 to Bronze1 is x9) ,(Silver10 to Silver5 is x8)
Hi guys,
What's the best way of farming noobs for quick and easy gold and wins in the new ladder?
many thanks
Make new account
it was sarcasm, he deserves upvotes
Well I am getting a bunch of rewards for climbing out of bronze into platinum - decks and cards. Plus with the new duplicate rules, I am getting some 2nd copies of classic rares I never managed to collect and didn’t bother crafting in the past.
Since I never really cared about Warlock, I aways dusted all warlock cards ever. Guess who is going to open a lot of Warlock cards now
Not you.
Dusted = collected in terms of no duplicate rule.
If I'm not mistaken, the rule does not applies from previous dusted cards. The guy was using Pyroblast for example. If I dusted Pyroblast in the past, when the duplicate rule comes in play, it is like I never had Pyroblast and I have a chance to get it again
I opened 2x Equality, whitch i have dusted before.
My bad, you are right!
Sorry !
no worries
If you dusted it time ago, yes, you can get it back
If you dust it from now on, no, you won't until you completed the collection and then it pops up randomly.
I dusted a gold Lorewalker Cho... then opened a regular version of him. Guess he REALLY wants to be in my collection.....
If you get all the one-time achievements on the standard ladder, can you still get the same first time rewards in wild?
No, tried today :)
Yes
Could have done same thing but leave numbers the same. Psychology, 20-L seemed like more of a progression when winning than 10-L. While I do like everything else about it, just leave numbers same. Probably just take some time to get used to it. However, it just seems more daunting now on the ladder run. ✌️
So they made getting to Legend quite bit easier with the closer rank floors to legend and win streaks stopping at diamond 5 (Meaning the stars to get without win streak bonuses has gone from 25 to 15)