Reconfiguring Ranking in Duel Tournament

CURRENT SITUATION

Since launching the mode’s Beta last week we have observed that the distribution of rankings across levels is not reaching the desired spread we aim for. For some context, by design the system was meant to have the following spread:

20% Bronze

20% Silver

30% Gold

20% Platinum

10% Diamond

In reality what we’re seeing in the live game is:

0,5% Bronze

8.5% Silver

74%Gold

16% Platinum

1% Diamond

Even though we created the ranking brackets based on the Public test results and the players’ distribution on the game before the release of the Ranking mode, we can still observe that the current player distribution is really different to what we anticipated. This is clearly not meeting our expectations, and is the source of different issues and frustrations for players. For example, in the Bronze and Diamond ranks, players are often unable to find matches against players of their same rank, or are often ranked against the same player. It also has led to longer than normal matchmaking times which in turn is generating a lot of matchmaking cancellations by players. On the Gold rank, the progression between rank divisions is too long and tiresome.

FIX/CHANGE

This week’s maintenance will address these above symptoms by adjusting the curve for the benefit of all players. We will redistribute most of the players within the ranking categories to have a more balanced spread. But of course, with this redistribution will come with an initial Rank regression for some players. 44% of current Ranked Tournament Beta players will experience a decrease of some degree in their rank (up to 5 ranks). This will mostly affect those in the Silver and Gold categories. On the other hand, 42% of players will experience an increase of some degree in their rank (up to 5 ranks). This will mostly affect players in the Gold and Platinum category. 14% of players will have their rank unaffected by the change.

BENEFITS FOR PLAYERS

Players will have an easier time finding game to play;

Players will face different opponent more frequently;

The progression to move from one rank to another will be shorter

CONCLUSION

Thank you to everybody who has played the Ranked Duel Tournaments Beta so far and given us great feedback on it. The update described here is necessary to address what we’ve seen since the public launch, even with the learnings we received on Public Tests. We look forward to the results of this change making the Ranked experience better for all of our players.