Matchmaking Update: what changed
This update includes a revamp to how the matchmaking system works, as well as the introduction of a new matchmaking mode. You can now choose to play in Standard Mode (unranked), or the new Ranked Mode introduced in this update.
Matchmaking Update
This update includes a revamp to how the matchmaking system works, as well as the introduction of a new matchmaking mode. You can now choose to play in Standard Mode (unranked), or the new Ranked Mode introduced in this update.
ELIGIBILITY AND SEASONS: To be eligible to queue for Ranked Mode, you must have at least 60 wins in the Standard Mode. To ensure higher quality games, Ranked Mode expects that you have a solid understanding of the heroes you play in it, so the mode only allows you to pick heroes that you have won at least 15 games with in Standard Mode. You must have at least 3 heroes unlocked for Ranked to be able to have a valid sized roster to queue with.
As the season starts, everyone will enter a calibration phase for 8 games. All players will have a soft reset of their prior Rank, maintaining some history of your previous performance relative to other players to help seed you initially into the calibration games. Players can only exit calibration at a max Rank of Oracle VI. You cannot be in a party during calibration matches.
Source details
If a player abandons a game after 5 minutes, that player will receive leaver penalties and their party will have the game count as a loss. Other players on the abandoning player's team will have their game voided and are safe to leave without punishments, however if they stay and win the game will be counted as a win. If all players on the abandoning team leave, the game will automatically end and be counted as a win for the opposing team.
LEADERBOARD This update includes a few changes to the requirements to appear on the leaderboards. For the global leaderboard, the game count requirement in the last 30 days has increased from 50 to 75. For the hero specific leaderboards, the game count requirement on that hero in the last 30 days has increased from 20 to 30. There is also a new requirement for hero specific leaderboards where you must have at least 100 lifetime wins on that hero to be considered.
ROLLOUT This new system is live right now. However we expect the next week or so to be very rocky, as the Ranked matchmaking pool will start off very thin with most players not having the unlock requirements done yet. This will have a significant effect on queue times and match quality until things stabilize. It will also take some time for players to calibrate and move into the appropriate spots. We will be closely monitoring the matchmaker during this time, but we want players to be aware that both queue times, match quality and team composition quality will need some time to ramp up. Given the large rewrite involved with this update, we are also expecting that it will take a couple of days to iron out bugs.