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Upcoming ladder changes for this season
With the season partially complete, we’d like to ensure that any immediate changes to the ladder will not have a high risk to impact existing data from this season. Taking this into account, we identified a couple of changes that we feel will have a positive impact on the ladder in the current season.
Adjust league distribution
As mentioned, we’ve identified that the current league distribution percentages aren’t in line with our target percentages. The upcoming distribution changes should allow many more players to be in the correct league, and for each league to have the correct percentage of players based on the figures we announced for Heart of the Swarm. Once this adjustment is made, some players will see a change in their current league placement.
Adjust the starting point for new players
Due to the dynamic behavior of the StarCraft II ladder, we also saw that the new player starting point had drifted over time. This resulted in new players facing higher skilled opponents than in previous seasons. Adjusting the starting point for new players should improve the new player experience as they’ll be initially matched against lower league opponents once again.
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Upcoming changes for next season
Beyond the changes in the current season we also have a few other changes we’d like to implement in the upcoming season. Some of these changes are bit more drastic, so we decided to implement them when Season 2 rolls around in the coming weeks.
Disable “MMR decay”
Starting next season, we’ll be disabling this feature and continue to investigate potential improvements to the system. While we’ll lose some of the benefits that this system provides, we feel its removal will also provide more clarity into player skill level for the upcoming seasons.
Adjust other internal functions that affect matchmaking
As previously mentioned, we’ve identified changes to internal functions which can help offer a more accurate and consistent matchmaking experience. While these adjustments may not be immediately obvious to players, they should help keep the ladder system more stable and consistent over time.
Re-adjust league distribution percentages and the starting point for new players
We’ll also look to once again adjust league distribution and the new player starting point in the upcoming season. This will help them remain accurate after these other adjustments are made.
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Upcoming changes around Legacy of the Void
While we expect that the changes above will have a significant impact on how the current ladder functions, we’re also looking to make more changes in the future.
Re-evaluating the ladder system
In the longer term, we’re looking at what other changes can be made to the ladder around the Legacy of the Void time frame. This may include keeping some elements that we feel are working from the current ladder system and overhauling elements we feel could be improved. Our goal here is to ensure that the new system is more accurate and offers more transparency into player progress. We’ve seen feedback on desired changes for the ladder recently, and we’d encourage everyone to keep sharing their thoughts.
Via: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/18141070
