Hi everyone!
The current Ranked Season, Arctic Wind, ends on December 13. This time, however, you won’t have to wait long for the next one—it will only be two weeks!
Today, we would like to summarize Season 8, and talk about Season 9. Let’s go!
Ranked Battles is a regular competitive PvP mode where participants advance through Leagues. During events, competitors earn Rank Tokens, which they can use to purchase customization items in the Ranked Armory.
The updated placement system has affected placing players into Leagues more than anything. As a reminder, this time, aside wins and losses, personal efficiency was also factored in. The more effective you were in battles, the more Rank Points you were granted after five placement matches.
We kept the efficiency criteria secret on purpose. We wanted you to enjoy the game rather than spend time trying to calculate the formula that would get you into the highest League possible after placement matches.
The results of Season 8 placement got most players into the Gold League, though with different ranks. A few days later, this started to change.
Some players kept their positions in Gold, while others were relegated to lower Leagues. Only a minor percentage of players ventured on to conquer Platinum and Diamond.
Below, you can see the distribution as of the end of the season:
Most players have average gaming skills. So, as you can see, 83.21% of Ranked Battles participants fall into the Silver and Gold Leagues. This is a great result, and the players are placed evenly according to their current ability.
Those players who rarely join Ranked Battles fall into Bronze. There is nothing wrong with that; Caliber offers many modes, and not everyone likes PvP. New players also likely fall into that 11.06%.
Players of higher skill fall into Platinum. They make up just 4.62%.
Top-tier players fall into Diamond. We expected these to represent just 1% of players, and we were just 0.11% off—we consider this a good result as well.
Lest you think we’re making all this up, look at the statistics from Season 7: New Strategy:
86.11% fell into Bronze and Silver. The remaining 13.89% went into the other Leagues: Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. High-ranked players spent too much time searching for battles. Also, not every match was fair and balanced.
In Season 8, we were able to improve player placement in the Leagues, reduce matchmaking time, and build more honest teams.
We know that there are still some problems. It is important to understand that any changes may end up breaking Ranked Battles entirely. That’s why we’ll be making improvements gradually and carefully.
Keep playing, and don’t forget to share your feedback on social media!
Now, let’s have a look at the new season.
Ranked Battles Season 9: Encased in Ice will take place between December 27, 2023, and April 17, 2024, in Hacking mode.
Main changes:
Any player can participate in Ranked Battles mode as long as their Account fits the following criteria:
Season 9 Ranked Battles will run in Hacking mode. For the Encased in Ice Season, we have rebalanced six maps and added a new one.
Main rules:
The Leagues reflect the level of skill of the players participating in the Ranked Battles. Each League, except Diamond, consists of three ranks.
There are five Leagues in total: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond.
Your starting League will be decided by the results of the placement matches, and your advancement by your performance in battles. Victories add to your Rank Points, while losses deduct from them.
By clicking on each League, you can see 50 players who are a part of it, and their number of victories and Rank Points. Even though only 50 players are displayed, there are actually a lot more. The list refreshes once per minute. It is not a table that displays all players and their achievements, but rather an opportunity to look for familiar names that you may have encountered in your battles.
The most prestigious Diamond League has a separate Leader list, which will include the top eight players with the highest rating. Those top-8 players will receive additional rewards when the season ends.
To be placed in a League, players have to play five placement matches. These matches will help ascertain the skill of each player and place them into an appropriate League.
The best possible League after placement is Gold.
All the players start the placement matches with zero points. This parameter will be hidden until the placement is completed. Each victory brings a predetermined amount of points and the losses do not deduct any points.
All players start their placement on equal terms.
Just like in the last season, personal efficiency counts for placement. The more efficient you are with a particular class, the more Rank Points you will get.
The hidden criteria for personal efficiency have been slightly adjusted.
Individual efficiency during the placement matches is analyzed to more accurately assign players to the different Leagues, and to improve future matches.
Each consecutive win will grant more Rank Points. This figure is progressive—the highest Rank Points bonus will be awarded with the fifth victory in a row.
But keep in mind that losing will cost you your victory streak.
The League you were in by the end of the previous season will be taken into account during placement, just like before. Bonus Rank Points will be awarded after five matches.
After each battle, the number of Rank Points will change.
The amount of Rank Points that you can gain or lose depends on the average rating of the team you are playing against compared to your team.
If the rating of both teams is similar, then you will either gain or lose 10 Rank Points after the battle.
All changes to the amount of Rank Points will be shown immediately after the match ends.
If you end up being the most effective player of the match among both teams, but your team loses the match, then you will lose 80% Rank Points less.
Effectiveness is determined by the amount of ribbons acquired:
If the two best players have the same amount of ribbons, this mechanic will not be applied.
Highlighting the most efficient player of the losing team is required to place players more accurately among the League without making individual achievements too important—the team standing matters most.
This mechanic does not help you advance through the Leagues. It can, however, mitigate your rocky road in case of an error in the matchmaking system.
Looking at the battle stats, you might notice that sometimes your allies lose fewer Rank Points than you do. This is a case of protecting the most efficient player. Or, maybe demotion protection kicked in due to an ally being too close to the League threshold.
Every rank has upper and lower limits. For example, in Gold I, there will be players whose Rank Points are above 800 and below 899. When a player earns 900 Rank Points, they will get to Platinum III.
Out of all Diamond League players, only the top 8 with the most Rank Points will be featured on the leaderboard.
When the number of Rank Points falls below the limit, there will be a demotion.
The rank protection system works as follows:
For example: if there is a player with Bronze II rank and a 105 rating, they will only lose 5 points on a defeat, instead of 10.
If you reach an advanced League, you will have to regularly prove your mastery.
In Gold League and higher, your rating will be decreasing every Wednesday for a lack of activity. To avoid it, you have to play a certain number of matches in Ranked Battles every week.
The higher the League, the more battles you have to play, and the more Rank Points players will lose for a lack of activity.
In Ranked Battles, the following penalties apply:
If a teammate who is not on your fireteam leaves the battle, you lose only 50% of the normal amount of Rank Points upon defeat.
During matchmaking, the system tries to pick players that are two Leagues apart, maximum. The main point of this matching is to form two equally powerful teams, based on their players’ ratings.
One fireteam can contain players with a big League difference, in which case matchmaking will be carried out based on the best players in the team. However, a victory with such a fireteam will earn fewer Rank Points.
So if you are in the Bronze League, and your fireteam ally is in the Platinum League, then you will be very likely to encounter the players from the Gold, Platinum and Diamond Leagues during your battles.
During matchmaking, the system will always try to spread players across the teams first. So, if you are going into the battle with a fireteam of 4, for example, then the system will try and match you against a team with the same composition. But these conditions will only be applied if there would be enough fireteams in the system during matchmaking.
If the system is not able to find suitable opponents, then priority will be given to teams of 3 and 2, then to single players.
And don’t forget that the rating of the fireteam, the time of searching for a battle, the distance of players from the servers are all taken into account as well.
Sometimes, in a battle you may encounter solo players with a large difference in Leagues. This happens when the system fails to find matching players for a long time. That said, the average rating of both teams is usually equal.
Previously, seasons had a strict rule that prevented players too far apart in the Leagues from entering the same battle. But this rule caused matchmaking to last too long.
It is nice to get into a high League. But it’s even better to get rewarded for it. During the event, players will be earning Rank Tokens, used for purchasing items in the Ranked Armory.
For every first victory of the day, you will receive 40 Tokens. For every fifth victory, you will receive 20 Tokens.
The reward for advancing to the next League is granted immediately. If placement results get you into Gold, you will get all the rewards for lower Leagues.
The reward for the League you’re in at the end of the season is due on April 17.
You can spend earned Tokens in the Ranked Armory to purchase Epic Outfits, Executions, Emotes, Camos, and HQ Backgrounds.
What’s new: Elbrus Epic Outfit for Medic Bard, Diode Camo, and Brute Force Execution.
The Armory will be open throughout the Ranked Season and one week after it ends.
We promised to change the appearance of the Doppelgänger Epic Outfit. This will happen in the new update.
The current version, however, will remain, and not just in our hearts...
Rank Emblems are not given as rewards at the end of the season, but change dynamically depending on the player’s League. You will find a dynamic Emblem on your Account.
The Emblem will represent the player’s League until the beginning of a new Ranked Battles season.
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