StarCraft 2’s latest patch revamps the ladder system so you can more easily see where you stand, where you stack up against the competition and where you need to be. To be the best, you gotta have goals, right?
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The first major change is displaying your matchmaking rating, so now after each ranked match, the Ladder tab displays MMR adjustments for you and your enemy along with a new progress bar showing how close you are to your next promotion.
Each league will also be divided up into three tiers so you can see where you sit within your league. Blizzard have also divided each league from Bronze through Masters into three tiers, with Tier 1 being the highest. For example, a player in Silver Tier 1 would be closer to a promotion into Gold than a player in Silver Tier 2 or Tier 3. You’ll see your tier displayed on your league badge.
There are also big changes incoming for the Grandmaster league, which will now be harder to crack. Blizzard say they’re making the requirements for the Grandmaster league more stringent to ensure only the top players hold these coveted positions.
“For any ladder system to be effective, those who earn their way to the top must truly be the best of the best,” says the Blizzard blog. “With this in mind, we’ve made changes to the demotion criteria for Grandmaster League. Top players will have to compete more frequently if they want to hold on to their spots high up on the StarCraft ladder.
“Besides maintaining a high enough MMR, Grandmaster players will also need to play at least ten games every three weeks to retain their spot. Additionally, every day at 5pm, local time, the bottom 5% of Grandmaster League will be automatically demoted to Masters League. So be careful: you don’t want to snooze your way out of the big leagues!
“This change ensures that on any given day, only the best and most active players will be in the Grandmaster League. Grandmaster League differs from the other leagues in that the rankings are based purely on MMR, rather than on Division Points.”
There’s been no date given on the arrival of patch 3.4 , but you can see the full changes over on the Blizzard blog.