Hearthstone revealed that once Year of the Phoenix starts, players are going to see a new ranked mode. This is not something really new, as the team at Hearthstone has been looking for way to make sure that the Ranked Play experience is better than ever. In particular the changes hope to make the matchmaking experience more fair while at the same time letting players earn more rewards. Let's see what changes are coming.
The changes are going to arrive with the April 2020 Ranked Season. Instead of a ladder, the Ranked Mode is now going to have a new League System. Ranked Mode is now going to have a total of five leagues with each league having 10 ranks. The leagues are Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond.
Players begin each season at Bronze 10 and fight their way to Bronze 1. Once they finish Bronze 1, they then move to the Silver league. This same flow is followed until Diamond. Once players hit the highest rank in Diamond, they get a chance to reach Legend status. In addition, each league is going to have floors at rank 10 and rank 5. Meaning once players reach this rank, they're not going to go down in ranks, even when they lose matches.
In a post, Hearthstone developers said that "New Player ranks will have their own league that runs from ranks 40–1," and added that "Legend ranks will continue to work as they currently do."
There's also going to be Star Bonuses. Here's how it's going to work. In order to move from one rank to the next, say Silver 9 to Silver 8, players need to get three Stars. A Star is gained for every win and one is lost with a loss. At the beginning of each season, players are given a Star Bonus based on their performance in the previous season. This Star Bonus serves as a multiplier on the Stars earned from each win.
Let's say you have a Star Bonus of 5x. That means when you win a game, you get five Stars rather than one. However, once you hit each ranked floor, the Star Bonus is reduced by one. In addition, players that have a Star Bonus are going to be matched by their MMR, meaning that they play against those who have similar skill level.
Being reworked as well are the Rewards earned at the end of each season. Here's what to expect:
- Ranking Up To: Legend
- First-time Rewards: 1 Random Classic Legendary Card
- End of Season Reward: 1 Latest Expansion Pack
- Ranking Up To: Diamond 5
- First-time Rewards: 1 Classic Pack
- End of Season Reward: 1 Random Standard Epic Card
- Ranking Up To: Diamond 10
- First-time Rewards: 1 Random Classic Epic Card
- End of Season Reward: 1 Latest Expansion Pack
- Ranking Up To: Platinum 5
- First-time Rewards: 1 Classic Pack
- End of Season Reward: 2 Random Standard Rare Cards
- Ranking Up To: Platinum 10
- First-time Rewards: 1 Random Classic Epic Card
- End of Season Reward: 1 Latest Expansion Pack
- Ranking Up To: Gold 5
- First-time Rewards: 1 Classic Pack
- End of Season Reward: 2 Random Standard Rare Cards
- Ranking Up To: Gold 10
- First-time Rewards: 4 Random Class Rare Cards
- End of Season Reward: 1 Latest Expansion Pack
- Ranking Up To: Silver 5
- First-time Rewards: 1 Classic Pack
- End of Season Reward: 2 Random Standard Rare Cards
- Ranking Up To: Silver 10
- First-time Rewards: 4 Random Class Rare Cards
- End of Season Reward: 1 Latest Expansion Pack
- Ranking Up To: Bronze 5
- First-time Rewards: 1 Classic Pack
- End of Season Reward: 1 Standard Rare card
Hearthstone also added that five wins at any rank awards players with the seasonal card back immediately instead of being given at the end of the season.
You can read more about what’s coming with Year of the Phoenix here and the upcoming expansion Ashes of Outland here.
