Arena Season 11 Changes
Time for real ranks instead of just them numbos
Time for real ranks instead of just them numbos
Hello gamers! Today I'm going to break down some changes to the upcoming new season of Ranked Duels on Loka. There are a lot of issues with our old system and with any system that uses the unmodified ELO rating that we (and loads of other games) use. Broken down, they are largely two things:
Problem 1 - Small pools of players are bad for the system
Loka does have a small pool of players unfortunately, and as a result we need to factor that in when thinking about how to run our matchmaker for ranked duels.
In the past system, you had to wait for a least one other player to queue for ranked matches to even have the chance at matching with them. Unfortunately, if they were reasonably far from you in rating, you might simply never match with them and you'd sit in the queue potentially forever. No bueno!
The good news is, thanks to both a general growth of the Loka population and the New Passive Queue, the likelihood of getting a match is better than ever before. If you're unfamiliar with the Passive Queue, it's fairly simple. You are considered queued at all times for matches (this can be toggled off). When you queue for ranked matches, you are no longer potentially waiting for another player to queue. Instead you're being evaluated across the whole population of online players in the passive queue (which is the majority of players). This allows for not only quicker matches but a better chance of a match against a similarly rated player. Yay!
Problem 2 - You can stop playing once you're high enough
This is basically what happened last season. Many players got very high in the ladder very quickly and then effectively didn't need to play any more matches for the rest of the season unless other players got close to their rank. Also no bueno!
In Season 11 we will be introducing a Weekly Rating Decay that will happen basically each Sunday night. Mathematically this is similar to losing/winning 1 free game against a mid-range player once a week. The big reason for this is to keep players from having big gaps in rating from each other. It also helps encourage participation throughout the whole season rather than one burst in the first days/week of the season. Loads of games do this one way or another and we feel this will really help Loka to have a healthier ranked ladder.
Introducing Ranks and Divisions
Words are more fun than numbers
It's just more fun to have a rank than a fairly arbitrary ELO rating. What separates 1599 and 1602 rating but 3 points? Players have a better and more fun time seeing their rank increase to neat new words than just be 5 points higher or lower. So, we're hiding the matchmaking rating and breaking players down into bucketed ranks and divisions. Just like lotsa other games.Words are more fun than numbers
The Ranks and Divisions are as such (these are subject to potential change):
 Wood |  Stone I Stone II Stone III |  Copper I Copper II Copper III |  Iron I Iron II Iron III |  Gold I Gold II Gold III |  Emerald I Emerald II Emerald III |  Diamond I Diamond II Diamond III |  Netherite I Netherite II Netherite III |
In order to be placed into your first rank/division, you will have to play 10 Matches in the Ranked Queue before you have a rank. This also helps weed out lots of people showing up in the ladder with only a handful of matches played.
Because there is a concept of Weekly Rankings, we will be tracking these and may give out rewards for performance over the course of the season in addition to the end-of-season placement rewards. More to come on that later.
That's pretty much it! Hope you all enjoy the changes and look forward to seeing the ladder!
Arena Season 11 starts this FRIDAY! Go Forth!
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