Heroes of the Storm Ranked play gets major revamp

Blizzard has announced a major overhaul of Heroes of the Storm's Ranked play.

2

Heroes of the Storm’s Ranked play is receiving a much-needed revamp that will introduce new features, improvements, and rewards, Blizzard Entertainment announced today.

The game’s new ranked system will be divided into League Tiers and Divisions. League Tier will serve as a general idea of a particular player’s skill level, which are organized in an ascending order: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, and Grand Master.

Each League Tier up to Master League is then broken down into divisions, with the lowest division within a tier being five, while the highest is one. The closer you are to the top spot, the closer you are to advancing to the next tier, although the same can happen if you’re too low in your division.

At the start of each season, a series of ten Placement Matches will determine your initial rank. Each ranked match played afterwards will allow you to gain, or lose, rank points. Players will know if they’re up for either a promotion or demotion via a message on the Score Screen, as well as through a special effect on their Rank Badge after a match.

Masters and Grand Masters will display the total number of rank points a player has accumulated in Master league this season. The Grand Master league will be comprised of the top 500 point earners in each region’s Master League.

Blizzard is making sure to keep things fair within Ranked Play, so only players whose ranks are within one league tier will be able to queue together as a party in Hero League matches. Placement matches players can only party with others who are doing their placement matches as well.

Silenced players will also be unable to queue in this new game mode until their silence penalty expires.

In addition to rubbing your rank in your competitors’ collective faces, Blizzard will be giving “epic rewards” at the end of each Ranked play season. Players who take part in Hero and Team League seasons will receive a “practical” pile of treasure based on their ranked performance. Players can earn double rewards for participating in both, so it’d be best to take part in both if you want to earn as much as possible.

For Season One, there are a number of rewards which include various portraits, elemental wolf mounts, and sweet, sweet gold. For the full list of rewards, be sure to check out Blizzard’s official blog announcing Heroes of the Storm’s Ranked play changes.

Senior Editor
From The Chatty
Hello, Meet Lola