Ranked play info and FAQ for the preseason

BY MAGUS

With Season 3 competitive play officially a wrap, you might be wondering why your ranked stats haven’t been reset. We'll be rolling out a soft ranked reset at the start of the 2014 season and notthe beginning of the preseason. With so much change being introduced in the preseason, we wanted to provide a competitive environment for players to adjust. While ranked games won’t have a huge impact on ranked placement during the 2014 season, they’ll still affect your skill level and where you begin ranked placement from, so keep playing hard! The League system itself will go through some changes over the course of the preseason as well, expect to hear more on that front sooner rather than later.

FAQ:

"If I get to a new tier during preseason, do I get the end of season rewards?

Sorry! The deadline for the end of season rewards was 11/11/2013. The preseason is for competitive practice while getting a small head start on the 2014 season. Good luck next year!

Why play ranked at all in the preseason?

Let's be clear: these games still matter. The reset at the beginning of next season isn't a hard reset. You'll be reset to a position relative to your current skill so that the first few weeks of ranked play isn't Diamond players crushing less-skilled players. Since your skill and standing will still be on the move during preseason, these games will have an impact on where you start for your placement matches next season.

Why don't you just reset at the start of preseason?

We're introducing quite a bit of change this preseason, both in terms of gameplay and the League system. Data on these changes could be skewed by a similarly timed reset. Plus it gives you a chance to adjust to the changes in a competitive climate without having a massive impact on your ranked placement next year.

How about a double reset at preseason and season start?

There actually isn't a clear advantage to shocking the system twice in such a short time frame. We think it's better to create a clear adjustment period for both players and the design team. That way, we kick off next season with players on equal footing in terms of opportunities to practice.

What happens if I don't play ranked at all during the preseason? Will I decay and end up seeding lower at the start of the 2014 season?

No! If you choose to avoid ranked during this time (remember, everyone else is adapting to the changes alongside you), we get that. To accommodate, inactivity decay for ranked will be turned off shortly after the start of the preseason. The only caveat is that we'll be keeping inactivity decay on for Challenger tier."