UPDATE
Nothing new this week, but thought I'd leave one last HCS MMR ranking since the season roll is this week. This time it's based on the average MMR across all 4 HCS game modes and only includes players who have played over 100 games this season
HCS and Team Arena
We have long talked about getting back to having only one core 4v4 ranked experience, and the time has finally come. Starting with our next season, we will be moving our final HCS settings over to the Team Arena list and moving the Team Arena list over to a new Social list called Core Play.
So to re-state, next season you will not see an HCS playlist in Ranked, but the Team Arena list will have all the loadouts, maps, modes, and settings for the current HCS season.
Meanwhile, there will be a new playlist in Social called Core Play that will be very similar to what we now have in Team Arena. We are still finalizing the exact maps and modes that we are going to carry over, but we are focusing on retaining the best experiences from Team Arena. This list will start as a rotational and whether we keep it permanently will depend on how well it does.
The goal is to stop splitting our Ranked audience between two core competitive 4v4 experiences, and in addition make it clear where players transitioning over to Ranked can find the core experience. On the social side, we would like to provide a core 4v4 experience as well, as an obvious option to transition to after Quick Play.
Note that the new Ranked Team Arena playlist will NOT be using MMRs from the current HCS playlist. It will be using MMRs from the original Team Arena list. Because Team Arena has been around much longer than the HCS list, most players will find they have a significantly higher Rank in the Team Arena playlist compared to the HCS one.
We are aiming to roll the season the week towards the end of the week of June 25th since the next week is a holiday for the team.
All Onyx Players Start in Diamond
With TrueSkill2 being stricter and with the changing population dynamics of the Ranked playlists, we are going to shift where we let players start for the next season.
The highest Rank players can start at will be Diamond 3. Onyx and Champ players will then work their way up from there.
In addition, the minimum Rank for being a Champ will just be the minimum Onyx Rank of 1500.
This allows us to align with our definition of Champ players being the top 200 Onyx players, while also requiring players to put in some games to prove they deserve the ranks we expect them to get.
HCS Playlist Player Ranks
Since the ranks have been inflated, it’s been difficult this season to trust the usual leaderboards. To help offset this, here are the top 10 players who have played at least 50 matches this season in the HCS playlist.
Playlist Popularity
Super Fiesta
Slayer
Warzone
Heroic Warzone Firefight
Action Sack
Quick Play
Shotty Snipers
Big Team Battle
Legendary Warzone Firefight
Infection
SWAT
HCS 2018
Team Arena
Doubles
Mythic Warzone Firefight
Warzone Assault
Free-for-All
Elimination
H1 Anniversary
Nothing new this week, but thought I'd leave one last HCS MMR ranking since the season roll is this week. This time it's based on the average MMR across all 4 HCS game modes and only includes players who have played over 100 games this season
HCS and Team Arena
We have long talked about getting back to having only one core 4v4 ranked experience, and the time has finally come. Starting with our next season, we will be moving our final HCS settings over to the Team Arena list and moving the Team Arena list over to a new Social list called Core Play.
So to re-state, next season you will not see an HCS playlist in Ranked, but the Team Arena list will have all the loadouts, maps, modes, and settings for the current HCS season.
Meanwhile, there will be a new playlist in Social called Core Play that will be very similar to what we now have in Team Arena. We are still finalizing the exact maps and modes that we are going to carry over, but we are focusing on retaining the best experiences from Team Arena. This list will start as a rotational and whether we keep it permanently will depend on how well it does.
The goal is to stop splitting our Ranked audience between two core competitive 4v4 experiences, and in addition make it clear where players transitioning over to Ranked can find the core experience. On the social side, we would like to provide a core 4v4 experience as well, as an obvious option to transition to after Quick Play.
Note that the new Ranked Team Arena playlist will NOT be using MMRs from the current HCS playlist. It will be using MMRs from the original Team Arena list. Because Team Arena has been around much longer than the HCS list, most players will find they have a significantly higher Rank in the Team Arena playlist compared to the HCS one.
We are aiming to roll the season the week towards the end of the week of June 25th since the next week is a holiday for the team.
All Onyx Players Start in Diamond
With TrueSkill2 being stricter and with the changing population dynamics of the Ranked playlists, we are going to shift where we let players start for the next season.
The highest Rank players can start at will be Diamond 3. Onyx and Champ players will then work their way up from there.
In addition, the minimum Rank for being a Champ will just be the minimum Onyx Rank of 1500.
This allows us to align with our definition of Champ players being the top 200 Onyx players, while also requiring players to put in some games to prove they deserve the ranks we expect them to get.
HCS Playlist Player Ranks
Since the ranks have been inflated, it’s been difficult this season to trust the usual leaderboards. To help offset this, here are the top 10 players who have played at least 50 matches this season in the HCS playlist.
Playlist Popularity
Super Fiesta
Slayer
Warzone
Heroic Warzone Firefight
Action Sack
Quick Play
Shotty Snipers
Big Team Battle
Legendary Warzone Firefight
Infection
SWAT
HCS 2018
Team Arena
Doubles
Mythic Warzone Firefight
Warzone Assault
Free-for-All
Elimination
H1 Anniversary