In a previous article, we mentioned the return of the Ranked within Teamfight Tactics alongside patch 9.23. Two weeks after their deactivation and the introduction of 'Rise of the Elements', the day has finally come! Today, the ranked queue returns and Riot MapleNectar wanted to give some details about the changes that will happen at the same time.
The brief list of the main changes:
- Hard reset of all players' ranks
- Soft reset of the MMRs of all players
- It will no longer be possible to lose LPs by finishing 4th
Why a hard rank reset?
For many of you, we know that progressing through the ladder as you master a game can be an incredibly satisfying period of time. We want to see if we can offer that entirely fresh ranked experience each time we release a new set. Given that we’ve introduced almost entirely new champions, spells, and strategies, we feel now is a good time to go for a big change, and gather feedback from players to see how it feels to inform future set releases. It’s worth noting that during placements - the first 5 ranked games you play on 9.23, you will not lose any LP regardless of how low you place so the sky's the limit if you win all 5!
Why a soft MMR reset?
While everyone kicking off their ranked split from the same rank is exciting, we still want the games at the start of the season to feel competitive and fair. We don't want someone totally new to ranked ending up in a game with all of you former challenger players, just like we don't want a challenger player finding themselves in a lobby with a bunch of players in Iron (and me). Since we’d changed SO much about the game however, we went with a soft reset to reflect the learning process we are all going through while maintaining the competitive nature of the queue. That being said, players who were high MMR in Set 1 can expect that they’ll progress through the ranks faster than those who were lower MMR. While we want your first games to be competitive, we also didn’t want it to feel like you were punished for doing well during set 1.
Never losing LP for coming 4th
One clear pain point from Set 1 that many of you brought to our attention was that it felt really bad to place 4th in a game, thinking you “won”, only to end up losing LP. These instances were rare, but when they happened they really felt shitty, so we wanted to make some improvements. In set 2, 4th place will now never result in an LP loss, but 5th place always will. We hope that this makes games where you make it to the top 4 feel more exciting, helps change the mindset that the only way to win is to come 1st, and it allows us to add some additional in game ceremony to help recognize your placement.
Ranked queue is back in Teamfight Tactics alongside patch 9.23! Get ready to grind the ladder with all the new features brought by Rise of the Elements!
