Before the weekend, we announced the new (beta) ELO Ranking System. Today, we will discuss the upcoming changes in more detail. The main news is that we will be introducing seasons. Think of these as similar to how the current league system works, but within a limited timespan. This means you will be competing against other speedrunners to see who is the fastest runner during a certain period of time. At the end of a season, you will be awarded a badge that represents the league you finished in. We're not entirely sure yet on the specifics, but we're planning on running a couple of these seasons each year, for instance by having a Halloween Season or a Christmas Season. You'll be able to get a badge for each of the seasons you participate in. Soooo what's so special about badges? Well, aside from being a nice collectible overview of your past achievements, you can pick one that will pop up over your character when you perform a taunt. This way you can show off your past achievements, like that you've participated during a special event, or that you finished in the Diamond League during one of the seasons, in-game!

While we're excited about this new idea, there could very well be some issues with how we've set everything up. So, the first season in this new ranking system will be a Beta Season - meaning some rules and variables might change mid-season. This season will run for a month; from April 13th until May 14th. The badges that you see up here are exclusive for the Beta Season; you can only get one of these badges by playing ranked matches in the specified timeframe. Other seasons will have different badges, with specific badges for each season. To be eligible to get one of these you have to play at least 15 placement matches. After those matches, you are placed in a league that suits your skill level. You can then advance in leagues just like before, by beating opponents and winning matches. Finally, when the season ends we'll be handing out badges based on what league you ended up in! 'What happens to my current ranking score?' you might ask. Obviously, we don't want to simply throw away all the hard work you've put into getting into one of the top leagues. When the ELO update goes live you will automatically receive one of the badges that you may have already noticed on top of the previous announcement; they represent your current ranking in the 'old' ranking system. Also, after the Beta Season ends, we will revert back to the 'old' ranking system (your score is frozen in the meantime) while we evaluate the results of the beta test. But wait, there is more! If you reach the top-level Diamond tier by the end of this beta season will also get this hyper-cool exclusive trail!
Tomorrow we'll have some more info on how all of this will come together!