Ranked Seasons introduced - MMR resets every six months
The Dueling Fates update reworked the ranked matchmaking system, introducing six-month-long ranked seasons. All players will have a second chance.
Valve brought in the actual ranked matchmaking in December 2013. Over time, more and more players challenged themselves in the calibration matches, and earned their MMR.
Improving the MMR is a difficult process that requires tons of practice and time. Often, becoming a better player isn’t enough, as the game tends to balance the number of wins and losses on your account.
Utilizing some “shortcuts” helps to increase the win rate: playing the best heroes of a patch, mastering a determinate role, or focusing your training on a limited number of heroes.
Many succeeded and moved in a better matchmaking area, but others failed and must still struggle in the wrong bracket. Valve understood this issue, and to resolve it established a six-month-long seasonal system.
Update: Valve announced that the new ranked season will start on November 22nd!
At the start of each season all players will have to recalibrate their MMR. Of course, the MMR of the previous season will be considered in this process. Everyone will have a second chance to prove their worth and progresses after six months of games.
All goals achieved in each season will be recorded, and the players will also receive medals based on their skills.
Your current historical preseason MMR value will be recorded and selectable in your profile, and ranked players will continue to be able to track their current seasonal MMR value.
During each season all players will earn a medal for their profile based on peak skill for that season.
There are seven different medals, and within each medal there are five stars of progress to earn toward the next medal.
Your current medal as well as your previous season’s medal will be displayed to all players before each match.
For more info, read my opinion piece on the new seasonal ranked system.
Update 2
Valve released the new seasonal matchmaking! Check out how it works and a rough estimate of the new MMR distribution by medal.
Image: Valve
