Ranked

[Colt ☶]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/underlords/announcements/detail/1600386073106475922

New Ranked System

• Rank is now a number you can see that moves up and down in a predictable way.
  
• Rank change is based solely on where you finish in a Ranked match and does not depend on your opponents' Rank.
  
• Any time you reach the next minor Rank, we also grant bonus rank points.
  
• Just like before, once you obtain a major Rank, it's locked in and you cannot drop below it
  
• More details and breakdown of rank thresholds here.

New Casual Multiplayer Mode:

• Play multiplayer games without affecting your Rank.
  
• You will be matched against opponents of your same skill level.
  
• You can queue up solo or with friends.
  
• This is where you experiment with new builds, or complete those elusive challenges.
  
• Daily Challenges and Achievements can be earned in Casual Multiplayer matches.

Ranked Multiplayer Mode Updates:

• Your Rank (Enforcer I, Upstart III, etc) is used to find opponents.
  
• Play Ranked matches solo or in a party, see this blog post for details about party ranked.
  
• New players will need to unlock ranked mode by playing 5 casual games. (Don't worry, accounts with at least one Multiplayer game will be grandfathered in.)
  
• Daily Challenges and Achievements can be earned in Ranked Multiplayer matches.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/underlords/announcements/detail/2707145128901426684
Heads up. Some big changes are coming to ranked matchmaking in the next update.

We heard from many of you that you wanted a place where you could experiment with different strategies or just play more casually in general without worrying about risking your hard-earned rank. So we've made the ground-breaking design decision to have two ways of playing; Casual and Ranked. Let's break them down:

In Casual:

• You will be matched against opponents of your same skill level.
  
• You can queue up solo or with friends.
  
• This is where you experiment with new builds, or complete those elusive challenges.
  
• Daily Challenges and Achievements can be earned.

In Ranked:

• You can only queue up solo, and your Rank (Enforcer I, Upstart III, etc) is used to find opponents.
  
• New players will need to unlock ranked mode by playing 5 casual games. (Don't worry, accounts with at least one Multiplayer game will be grandfathered in.)
  
• Daily Challenges and Achievements can be earned.

We also received a lot of feedback from players who were (rightly) confused trying to understand the relationship between rank promotions and demotions and their performance in the preceding match.

We've completely redesigned how the numbers work under the hood. Actually, we've removed the hood; your Rank is now a number you can see that moves up and down in a predictable way. This change is based solely on where you finish in a Ranked match and does not depend on your opponents' Rank. Any time you reach the next minor Rank, we also grant you bonus points. And just like before, once you obtain a major Rank, it's locked in and you cannot drop to a lower major Rank.

RANK POINTS PER MATCH RESULT

1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
+100	+75	+50	+15	–15	–50	–75	–100

RANK POINT TIERS

Rank	Upstart	Grifter	Outlaw	Enforcer	Smuggler	Lieutenant	Boss	Big Boss	Lord
Rank Points	0	500	1130	1835	2615	3570	4700	6005	7600
Minor Rank Bonus Points	50	45	40	35	30	25	20	15	N/A

In this next update, your current Rank will be converted to the new system. The Lords of White Spire will be set to Big Boss V and the leaderboard will be cleared.

The Ranked system serves two design goals that are fundamentally in tension: some players want the system to measure progress, while others want it to be a clear, objective measurement of skill. We hope that this new more transparent design will strike a better balance between these goals. But like all things Underlords, nothing is final and we'll continue to iterate on this and other features based on your feedback.

[FGCNN | Nurdell]

Does it mean I could forever play in 'kids pool' if i do first 5 placements badly and then always choose casual? Or does projected skill level also change after casual matches to reflect skill, ranked only gives you the 'badge' to work for?
And yeah, not understanding how ranks progressed was one of my gripes with the game.
Oh yes, now I remember how I dislike unbreachable rank floors. They always leave me struggling vs much stronger opponents after a lucky streak, with no hope of ever fall down to where my comfortable zone is!

[JuRiOh]

I see two problems.

1.

You can only queue up solo, and your Rank (Enforcer I, Upstart III, etc) is used to find opponents.

Since you can't fall below division I of any rank, you will continue to play against players that are potentially a lot better than you. Matchmaking should continue to be based on MMR, not rank.

2.

This change is based solely on where you finish in a Ranked match and does not depend on your opponents' Rank.

That's veeeery bad for the coompetitive scene. Before you wanted to play against better/higher ranked opponents, now you would want to play against worse opponents. This ehavily benefits higher MMR players over lower MMR players, which doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

In combination, this leads to good players feeding off of weaker players, which inflates MMR all the way up to Lord Rank.

Lastly, what's the purpose of the Minor Rank Bonus Points? Is it one time, if so I don't see the reason behind it, if it can occur multiple times, this elads to MASSIVE MMR inflation over time, which is absolutely terrible and heavily favors people who play 24/7.

[[IN] Miss Nat]

Wtf i cant play ranked with my friends

[[IN] Miss Nat]

Well so the game will be dead for me and my friends in coming days. Nice

[JuRiOh]

Originally posted by 第七法師 • 敵:

Wtf i cant play ranked with my friends

That's one of the few changes I actually like. Wintrading is a big issue in these kinda games, and partying up makes it a lot easier. If you enjoy playing with friends, you can still play casual with them. If you want to play competitively, you need to queue solo, which is a lot better for the competitive scene.

Also with the new system it would not be feasible, since the rank points per match are always the same. If you are higher ranked than your friends and queue with them into lower ranked opponents you could easily rank up against worse players. I don't like this change at all, but this is probably the main reason why you can't queue with friends.

[[IN] Miss Nat]

Nah, the game is fun when you climb with your friends. It also doesnt make it easier, if your friends are playing seriously. They do are trying to improve the game, but this would just ruin my gameplay experience as i lose the chance to raise my ranking with my friends

[[IN] Miss Nat]

How sad to see this news

[76561198975417766]

Ranking with friends is all I've done this last month, and have enjoyed every second of it. What a shame that is changing. Casual mode with friends will feel like working toward nothing.

[76561198977830469]

Playing rank with friends of different levels has been the best part about this game. It's fun discussing tactics in a competitive environment. I really hope that they change it back. It's nice to have the option, but you should be able to play ranked or casual with friends.

[[IN] Miss Nat]

Thats right, you could add new functions to the game, but the old and good functions should remain. As you said, it feels like working towards something. Some of us like to have our own ranking and we like to play with friends at the same time. Many of the games also have party ranking. Although the game do not exactly have a team, but we should still be able to play ranking with our friends.

[Kreuz]

Originally posted by 第七法師 • 敵:

Wtf i cant play ranked with my friends

you are not the only one unhappy with that change

https://www.reddit.com/r/underlords/comments/ciafux/dota_underlords_on_twitter_what_if_we_give_you_a/

already talking about a team-mode were you could queue up with friends against other teams

[[IN] Miss Nat]

well, nice. looks like gaben is doing something, valve is the best

[[IN] Miss Nat]

btw Kreuz thanks for telling me

[Vcm D. Baws]

Originally posted by JuRiOh:

I see two problems.

1.

You can only queue up solo, and your Rank (Enforcer I, Upstart III, etc) is used to find opponents.

Since you can't fall below division I of any rank, you will continue to play against players that are potentially a lot better than you. Matchmaking should continue to be based on MMR, not rank.

2.

This change is based solely on where you finish in a Ranked match and does not depend on your opponents' Rank.

That's veeeery bad for the coompetitive scene. Before you wanted to play against better/higher ranked opponents, now you would want to play against worse opponents. This ehavily benefits higher MMR players over lower MMR players, which doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

In combination, this leads to good players feeding off of weaker players, which inflates MMR all the way up to Lord Rank.

Lastly, what's the purpose of the Minor Rank Bonus Points? Is it one time, if so I don't see the reason behind it, if it can occur multiple times, this elads to MASSIVE MMR inflation over time, which is absolutely terrible and heavily favors people who play 24/7.

2 is not a problem, since you won't be able to play with ur friends, you will play against people your own rank.
I think that's the main reason why u won't be able to queue with friends to not queue with lower ranked friends to farm rank points off of weaker opponents

[JuRiOh]

Originally posted by Vcm D. Baws:

Originally posted by JuRiOh:

I see two problems.

1.
Since you can't fall below division I of any rank, you will continue to play against players that are potentially a lot better than you. Matchmaking should continue to be based on MMR, not rank.

2.
That's veeeery bad for the coompetitive scene. Before you wanted to play against better/higher ranked opponents, now you would want to play against worse opponents. This ehavily benefits higher MMR players over lower MMR players, which doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

In combination, this leads to good players feeding off of weaker players, which inflates MMR all the way up to Lord Rank.

Lastly, what's the purpose of the Minor Rank Bonus Points? Is it one time, if so I don't see the reason behind it, if it can occur multiple times, this elads to MASSIVE MMR inflation over time, which is absolutely terrible and heavily favors people who play 24/7.

2 is not a problem, since you won't be able to play with ur friends, you will play against people your own rank.
I think that's the main reason why u won't be able to queue with friends to not queue with lower ranked friends to farm rank points off of weaker opponents

"More or less" your own rank. If you queue at unpopular times and are high ranked the game might not find a fitting match, so you are for example as BB5 playing against BB1 or even Boss 5. That is a problem, because it will be an easy way to farm rank score. It will be best to play at times where the least amount of top players/Lords are online to avoid the best competition. The Rank gain should totally be based on everyone else in the game. But now it will no longer be.

Just like beating Lord #1 should be worth more points than beating Lord #12983, it makes no sense that the game considers them to be equal. If you have a rank score, you need to base the gain/loss on everyone in the game, not just add a flat score. This makes it super easy for the top players to farm score and playing 24/7 will give you a huge advantage over those that don't play as much as any positive win rate will let you climb constantly. The top leaderboard will start to depend on time played as much as on performance.