Did your SR rose or fell significantly? If you're wondering how the new ranking system works then luckily, we got news for you! Today, we're going to reveal how Blizzard tweaks the new Skill Rating system and explain the reason behind the major change in your rank from the previous season.
Season 3 Overwatch Ranking System
Blizzard first announced the SR revamp for season 3 way back on October where Kaplan discussed how they made several mistakes during season 2 and wanted to correct those errors for future competitive seasons. Although back then, the idea behind the revamp was still open for changes, it appears that most of the proposals went live today. And so, we're going to elaborate the revamped SR ranking system and try to explain the logic behind you and your friends' ranks following your 10 placement matches.
Transitioning from Season 2 to Season 3
Contrary to popular belief, the placement matches do not fully reset your previous SR and therefore, are not definitive factors that dictate your rank this season. It is, however, one of the factors that affect your SR and rank this season. As to the exact features and calculations of your rank, Blizzard didn't disclose such information.
Now, most of you may be wondering why there had been some significant reduction on your SR following your placement matches. Rest assured that this is intentional. If you read the SR revamp above, you will know the reason why there's about 200 (in average) reduction of your SR. Blizzard did intend for this to happen as a means to balance out the new season.
But before you react to this change, keep in mind that Blizzard planned to mitigate and cope with this 'balancing' by giving each account (automatic effect) a temporary SR boost for the next couple of matches. During this period, each successive wins will net you more SR than you normally gain. This boost will disappear after several matches (unspecified).
Ranking Issues in Season 3
For those of you that may be wondering how some players managed to get outstanding boost in rank or in much rarer case, fell severely from the ladder, it could be a glitch from the current system as this new SR ranking system doesn't allow such occurrence. Even if you managed to run 10-0 during your placement match, if you are, for example, in Gold tier previously, you wouldn't expect to reach Master level instantly. You'd properly still be around Gold tier with a slight bump on your SR.
An example of such rare occurrence happened earlier today when a player suddenly reached Grandmaster level after having 8 loses during his placement matches. The thread about the unexplained phenomena can still be seen in this Reddit thread.
What changes did the new SR ranking system do to your MMR? Did it drop severely or did you gained a slight amount of SR? Share your thoughts in the comments down below!
