Updates on Competitive and Unranked Team Duels
Hi everyone!
First of all, we want to say a big thank you for all the feedback that has been given to us regarding the new Competitive system. We have collected all of the feedback and suggestions we have gotten from you, and here is further information on what updates will be made in Competitive.
Why was Competitive changed at first?
The competitive system was changed to make it more inviting for new players and to give mid-level players a stronger sense of progression. We have seen that the total amount of competitive players has gone up and that players in general are more engaged. By further iterating on the new system, we hope that this will be attractive and fun for all players and build a larger player base as well as expanding the competitive scene in and around the game.
With this being said, we have of course also acknowledged flaws in the new system, primarily affecting players in the higher divisions. Flaws such as unfair matchmaking and effort taking precedence over skill.
What changes will be made?
We are currently working on addressing these issues, and our ambition is to release the below changes on the 6th of May.
Divisional changes
- In Champion and Master, the bottom/top percent will be demoted/promoted based on ELO rating instead of points. The weekly demotion/promotion will still be in place, but the set number of weekly games will be removed and players can decide themselves how many games they wish to play.
- When we launch this there will be a soft reset made where all players above a certain ELO rating (the exact rating thresholds are still being analyzed) will be moved into the Champion/Master divisions. We will not move players down by force. E.g. if a player is currently in Master 1 but their rating is below the aforementioned thresholds, they will continue to play in Master 1 for the first week before being subject to demotion due to ELO rating.
- In Gold/Silver/Bronze the demotion and promotion will stay the same as it is today.
- There won't be any rating decay due to inactivity. However, if you haven't played any ranked games in 2 weeks time, your rating will be hidden and hence not shown on your profile page nor will you appear on leaderboards, until you play a ranked game again. This is to prevent a high ELO-rated player to climb the leaderboard once, and then top the leaderboard week after week even if they are inactive.
Matchmaking
- In Champion and Master matchmaking will be entirely based on ELO rating.
- In Gold/Silver/Bronze the divisional matchmaking will remain the same. That is, after having played the set number of weekly games, players will be matched based on ELO rating instead of division.
Why are these changes not made for Gold/Silver/Bronze divisions?
We have seen that this has had a positive impact on playtime and the number of users in Gold-division and below. In general, we reduce the extent to which effort is rewarded the higher up you get in the ladder. Implementing this change for Master and Champion divisions only aims to set a target and sense of achievement for players reaching them.
Update on unranked Team Duels
After your feedback and analyzing the situation with unranked Team Duels, we have decided to revert the changes we recently made. If you have a Pro account you will be able to invite and play together with a friend that does not have a subscription. This change will be implemented on the 3rd of May (at the latest).
We hope that these changes will make for a better experience for all players. And as always we will keep monitoring and continue to iterate on the competitive format with the goal of creating a great experience for all types of players.
/The GeoGuessr Team