Ranked play in Deadlock has just been added and despite it likely only being a temporary system while the game is still in the early stages of its life, it feels like this weird new system might actually be a better way to do competitive play than many other games.
The ranked mode in Deadlock is very bare-bones and this is clearly the first iteration of a system that will be expanded, with limited play times where ranked queues will be open. Starting today, players in each region will be able to select the ranked mode between 1pm-4pm and 7pm-10pm each day, these matches will be open to players with more than 50 matches and no behaviour related punishments, and will also be solo only, meaning no party queue.
For a first attempt at a ranked system, that doesn’t sound like a terrible idea, but the key difference for Deadlock’s ranked mode compared to most others we see in games is that your rank will only be updated once a week. So, players trying to earn their first medal this week won’t find out how they have done until next Tuesday.
Every Tuesday at 8PM GMT an algorithm will take a look at your results and how you did compared to other players you played against and how they did. This will give you a medal, of which there are 11, and a level within that medal, of which there are six. You’ll then be matched against players with the same medal in your subsequent games.
This sounds a lot like the introductory systems many games have when you first play ranked to get your first medal, but if this system stays as is in Deadlock, I feel like it could prevent a lot of the issues these modes often run into.
The first one that springs to mind is that this system could seriously reduce the impact of smurfs. In most games, playing against a smurf is a guaranteed loss of MMR and there isn’t much that can be done about it. But if the rank is calculated weekly and weighs how your opponents do in their games, smurfs could theoretically be identified before the ranks update, and any changes a match with a smurf would have had can be nullified or reduced.
This system could also have the same effect on griefers. If someone is proven to be griefing before the next rank update, the results from that match can also be nullified, again making the situation slightly less annoying for those on the receiving end.
I have no doubt that this system will be refined over the coming months, but I really like the idea of weekly rank updates that take into account how well your opponents do throughout the week as well as how well you do. It should make for a kinder ranked system that doesn’t punish you heavily for factors that are ultimately out of your control.
