How Does The New Hearthstone Ranking System Work?
The enormous card game by Blizzard has undergone a vast amount of changes in a short period. In a limited space, we've received the Ashes of Outland expansion, a tenth class, and frequent balance patches. One other significant change that has taken place is the new ranking system. The ranked play has had a complete renovation and has caused a considerable degree of confusion among players. We're here to shed some light on this confusion and provide you with all the information needed to understand how the new Heartstone ranking system is constructed.
How Does It Work?
“Standard” and “Wild” are the two Ranked ladders in Heartstone. The format of the "Standard" ladder includes cards from all of the expansions that have been released within the past two years. These include the Demon Hunter initiate set and the Classic and Basic sets. The difference between the "Standard" and the "Wild" ladder is that the "Wild" ladder has a format that allows you to play cards from any set.
The new ranking system now includes five regular leagues. These span from Bronze, all the way to Diamond with 10 ranks being present in each. Any players that advance further than Diamond One automatically move onto the League tier. This tier operates very similarly to before Heartstone’s new Ranked system came into place.
A significant change is that new players need to go through the Apprentice League. This is contrary to before, where new players would immediately jump into the regular Ranked play. The new "Apprentice" League goes from Apprentice 40 to Apprentice 1. This league offers Classic packs within the reward system. These Classic packs are made available as you make your way through the league at various milestones.
There are a few differences between the Apprentice League when compared to the regular Ranked play. A significant difference is that you can’t lose stars and you don’t need to complete it more than once while playing in the Apprentice League.
You’re able to receive a couple of the Classic pack as well as packs available from recent Heartstone expansions while you make your way from Apprentice 1 and Bronze 10.
Hearthstone Ranked Star Bonus And Streaks
At the beginning of each month, all players' ranks are reset to Bronze 10 (the lowest level) where players gain a new ladder to climb while having access to a star bonus. These bonuses are active from the first day of the new month. However, star bonuses may vary depending on the rank you gained to the month before. Here you can find the minimal initial star bonuses that are labelled by rank:
- Bronze 5 to Silver 10 is two stars
- Silver 5 is three stars
- Gold 10 is four stars
- Gold 5 is five stars
- Platinum 10 is six stars
- Platinum 5 is seven stars
- Diamond 10 is eight stars
- Diamond 5 is nine stars
- Legend is ten stars
In each rank between Bronze and Diamond are three stars. You receive stars when you win matches and lose one star each time you are defeated in a match.