Starting this weekend, we’re adding a limited test of our upcoming Ranked Mode to our ongoing playtests.
Ranked Ascension queues will be open on Friday and Saturday at specific times for each region. Check our Discord schedule for more information, or this post.
During this test, we’re asking players to solo queue vs queue up as premade teams.
(Loot pool subject to change)
Your progress in Ranked is determined by your Ascension Rating or ‘AR’.
When you start, you’ll need to complete five matches for the system to determine your starting position.
Once your position is established, it changes based on your AR. In each match, your team will be assessed against the other opponents in the match. Based on your odds of winning, you’ll be classed as ‘Favoured’ (likely to win), ‘Balanced’ (mixed chances) or ‘Underdog’ (fighting the odds).
Based on these classifications, you’ll pay a different ‘entry cost’ in AR for that match. Favoured pays the most, Underdogs pay the least.
This is an early version of our Ranked system so there are a few issues that we’re aware of. We plan to fix these in our upcoming 0.22 Patch.
Your reported match placement number on the client may be inconsistent with what is reported on the end of game screen. (These are the matches required to complete before being placed in Ranked)
After this patch, you’ll get a breakdown of where you earned your AR in your match. For example 16 AR from Shared Eliminations, 11 AR from Major Eliminations etc.
There’s currently minimal fanfare when you get promoted or demoted in Ranked. This will be more fancy after Patch 0.22.
Matchmaking currently allows a wider band of skill levels to play together so players may feel some imbalance in challenge levels
Players with the highest MMR may experience longer wait times than normal while we adjust the skill band ranges for this test
Thursday's queues will be Spires – Arkheron’s arena-style 3v3 mode, designed to cut straight to the action.
Regional Uptimes - Spires
Europe: 8PM - 11PM CEST / 7PM - 10PM BST
South America: 8PM - 11PM ADT & BRT
North America: 8PM - 11PM EDT / 5PM - 8PM PDT
From Friday – Sunday, our regional servers will host Spires and Ascension queues for a few hours each.
Regional Uptimes – Spires and Ascension
Asia
Spires: 19:00 - 21:00 KST & JST / 10:00 - 12:00 UTC
Ascension: 21:00 - 24:00 KST & JST / 12:00 - 15:00 UTC
Europe
Spires: 6PM - 8PM CEST / 5PM - 7PM BST
Ascension: 8PM - 11PM CEST / 7PM - 10PM BST
South America
Spires: 6PM - 8PM ADT & BRT
Ascension: 8PM - 11PM ADT & BRT
North America
Spires: 6PM - 8PM EDT / 3PM - 5PM PDT
Ascension: 8PM - 11PM EDT / 5PM - 8PM PDT
This is an early test of our Ranked Mode, so we've pulled together an FAQ that covers most of the questions we think players will have. We also talked about a lot of these in our last Tower Hour.
Full queue schedule and start times for Spires and Ascension can be found in the Arkheron Discord and This Week In Arkheron post.
Thanks for testing this system with us - good luck, have fun!