New Dota 2 ranked matchmaking season is now live

The second Dota 2 ranked matchmaking season of 2018 is now live, with all ranking medals being reset in preparation for recalibration matches.

The medal reset itself went into effect earlier today, wiping all players’ ranks from the previous season. Players who wish to be ranked once more will have to play 10 recalibration games, which will place players somewhere around their last rank.

Valve has included several interface changes and new features with the season update. First off, each player can now actively track their progress to the next medal level, though this tracker is visible only to them and cannot be seen by other players visiting their profiles. Also, medal levels now range from one to five, as opposed to the previous season where they started at zero and ended at five before the next tier.

Second, each player’s rank from the previous season will be displayed right next to their medal for this season, on their player profiles. Valve did not specify how the UI will handle medals for future seasons, however.

An entirely new medal tier has been added as well, exclusively for players whose matchmaking rating is high enough for them to place on the regional leaderboards. Named the “Immortal” tier, each player that ranks in this classification will have their exact position on the leaderboard displayed as a number on their medal, as opposed to stars that indicate medal levels.

Perhaps the most important distinction between this season and the previous one, though, is the change to the MMR calibration mechanics. Calibration matches will no longer take in-game statistics such as kill-death ratio, gold earned, and wards placed into account.

Instead, the system will now only consider wins and losses, the “balance” of individual player ranks between both teams, and an unspecified “uncertainty value” based on a player’s rank.