Hearthstone devs detail potential ranked revamp

Hearthstone‘s ranked play ladder could see some significant changes in the near future, according to the game’s development team.

In a Developer Insights Q&A yesterday, game director Ben Brode and designer Dean Ayala admitted that the ladder can be feel like a grind at times, and discussed possible ways to address the problem.

Potential fixes include increasing stars for win streaks, allowing win streaks above rank five and trying to have less players at the rank 20 mark to improve the new player experience.

However the team are concerned with not increasing the number of players reaching the legend rank, so as not to devalue it. Fundamentally the ladder system will stay broadly the same, with the numbered ranks giving a clear indication of progress.

Arena will also see some improvements in the coming months, with the top 100 rankings for arena being published on a regular basis.

The current prevalence of pirate decks in the meta was also the subject of much discussion, with the pair admitting that the volume of pirate decks being played is “a little higher than we’re comfortable with.”

While pirate deck winrates are apparently not a cause for concern, they are being closely monitored.