Dota 2 - Explaining The New Rank System [ 7.07 Patch ]

The New Ranking System:

        To ensure that the matchmaking rating [MMR] system is "recent and accurate" for everyone, MMR for both ranked and unranked players will now work on a six-month seasonal system, the first of which will begin in two weeks. Players will be given a profile medal for each season based on their peak skill during that season, which will be displayed, along with their previous seasonal medal, to all players before each match. 

"At the start of each season all players will recalibrate MMR, seeded by their previous season’s MMR," Valve explained. "Your current historical preseason MMR value will be recorded and selectable in your profile, and ranked players will continue to be able to track their current seasonal MMR value." 

Other changes of note: Turbo Mode keeps the same game rules as All Pick but grants more gold and experience to heroes, weakens defensive towers, and reduces respawn time, all of which will simplify the process of trying out new heroes and strategies; the Ability Draft has been given a new interface; the Guide system is more easily accessible; and new functionality has been added to the Ping Wheel. We'll have a more in-depth analysis of everything that's going on here for you soon, and in the meantime you can dive into the patch notes yourself at dota2.com.

Below is my understanding of the new MMR system, based on the short paragraphs in the 7.07 patch notes.

• Instead of MMR (1k, 2k,....10k brackets), we'd have seven medals, each with five stars. So I'm guessing a certain number of net wins would be needed to take you from, say 5 medal 4 star to 5 medal 5 stars, and then to 6 medal 1 star.

• "At the start of each season all players will recalibrate MMR, seeded by their previous season’s MMR. Your current historical preseason MMR value will be recorded and selectable in your profile, and ranked players will continue to be able to track their current seasonal MMR value"

This means that at the beginning of every season, there would be a calibration period similar to the current system. One difference is that right now calibration usually starts with a normal game, and slowly moves to HS and then VHS as you keep overperforming in the calibration games. In the new system, a 4K MMR player would play calibration games with other 4K players, while 1K players would calibrate with other 1K players.

The net result is that unless your skill level has greatly changed, your calibrating games are still in your current bracket, so you have a very high chance of calibrating in that bracket again. The only people who would recalibrate are those who haven't played in a while and are rusty, and would move to a lower bracket. So I can see game quality improving a little bit.

• The slow grind to high MMR is going to be slightly harder
• There are lots of players who have a 50.5% win rate in ranked games, have 5000+ games, and are 6k MMR.
• The new system doesn't totally eliminate the ability to keep climbing MMR.
• Let's say you're a 2K player now. In the new season, you calibrate at 2K. Over the next six months, you gain 200 MMR. Now you're a 2.2k MMR player. At the end of the season, your medal is something like 2 medals 4 stars.
• Next season you recalibrate. You calibrate at 2.2K. Over the next six months, you gain 300 MMR. Now you're a 2.5K MMR player. At the end of the season, your medal is 2 medals 5 stars.

My take on this- I don't think a lot changes here. You can still climb MMR cumulatively over time (and have something to show for your efforts), which is good. People will just need to get used to referring to medals and stars instead of MMR. You'd play an additional 10 games a season to recalibrate. But to be honest unless you've gotten completely garbage, calibration isn't really an issue.