Valve has delayed the arrival of its new ranked play format for Dota 2, as players eagerly await their chance to dive in.
One of the most important changes included in the Dueling Fates update for Dota 2 is the implementation of a seasonal system for ranked matchmaking. The new structure will decommission the existing arrangement, and replace it with seasons complete with placement matches every six months.
It was supposed to be pushed to the live servers two days ago as stated by Valve on the Dueling Fates patch notes, but players waited in vain last Wednesday. But the new ranking system still hasn’t arrived—prompting Valve to tweet out that the implementation would instead be delayed to Nov. 22.
No explanation was given as to why they opted to delay the start of the first ever ranked season, though presumably the system still needs some last minute refinements and bug fixes. Interestingly, the medals that are supposed to serve as league badges are actually already in the client—albeit as placeholders and not as active elements of the interface.
On the bright side, this gives everyone a bit more time to get comfortable with Patch 7.07b—the latest balance update to the game—before diving into a new era of ranked matchmaking. With plenty of new hero builds and playstyles to discover, players might end up appreciating the delay after all.