08 Mar Stormbound Ranked Statistics and Upcoming Improvements

We’ve been working on a new update for Stormbound, and this will go live very soon! We wanted to make you aware that there will be a few changes that will look odd. All these changes will happen after the server maintenance:

• Your current rank (in March) will drop. After this happens, you can earn rewards again for all higher ranks and also collect the new first time rewards (read further for more details on this)!
• Your player level and base HP might be changed after the update

Current State of Ranked

Before explaining the changes that will be introduced with the next update, we would like to share a few analytics concerning the ranked matches in Stormbound. In these graphs we’re comparing the levels of cards that are used in decks. The graphs that use your player level or base HP are very similar.

Spread throughout ranks

The 5 lines in this graph show the (rounded) card levels of a player and how each is distributed amongst all ranks. This graph shows for example that level 1 decks are used primarily in iron and bronze and some even make it into silver!

There are two things in here we would like to avoid: the purple line (level 3) shouldn’t have this much presence in the bronze league. And the same holds true for the pink line (level 4) in the silver league.

Our aim with the new update is for everyone to have 2 leagues (or 10 ranks) to play through, where the later ranks will obviously be harder to reach.

Matchmaking at all ranks

This second graph shows how fair the matchmaking is between the 2 players. The green portions are fair matches, whereas the orange and red are unfair and we would like to avoid. The yellow ones indicate 1 will be the favorite, and we consider this the maximum difference between players that we are fine with, though we hope to reduce these occurrences.

It clearly shows that most of the issues start popping up in bronze, and are most prominent in silver and gold league. With our changes we hope to improve this situation.

Upcoming Ranked Improvements

Starters League

A new league will be added, the starters league. This is an environment for new players only. In it, you can’t lose stars or ranks and there will not be a season reset as long as you are in this league.

First-Time Rewards

Once you’re out of the starters league, you will continue the climb up the ranks. The current rewards and the end-of-season chests will remain – but these rewards are bound to your monthly progression. The first-time rewards will give you a bigger reward every time you reach a new top rank for you! So try to push yourself further to claim this bonus!

Ranking Up

We want to make the ranking experience more granular, and prevent too much bouncing up and down between ranks. After the update, you will get an bonus star every time you rank up. This extra star makes it a little easier to reach the next rank, and it prevents falling back after a single loss on your new rank. As a result, the star requirements for some leagues have been increased.

Matching with AI

Stormbound has a feature that matches high level players with AI when they are still at a lower rank. We have extended the amount of ranks in which this system is active, which means high level players will be in the regular matchmaking later than currently. Playing versus these AI opponents will grant you an extra star, so your path to the higher leagues will take less time and losing has no consequences!

Player Levels

We want the base HP to be a good representation of your deck and collection. To improve this, we have tweaked the algorithm. Epic and legendary cards will give less XP, while higher level cards will give more.

Other Changes

• Rank rewards (cards) and season chests have been updated slightly
• Campaign difficulty is tweaked and levels now reward 3 cards
• The kingdom books have been removed, but will appear in a different form on a weekly basis
• Many other tweaks, visual improvements and fixes

Update

These changes are just the beginning, we hope they address the main issues in ranked play especially for newer players. We’ll keep on improving the game and are looking forward to your feedback on this update!

With this update we hope to bring the game closer to where we think it should be. These kind of updates will also build a stronger foundation for the game and prepare it for more changes later. We have more plans for future updates to improve the game further.