Ranked matches, and a rating that can go down
Until now the leaderboard on this site only added things up: points, wins, hours played. That rewards whoever plays most, not whoever plays best — and anyone starting later never catches up with a list like that. There is a rating next to it now.
A tick box, not a queue#
Ranked is not a separate search screen but a tick box in the ordinary lobby. With the current numbers a matchmaking queue would be an empty screen; a tick box works from the second player onwards.
The host may only switch it on when the match is fair: humans only, everyone signed in through Steam, even teams, and the settings at their defaults — the map type is still the host's to pick. If that is not the case the box is greyed out with the reason underneath, rather than nothing happening. Inside the match RANKED sits at the top of the screen, so nobody finds out afterwards that it counted.
How the rating moves#
You start at 1200. Beating someone rated above you is worth more than beating someone below you; in a team the averages of both sides are used. The first five matches are placement matches: the rating already moves, but it is shown as provisional and does not appear on the leaderboard yet. Afterwards you see exactly what the match earned or cost you.
Every month a new season starts. Everyone then slides halfway back towards the middle — far enough to give newcomers a chance, not so far that you start over every season. Your highest rating ever stays on record. Not playing for a few weeks costs you nothing: there is no decay, only an inactive mark after a month of silence.
And whoever clicks away#
Someone who clicked away a losing match used to leave the winner with nothing: no points, no line in the archive. That is closed. Leaving now counts as resigning, so the winner simply gets the win, and in a ranked match it costs the leaver the loss plus an extra deduction. Playing it out is always cheaper than clicking away.
Dropping out is not the same as walking out: coming back inside the reconnect window costs you nothing. That is what the window is for.