Preseason ranked update for Masters+ players

Riot·Nov 27, 2018·1 votes·30,002 views

Next week we’ll be rolling out Grandmaster (as well as Iron and some in-client design changes) as part of preseason. To kick off Grandmaster and make sure it’s working just right, players above Masters need to drop in order to properly test Grandmaster promotions and demotions. Here’s how it’ll work:

When 8.24 begins:

All players currently in Master and Challenger will be moved to Master, 0LP.
Grandmaster and Iron will be added.
Grandmaster and Challenger will be locked, no one can promote into it.
After one week, Grandmaster unlocks and you can promote into it.
After two weeks, Challenger unlocks and you can promote into it.
This change does not impact underlying MMR at all, so matchmaking will be unaffected.

Preseason is the time of year to build technical confidence in Grandmaster ahead of season start on January 24. So let us know if anything seems amiss!

61 Comments

LucinaburryNov 27, 201814 votes

How will Grandmaster be determined? Would there be a point cutoff or would it be the next 200 players (or so) after Challenger?

ModAcademy KaynNov 27, 20187 votes

Clicks on the thread despite not being challenger

BurningCerberus3Nov 27, 20184 votes

How will iron implementation affect those currently in bronze or silver?

set435Nov 27, 20183 votes

Grandmaster change does nothing to bronze/silver/gold/etc, the grandmaster change only affects high-elo players as of 8.24

BUT since the time of arrival for iron has not been announced here, Im assuming that iron will be out before grandmaster comes out, so probably in the start of 8.24, people with low mmr will be placed in iron after placements

SynergyFactorNov 27, 20184 votes

Next week we’ll be rolling out Grandmaster (as well as Iron and some in-client design changes)

It's literally the first line, bud.

Lord BloodstormMay 20, 20191 votes

DrMundo Udyr mad?

RiotRiot SapMagicNov 27, 20187 votes

Iron and Grandmaster, along with other changes, are both coming in 8.24.

SynergyFactorNov 27, 20182 votes

Since Iron is below Bronze, I doubt anything will need to be done. People will backfill into Iron from Bronze naturally.

RiotRiot SapMagicNov 27, 20186 votes

New players also start at Iron, which lets us test that one easily.

SilentNight102Nov 27, 20182 votes

How about those who smurf? will they be forced into Iron if they have a new account they are leveling?

Bastard Ass RitoNov 27, 20181 votes

Theoretically if someone started provisionals on a fresh account on patch 8.24 how would they be matched with iron players if their are none to be matched with? Or will they just be matched in bronze IV?

That Warwick GodNov 28, 20181 votes

So if a high elo player made a smurf account ,he'll be playing with iron players right off the bat, even after completing his provisional rank?

Lord BloodstormMay 20, 20191 votes

DrMundo Udyr mad?

ShadowStar91Nov 27, 20181 votes

Since they're removing all V tiers from the ranks below Master, my best guess is that all Bronze 5 player get turned into Iron 1. Though it's the other 5's i'm wondering about. Will a Silver 5 become a 4 or a Bronze 1?

RiotRiot SapMagicNov 27, 20186 votes

Bronze V becomes Bronze IV, Silver V becomes Silver IV, etc.

CS DayeNov 28, 20181 votes

Does this apply at all division? Will a silver 4 become silver 3?

Mandy Kim Dec 2, 20181 votes

Nope, only the V division will be moved up to IV.

Die MeNov 28, 20181 votes

Gold V become 1V, Plat V become 1V and Diamond V become VI? On preseason too?

JaxHatesBlàcksDec 7, 20181 votes

I was Silver 5, then got promoted to silver 4 yesterday. I didnt play any ranked, however today im bronze 1

RiotRiot SapMagicNov 27, 20187 votes

Players who are in Division V of a tier will move to Division IV until the standard season reset.

Megabite87Nov 28, 20184 votes

So does this mean that the first person to drop into iron gets a special "World First" border? :D

SciFi ScrivenerNov 27, 20182 votes

Will we see position ranks in pre-season?

RiotRiot SapMagicNov 27, 20185 votes

We'll likely test them on PBE; they're coming to preview regions on Live in 9.2 with the season start. We'll announce which regions closer to that time.

SciFi ScrivenerNov 28, 20181 votes

Thank you. I'm really looking forward to having those in game. Keep up the good work, it is appreciated.

sinZsoulNov 28, 20182 votes

Are there any concerns that iron will on average have a higher skill level than bronze 4 for an extended period of time?

Mandy Kim Dec 2, 20181 votes

No, because if the average skill cap for Iron is higher than Bronze, they will move up and populate Bronze.

sinZsoulDec 11, 20181 votes

Yes, they will do that eventually, but my question was about the discrepancy for an extended period of time.

Oxinior from LANNov 28, 20182 votes

Are the Loading Screen changes coming on 8.24b? I would love to see that change implemented before season 9 starts officially.

Mandy Kim Dec 2, 20181 votes

More than likely not.

Lord PhoNov 28, 20182 votes

If we are Platinum 5 or any ranks that is Division V, do we move down or up?

JinxsterrNov 28, 20182 votes

Imagine if everybody asked questions before looking at the first couple comments to see if its already been asked. This comment section would be unbearable.

whyusmurfinbNov 29, 20182 votes

[{quoted}](name=Xenoblade Forces,realm=NA,application-id=Ag8jgd8Q,discussion-id=xrvnKl5f,comment-id=000c,timestamp=2018-11-28T06:05:57.934+0000)

If we are Platinum 5 or any ranks that is Division V, do we move down or up?

none of these changes mean anything when season starts your mmr will still be the same

Mandy Kim Dec 2, 20181 votes

You would move up from V to IV.

Mïnami KotoriNov 28, 20182 votes

If all the V tiers are gonna be IV tiers. What does players like me in Diamond IV get? Still in IV or promote into D3?

CS DayeNov 28, 20181 votes

Id like to know about this as well. Pretty unfair if divison 5 players get a free bump.

That Warwick GodNov 28, 20181 votes

their mmr would probably not change though? A D5 player with P1 mmr will still have P1 mmr after getting a free pass to D4.

Mandy Kim Dec 2, 20181 votes

D5 will NOT exist anymore, so stop thinking that way! The 1950/2000 MMR threshold for P1/D5 will elapse and become 1950-2000 for Platinum 1 and 2001-2050 for D4.

Modern ExtremistDec 1, 20181 votes

Doesnt even matter tho, it's pre-season, ranks will reset before s9 begins, and they already said this will not affect mmr.

Violent TendencyNov 30, 20182 votes

i really feel like not much has changed at all this preseason. I for one am very happy about that. I am curious thought why its going to take the season so long to start again since not a lot changed.

Modern ExtremistDec 1, 20181 votes

yeah 3 months of pre-season with nothing going on is really weird, there still haven't even been any rotating game modes since s8 ended.

AKM ShaydenDec 1, 20182 votes

I feel like a week is almost too long to keep grand master locked considering how many games the high elo players (most) and how frequently streamers play

Mandy Kim Dec 2, 20181 votes

I think you have forgotten that you don't NEED to play ranked during preseason past Platinum BECAUSE, there is no more LP decay (during preseason).

whyusmurfinbNov 27, 20181 votes

so will this really help the gap between low diamond players and high diamond? even more so how about all the boosted players that are gonna be in d4 now? if you cant effectively catch these players what is the point of this change?

KazekibaNov 27, 20182 votes

I have been saying a rank between Bronze/Silver and Plat/Diamond makes more sense but looks like Riot had settled on design plans and had no intention of responding to feedback.

I don't even know why they enable feedback or have on-site forums if they don't want to change anything.

DeathBurstNov 27, 201813 votes

Because YOU saying a thing isn't sufficient. Other people gave different feedback, and you're not the only community representative... -_-

Prof HexNov 28, 20186 votes

You clearly don't understand that putting a rank below bronze is the same as fitting one between bronze/silver and plat/diamond. The way ranking is determined will still be more dynamic, the only thing that is different is the art design that would go into a middle tier rank fitting in.