Splinterlands: Exciting Changes Coming to League Ratings and Ranked Battles!

Splinterlands, a popular blockchain-based collectible card game, has announced some exciting changes that are set to be released during the next maintenance window on Tuesday, February 28th, 2023. In this blog post, we will be discussing these changes in detail.

Mana Cap Changes:
The first set of changes that are coming to Splinterlands is related to the game's mana cap logic. Currently, the mana cap incrementation between 40 and 60 is complicated. Hence, the team plans to simplify it by implementing a max mana cap for each league. Novice/Bronze will have a max mana cap of 40, Silver will have a max mana cap of 50, and Gold/Diamond/Champ will have a max mana cap of 60. All tournament and guild brawl battles will follow the same mana cap settings as Gold/Diamond/Champ leagues. The new changes will increase the max mana cap for Novice and Bronze leagues from 30 to 40, decrease it for Silver league from 60 to 50, and increase high mana cap battles in Gold league and up, as well as in tournament and guild brawl battles. Additionally, the probability of an unlimited/99 mana cap battle is being reduced from 4% to 2%, making it as likely to occur as any other individual mana cap value.

League Rating & Rating Reset Changes:
Splinterlands is also introducing changes to the rating resets to ensure that players don't drop down as far in rating at the end of each season, particularly in the higher leagues. The team will change the min and max rating thresholds for the Champion league so that each tier is 300 rating points above the previous tier rather than 500 as it is currently. Players who have not played any ranked battles in a particular format in the current season will not drop down in rating at all at the end of the season.

Novice League/New Player Changes:
The team is introducing changes to the Novice league to improve the new player experience in Splinterlands. The rating reset for Bronze III league will be changed to 100 from 0, meaning players in Bronze league will no longer drop back down to the Novice league at the end of the season. Once a player hits Bronze league, they will not be able to fall below 100 ratings from losses either. This change will prevent Novice league players (new players) from facing Bronze league bots. Splinterlands will also run special bots in Novice league that will not earn rewards or gain ratings, and will be programmed to play relatively poorly against new players. Wins in Novice league will always award a fixed 10 rating points, so new players will need to win 10 battles in Novice before moving up to Bronze. These changes aim to make Novice league more like an extended part of the tutorial to give new players more time to get familiar with the game in a controlled environment before being sent out into the fray of Bronze league.

Conclusion:
By simplifying the mana cap logic, adjusting the league rating and rating reset values, and improving the new player experience, players will have a better understanding of the game's mechanics and how to play competitively. This, in turn, could lead to increased player engagement and retention, which is beneficial for both the players and the game developers. Overall, these changes seem to be a step in the right direction for Splinterlands, and we'll have to wait and see how they affect the game's community and ecosystem.