Phase 2 of the Collection Power update was released last week and from a technical perspective it went without a hitch (all credit goes to @cryptomancer for that). Now the team is gearing up to release phase 3 which will primarily add the separate league leaderboards as well as fix a few issues that have come up since the release of phase 2.
The team is working very hard to get phase 3 released on Tuesday, September 15th around 12 PM - 1 PM ET (16:00 UTC), shortly after the end of the current ranked play season. This is a very tight timeline for us and was pushed up from originally being at the end of the month, so if issues come up which require it to be pushed back we will let you know here, but we really want to get it out asap since we know a lot of players are eagerly awaiting it!
League Leaderboards
Phase three of the collection power update will add separate ranked play leaderboards into the game for each league. There will not be separate leaderboards for each tier within each league, and there will not be a leaderboard for the Novice league, so that means that there will be a total of 5 different leaderboards: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, and the existing Champion League Leaderboard.
Each leaderboard will have its own separate pool of prizes given out to the top players in the leaderboard at the end of each ranked play season. The Champion League leaderboard prizes will remain the same as they have been in the past. The prizes for the other leaderboards are still TBD, but will likely also be Untamed edition booster packs. Please keep in mind that leaderboard prizes at all levels are subject to change at any time.
Players will be ranked on the leaderboards by their rating. If a player achieves a high enough rating to move up to the next league (and they have the required collection power to move up to that league), they will have the option to choose whether to move up or to remain in their current league.
Choosing to move up to the next league will require the player to submit the appropriate transaction to the blockchain and can be done at any time provided that the player has a high enough rating and collection power to move up. This will allow players to choose when or if they would like to move up to a higher league, rather than being forced up due to their collection power increasing.
For example, if a player in Silver I, with a collection power over 100,000, goes above 1900 rating points (the minimum required for Gold league), they will have the option to move up to the Gold league or remain in Silver. If they choose to remain in the Silver league, then they will compete for the Silver league leaderboard and their rating may go above 1900 points. If they choose to move up to the Gold league then they will compete for the Gold league leaderboard for that season, even if their collection power and/or rating drops them to a lower league during the season.
Additionally, players with ratings above the max for their league will no longer earn win streak bonuses or the 10 point minimum rating increase for ranked battle wins. This is how the Champion I league currently works and ensures that the competition for the top leaderboard spots is based primarily on skill and not on exploiting the modifications to the ELO rating system.
Ongoing Changes
We also want to reiterate that it's unlikely we will get everything 100% right on the first try with such large-scale changes as these. Once the updates are released we will be actively monitoring the results and listening to player feedback to catch and address any unexpected issues that may arise or anything that's not working out as intended.
We appreciate the patience, support, and construtive feedback we have received from all of our early adopters - you! - as we work to ensure that Splinterlands is set up to support sustainable, long-term growth. We are working on many exciting opportunities to gain new player acquisition channels and improve new player retention, and these changes are an integral part of ensuring that the game can support the increased level of growth that we are hoping to achieve in the coming months.
AZMARE Dice Update
We also wanted to take this opportunity to give a quick update on the recently released AZMARE Dice set. As usual, we were blown away by the response. Well over 100M DEC have been burned purchasing Dice which accounts for nearly 20% of the total existing supply!
Additionally, I'm sure most of you have noticed that we are less than 10,000 Dice away from the first airdrop. We will be revealing the first Dice airdrop card very soon, including more details about the airdrop (chances per Dice pack purchased, minimum guaranteed amount, etc) here on our blog, so keep an eye out for that!
Stay tuned for more updates from the Splinterlands!
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