They don’t want players to give free wins each other it seems.
For example, since we are matched by MMR when we have the bonus pool, the following situations could exist if both players ranks are visible:
Overall, the ranking system atm needs huge improvements. I suggest moving to a full MMR-system with decays.
I like the fact that I had re-read this twice and still don’t have a game plan for climbing, unlike the previous ranking system.
What kind of “game plan” does climbing require?
It’s a competitive ladder. Play decks that you believe you can win with, and adjust to major trends if you see them. That’s about all there is to it.
Waiting till the mid month work anymore since you are not fighting based on rank anymore, but MMR.
It’s like saying I want to be a millionaire and just keep working. No need for game plan, isn’t it? Or is it
If your goal is to hit a particular rank as fast as possible play aggro decks and when not on win streak concede on bad/long match-ups, and concede on non-favorable match-ups on “safe floors”.
Now we are talking! My goal is to earn as high a rank as possible while also spending more time on casual mode for fun.
Then the plan is no different than it has ever been. Play a good Aggro deck.
I think once you have climbed to the point where you no longer get a star multiplier and you are matched against players at the same rank rather than via mmr , then you get to see your opponents rank.
I actually like the new system, it encourages you to just hit that button and get playing, there’s no waiting to let players climb as you will always be matched vs a player of similar skill level, and flying through the lower ranks (particularly on a winstreak, 16 stars , thank you very much!) while adding cards and packs to your reward chest is really fun.
I do wish you could see what your mmr actually is, but that’s not really important.
The very next day I went on a 3 win streak right out of the gate. I wonder if I was just running into people grinding to legendary on day one.
Dear Blizzard! If that was your aim, you failed hard!
As a fun player who reached Rank 10 several months ago and normally get to 15-13, i started this season with 6* Stars. And i can tell you something:
After winning the first game, i lost the next 16 games! SIXTEEN LOST GAMES IN A ROW. Due to my 6* Bonus i only saw hardcore Metadecks with changing classes, but most of the time those are the decks i see when watching streamers on legend rank.
I am a casual player with my own deck who had fun to play it from rank 20 to 15 (or higher) over the last years! I had several wipes but also several wins.
NOW (almost) all of my matches are lost and my winrate is about 10% and dont getting higher. It is pain and NOT FAIR. No idea why the games thinks, 6* Bonus is good and fun. I dont have any kind of winrate close to 50%.
And i dont see a solution to this…i would prefer to stay at bronze rank and win half of my matches to having 6* Bonus and loosing 90%+ of my matches. And i want this to do with my deck. I dont want to copy one of those boring metadecks i have to play against in all the matches. Before you brought this broken new system in, i played against other people with their own decks. None of them (= some casual player with a non-meta-deck) i saw the last 3 days. NONE!
So tell me, Blizzard, is there any chance that i can get to 50% Winrate (33% also would be better with one victory of three games…) with my own deck anymore? Will the “matchmaking” (hahaha…) recognice any time in the future that my deck cannot compete with metadecks rolling through?
Or do i have to wait 2-3 weeks of every month that all those 6* Metadeck-Guys reached their diamond and legend ranks and dont farm me anymore?
Analyse your statistics and you WILL see that the winrates are extremly unfair, even worse than in overwatch.
There could be. e.g. pacing, review game data, etc
Will prob create a thread asking players how they manage their climb, especially Legends.
I’m at Silver 4 (with 2 star bonus left) and it’s not 50% for me either. I’ve tracked my win losses since I started and I’m at 14 wins and 25 losses (Cycled through all classes after a win). It’s kinda 25/75% right now for me.
I feel sorry for you 16 losses in a row, that’s painful 
Thx, Difford 
But i think, Blizzard does not care about guys like me.
Only theory! Reality looks quite different and statistics will say that. In former times i did NOT have to play against legend players, but now, i have to (or guys with decks for legend). And without winning i cannot get rid of my 6* Bonus to get some “accurate” opponents.
Maybe i should stay on wild mode with my murloc deck. But although i reached Rank 17 or something last season, there i got 8* Bonus…seems, i have to quit it completly.
I am an average player stuck at wild rank 2 usually and I tend to fight mostly control / mid-range players only. Does aggro make it to legend usually? It doesn’t seem so to me (at least during the old ranking times).
For Wild I guess that depends on what you consider Aggro. There are decks from several archetypes that can get to Legend.
My point is that the gameplan to hit Legend now is no different than it was before.
Hey Nighthaven, I’m right there with you.
I play for fun, occasionally pre-purchase an extension bundle and rank usually at 19-20.
I started this season with a 4* bonus and thought, oh that’s gonna be fun, just to be constantly losing and not even progressing beyond low bronze. Didn’t even earn yet this season’s card back!!!
I hate to complain but this just feels brutal and de-motivating.
the current MM system grabs from 2 pools (same as before). your displayed MMR, which is represented by your stars or rank, and/or your special MMR that is hidden.
your Star bonus is a rough representation of your Displayed MMR from last month and it is your Star Power :).
at the start of a season, how you’re matched against opponents is determined by last month’s performance and/or your hidden MMR.
both of your MMRs decay naturally, but your displayed MMR decays up to a certain point until it can’t (Bronze league). (Your Hidden MMR is primarily(?) based on your overall performance.)
So if you tank your MMR for a season by conceding 1000000 or so games and end on Bronze 10 you can match against other real Bronze 10 players all the way to Legend?
Personally, I would still like to see my opponents rankd/mmr 