Battle Ball Season 1 incoming!

After the launch of Battle Ball in summer 2024, Macklebee and the team scoped out a significant number of improvements we could make to make the ranked version of the game fairer and more balanced.

We’ve now made those changes (see the bottom of this article for a full list) and we’re now ready to launch the first season tomorrow on April 7th! It’ll run until April 21st.

📄 Prizes and rules

It’ll cost game tickets to participate in the ranked lobbies, like last time. Metal Dragons will also be up for grabs for the top ranked players:

• 1st to 5th place: 1x Gold Dragon Lamp
• 6th to 15th place: 1x Silver Dragon Lamp
• 16th to 40th place: 1x Bronze Dragon Lamp

Then, for some even more interesting news: We’re keeping the iconic Dragon Lamp prizes for the top 40 contenders – but this season, EVERYONE in the top 50% has something to play for! 😯

• The top 0–10% of ranked players will earn:
  • An exclusive Battle Ball Badge (design TBC)
  • 500 stamps
  • A free Battle Ball-themed nameplate (pending poll approval)
• The top 11 – 25% will receive 250 stamps
• Top 26 – 50% will walk away with 100 stamps

This is our way of making Battle Ball Season 1 even more rewarding for those of you that choose to play and climb the ranks. Whether you’re going for the Dragon Lamps or just aiming to break into the top half, there’s never been a better time to jump into the action! 

If you weren’t here for the launch of Battle Ball in August 2024, make sure to check the changes we’ve made to scoring here.

Even though we’ve made a significant number of changes that will help prevent the cheating we saw last time, we’ll still be monitoring the season very carefully to root out unfair play. Similar to the tournament we ran during the launch of the game, you risk disqualification if we detect win-trading between players or groups of players.

🔧 Battle Ball improvements

Below is a list of the things we’ve changed about Battle Ball:

1. ❗ NEW: We've added score degradation to ensure players who do well early in the season are incentivised to keep playing.
2. We've updated our scoring system to better reflect match outcomes. Now, when you lose a match, the number of points you lose will depend on the strength of the opposing team. Specifically, the point deduction is based on a comparison of your team's ELO rating against your opponent's ELO rating, similar to the ELO system used in chess. This method calculates the expected outcome of the match and adjusts points lost accordingly, making the scoring fairer and more competitive.
3. We’ve changed the behaviour and spawn mechanics of certain power-ups in ranked games:
   1. Changed spawn locations of power-ups so they now appear in fixed areas at certain times.
   2. We've nerfed the Cannon powerup, so that bumping into another player will stop your movement. This allows for tactical blocks and changes the lock mechanic so that the tiles you fly over do not instantly lock to your team. This puts it in-line with other power-ups available in the end game.
4. We've modified lobby restrictions and introduced a new queueing system to ensure all players, including those who join late, are paired with others of similar ELO rating before games start. This change guarantees that everyone can compete in the tournament, regardless of their arrival time.
5. We’ve removed the customisation mechanic in ranked lobbies, which will ensure players can’t fix games in a way that provides maximum points.
6. We’ve switched to a game queue system for ranked lobbies, ensuring players can’t just simply play off against alternate accounts to climb in the rankings.
7. We’ve updated the end-of-game match result screen to show the number of captures, assists and steals a player contributed to the team whilst during the match.