Three ranking systems now work in parallel: the icon/league system, the exp/ordering system, and the Drums of War/faction point system. I'll cover these in reverse order. The DoW system is a system which tracks a player's faction usage. DoW rankings appear on the Drums of War page (https://www.poxnora.com/info/drumsofwar.do). These points are entirely participatory, with a small amount yielded for each game played, with an extra amount for winning. Players compete with others within their faction to have the highest point total. At the end of a Drums of War cycle -- often at an expansion -- players with the highest numbers of points within their faction receive a reward. The absolute value of these points does not matter, only their comparative value. Additionally, the highest ranked player from each faction, using the exp/ordering system, receives a reward; a player is from a faction if the majority of their faction points went towards that faction. Players who contributed a majority of their points to the faction with the highest number of total points also earn a small reward. The exp/ordering system is what most people consider rank. This divides into two systems, one which governs 1v1 and another which governs 2v2, the listing of which can be found on their respective pages (https://www.poxnora.com/rankings/front.do?o=0&d=1 , https://www.poxnora.com/rankings/team.do?o=0&d=1). Each has its own point pool, but they work the same. All players begin with 1000 ranking points, which they will then gain or lose depending on the outcome of their matches. The point change is weighted based upon the points of both players, so that a high-point player will gain less and lose more when against a low-point player. The main reward for success in the exp/ordering system is prestige, but it also governs a player's in-game name color: high 1v1 ranks make names a deeper shade of blue, while higher 2v2 ranks make names a deeper shade of purple. [The last point about name color is no longer true. 8/31/17] The icon/league system, introduced in Visions of Amareth, is a participatory system that loosely correlates with the exp/ordering system. All players start with 0 points, and gain points as they play ranked games. As players gain points, they rise through the league system. The amount gained or lost for each ranked game depends on a player's current league. A specific breakdown of the point-gain can be found in the VoA patch notes (http://forums.poxnora.com/index.php?threads/visions-of-amareth-patch-notes.19835/). A player's current placement within the league system can be found on the dashboard after logging into the client; there is currently no representation on the poxnora.com site. The league reward system is non-competitive, and players gain rewards on a purely individual basis. The rewards are two-fold: in-game icons (which govern lobby name placement and are separate from name color), and item rewards, including gold, shards, and runes. Players receive these rewards when they reach a new league; the icons may change if players fall in league, but players will keep any gold, shards, or runes they earn by rising to a league, even if they subsequently fall out of that league. Here is a helpful chart from @hfok I hope that gives you a basic idea of how rank works right now.
you can when they get to battlemaster league but for some reason everyone gets the same emblem, its pretty stupid and I hope they change this soon. I understand wanting everyone to feel good about playing ranked but this is taking it way too far.
the new way ranked icons are assigned is pretty silly, everyone being in battlemaster league makes leagues pretty pointless. is the games ranked pvp not supposed to be competitive anymore or something? the new icons themselves are nice but the other changes are pretty strange. i heard that in some soccer leagues for kids they play without scores so nobodies feelings get hurt. this is what the new way icons are assigned reminds me of, not a good change... Even league, a super casual pvp game has ranks and icons assigned based on your ranks.(even tho their ranked progression system is pretty terrible and largely luck/champion based) giving people incentive to participate and rewards for doing so is nice but eliminating the competitive aspect of the games pvp is ridiculous. there was already little reason to play this game competitively besides for your icon and now that's removed for the most part, very strange change...
