Ranked Warzone Preview

Warzones have been a big hit with the denizens of The Old Republic, so it goes without saying that when Ranked Warzones were pulled hours before the Launch of Patch 1.2 a lot of people were very disappointed. Not much word was given on the status of Ranked Warzones right up until patch 1.3 hit the PTS servers, but lo and behold Ranked Warzones made the list. Below we go over all the need to know information on how Ranked Warzones Work, if you’re looking to prepare for them, check out our previous article.

The Interface

The Ranke Warzone interface takes up the top left portion of your regular warzone screen which can be brought up by right clicking on the warzone icon beside the mini-map. There you will find all pertinent info regarding your Ranked Warzone exploits. Some of the information included is your current team rating, highest rating earned, wins, and losses.

This is also where you can queue for warzones both ranked and regular, both of which can be queued for at the same time. If a regular warzone pops first you are allowed to join it and still stay in the queue for Ranked, but not the other way around.

What we Know

• In order to take part in ranked warzones you must initially complete 10 non-ranked matches. After this has been completed you will be assigned a starting rating, and can join your group for ranked warzones.
• Currently Ranked Warzones only support full groups of 8 level 50 characters. It has been mentioned that solo-queuing will be possible at some point in the future, but will not make it for patch 1.3.
• Your team rating is actually calculated individually, and is based on the outcome of the match and the ratings of the players you are playing against and with.
• When patch 1.3 goes live, Ranked Warzones will be in its first Pre-Season. We can only assume that this is meant to acquaint players with the system before the first actual “season” begins. No word has been given yet on how long this pre-season will last, or how actual seasons will differ.
• Ranked Warzones will utilize all four maps currently available.
• The War Hero PVP gear set is currently the only gear purchasable using Ranked Warzone Commendations. No additional PVP gear has been announced for patch 1.3.
• Group functionality has been improved and groups will no longer disband upon completion of a warzone.
• Leaving a Ranked Warzone Early Counts as a loss. As does declining a match invitation once it has been made.
• If a Ranked Warzone Pops while in a non-ranked warzone, that match will be reserved for when the current warzone finishes
• A team will recieve a Ranked rating after completing 10 Ranked warzone

Considering that Ranked Warzones have been around for two runs on the PTS now, there is still a lot we still don't know about them. Not the least of which is how long the seasons will last and how will they work. Either way Ranked Warzones will definitely bring a much needed level of competition and high stakes play that could help bring back some of the more hardcore players that left for new pastures. While it may seem like the MMO would be more suited to the tea toddlers of the gaming universe, one has to look no further than a streaming site such as twitch tv to see what a bulk of this MMO populace is interested in. E-sports, arenas, and PVP in general rain supreme but try to find a stream of SWTOR and you’ll usually only find a hand full of casts way in the back. In short, Ranked Warzones should fulfill at least one of the needs of the Hardcore, and help cement SWTOR’s PVP experience.