Wyldernook Ranked is Here!

Hi Wylders!

I'm Ian Underwood aka Keja, the designer of Wyldernook, and I'm excited to announce the launch of our new Ranked mode!

Ranked works a little differently in Wyldernook than it does in many other games, so I wanted to take a moment to explain how the system works and, just as importantly, the design philosophy behind why we designed it this way.

As we're in Early Access, we're treating the first month of Ranked as a big play test. We want to hear how it feels to play, what's working, and what isn't. We're open to changing parts of the system based on what we learn from players.

Our goal is to try something a little different, built around what makes Wyldernook and the TCG genre unique rather than simply following conventions from other games. So please give it a try, and let us know what you think!

How Wyldernook Ranked Works

Ranks

In Wyldernook, we have the following ranks (which have Wyldernook-y appropriate names), and each rank has 3 tiers:

• Inkling 1 → Inkling 2 → Inkling 3

• Silverscribe 1 → Silverscribe 2 → Silverscribe 3

• Goldquill 1 → Goldquill 2 → Goldquill 3

• Jadeleaf 1 → Jadeleaf 2 → Jadeleaf 3

• Skywright 1 → Skywright 2 → Skywright 3

• Loremaster

Each player starts at Inkling 1, then promotes to Inkling 2, etc. When you promote at the last tier, you move to the next rank. Once a player is at Loremaster, they keep ranking up indefinitely.

All players can see the Leaderboard of all players in the game, seeing who is the highest rank in the world!

Gameplay

To rank up, you choose a deck and enter a "promotional run" through the in game Ranked queue. For the duration of the run, that deck is locked in. If you reach enough wins in that run, you'll promote to the next rank. If you lose too many, the run is failed and you can try again with a fresh promotional run (either with the same deck or a new deck).

Once you've reached a rank, you can't go down, no matter how much you lose that season.

All ranks reset at the start of the month, and end-of-season rewards are given out.

Rewards

You can see all rewards for each rank in-game.

• Nameplates: Show off your current rank to everybody with a nameplate. These will reset at the end-of-season.

• Stickers: After every successful run, each card in your deck will earn a sticker showing it managed to get to that rank!

• First-time Cards: The first time ever that you reach a new rank, you'll get a random card that your account doesn't already have in your collection.

• End-of-Season Packs: At the end of a season you'll get a fistful of standard booster packs as determined by your final rank.

Example rewards for Jadeleaf rank:

Design Philosophy

First of all, I should say that a lot of my thoughts are inspired by this excellent article by Richard Garfield, the grandfather of the TCG genre. While the article isn't necessary reading, it's excellent for the game-designer inclined. In the article, Garfield expresses a lot of his concerns with traditional ranked systems. In many respects Wyldernook is my attempt to move the genre forward (especially in the digital space) and our Ranked system is an attempt to create something that is more appropriate for our genre.

Most games, especially in the digital TCG genre, have a fairly straightforward ranked system: when you win, your rank goes up, and when you lose your rank goes down. Most ranked systems are based on the Elo system, which was originally designed for Chess to rank players by skill.

However, especially in the TCG genre, I have some major problems with this traditional ranked system. I'll talk through them.

Traditional ranked systems track player skill, but in Wyldernook it should be player skill + deck.

In Wyldernook, if you build a new deck, and it's not as good as the deck you played yesterday, does that mean you've become a worse player? I would say no, nor do I think you should be punished for trying out such a deck.

Traditional ranked systems encourage undesirable patterns.

In my experience, ranked queues quickly become filled with fast aggressive decks that can maintain some barely-above 50% winrate. These might not even be the best decks, but they end up being the best decks for climbing.

Traditional ranked systems discourage innovation and experimentation, which is foundational to the TCG genre.

The nature of innovation is that while creating something new, it will naturally struggle at first against established strategies. The promise of innovation is that when you've figured out the deck, you'll spike up and win then. In traditional ranked systems though, innovation is a mistake: your rating will free-fall during the incubation time, and there's no guarantee you'll win that rating back. What's worse, if you do manage to create something truly unique, over time other players will adapt, and your rating gain during that time will slowly be erased.

With Wyldernook's ranked system, players lock in a deck and then have a chance to prove their skill with that deck. To climb, you can focus on being the better player moment to moment, or you can try to outsmart the meta with an unusual approach.

We've been cooking on this system for a while, and we're excited to finally put it in players' hands. But the real test starts now: we're curious to see what strategies you discover, how the system feels to play, and where it might need to evolve. Jump in, lock in your deck, and help us shape Ranked in Wyldernook!

Frequently Asked Questions

• The graphics for Ranked looked sketched, are these graphics final?

No. In the interests of getting this feature into players' hands as soon as possible, we're launching with our now-signature sketched in graphics. In a later season, the graphics will be updated to the final versions.

• Can I change a deck midway through a run?

No. The deck is locked in for the duration of the run and you will not be able to edit the cards in the deck from the deckbuilder.

• If I lose my first game of a run, should I just abandon the run and start over?

If you lose a game while in a run with zero wins and losses, the loss will be forgiven, to prevent players feeling the need abandon the run. Losses won't get tracked until you have at least 1 win.

• What happens if the season resets midway through my run?

Your run stays as-is, but your rank will be reset to Inkling 1 along with everybody else. If your current run has 3 or more wins, you have the option to immediately rank up to Inkling 2.

• How does matchmaking work in Ranked?

Matchmaking is based off of your current rank, and attempts to match players based off of that. There's a maximum range it'll match two players from. Additionally, in Ranked it will not match two players that have recently played each other.

• Can I get the same opponent multiple times in a run?

Yes, but we won't match you against the same opponent twice in a row in a single run. Down the line as the game grows, we may create a rule that you can't face the same opponent twice in a single run at all.

• Can I queue for Ranked at the same time as other modes?

Yes.

• How do sticker rewards work?

When you successfully complete a run, every card in the deck you won with gets a sticker for the rank you just unlocked. These stickers stay on the card forever. All non-starter cards can be traded.

• How does the card reward for first-time reaching a rank work?

The server will attempt to give you a random card of the specified rarity that you don't already own the max playable copies of (aka 2 for Rare or Epic, 1 for Legendaries). If you have collected every possible card of that rarity, the server will just give you a random one. These cards can be traded.

• How do the end-of-season booster pack rewards work?

You'll get the contents of your end-of-season standard booster packs, in a single animation window as if they were all opened at once. Booster packs don't have duplicate protection like the single cards do. Cards opened this way can be traded.

• How do the nameplate borders work?

Nameplate borders display for as long as you're that rank, i.e., when reset happens everybody loses their nameplate border until they re-earn it.

• How will leaderboards be displayed?

*Leaderboards are displayed by Rank, whoever is the highest ranked Loremaster will be displayed at the top. *

• Are there plans to be able to see previous season leaderboards?

Yes. Currently previous season leaderboards are not enabled, as there are no previous seasons.

• Will Ranked be time restricted like Court?

No & we've removed the time restrictions for Court!

• Will you get matched against the CPU if you are in a Ranked queue for a long time?

No, Ranked play will only be against other players.

• Will my profile show only current rank or past season ranks as a well?

We plan to show off both your current rank, as well as showing you your all-time highest rank as well.