2014 Ladder Season 1 is drawing to a close, and all ladders will be locked soon as we approach the second season of 2014 ladder play.

Here’s what this means for you:

• During the 2014 Season 1 lock, you can’t be promoted or demoted from your current league or division, and your bonus pool stops growing.
• Though you’ll be locked to a league and division, you'll still be able to play out your remaining bonus pool and compete for standing within your division until the end of the season.
• If you're pursuing a league promotion, then you still have a chance to get there. The 2014 Season 1 lock will go into effect for the Americas region of Battle.net on Monday, April 7 at 12:01 a.m. PDT.

The hidden ratings used to determine promotions and demotions will continue to be used for matchmaking purposes, and will continue to update during the 2014 Season 1 lock. So if you play significantly better or worse than your assigned league at the time of the lock, you may find yourself in a different league when 2014 Season 2 begins (after you play your first placement match). Your games during the lock still count.

The second season of 2014 ladder competition will begin at 12:01 a.m. PDT on Monday, April 14. Season milestone rewards will be locked in at this time, and bonus pools will reset. The game will continue doing matchmaking and league placement using results from the previous season.

A couple of days before the season roll, we will also be applying a free character name change to all accounts that do not have one available at that time. Character name changes do not stack (you can only have one free name change at a time), so if you’ve been thinking about changing your name in StarCraft II, you have until Friday, April 11 to make that decision.

To learn more about this year’s ladder season and related subjects, check out our recent Ladder Maps Update, the Multiplayer and eSports discussion forum, and our League, Ladders, and Seasons FAQ.