Update: It became necessary to revert the match making changes discussed below. Please refer to the official forums for details.

We’ve been closely monitoring the quality of our matchmaking since StarCraft II was released to make sure that the ladder offers the most exciting and finely tuned competitive experience possible. It’s been a great success, and because of the small skill gap between competing players, most games are tightly contested. While it’s awesome that most games are very close, this also means that both players need to constantly be at the top of their games, because the slightest mistake usually means defeat. While we think this is a fun way to play, we’re not sure if it’s fun for every match to be this way.

As a one-season experiment, we will be slightly relaxing the matchmaking settings in Season 7 to introduce more variety into the ladder. In practical terms, this means you won't always be evenly matched with your opponent. You'll regularly compete with players at slightly higher or lower skill levels, resulting in what should be a more well-rounded experience. These adjustments to the matchmaking system could also result in some players earning faster league promotions for  stringing together wins against higher-ranked opponents.

As always, we will be monitoring the effects of these changes and tweaking the settings to improve the matchmaking system going forward. We’re excited to hear about your experiences and we’re looking forward to your feedback about these changes once Season 7 begins.

See you on the ladder!