Battle.net

Attention, StarCraft II ladder warriors! Season 3 is now locked.

At the end of each ladder season, leagues are “locked,” which means players can no longer be promoted or demoted out of their current league or division, and bonus pools will stop growing. That’s no reason to quit playing: even after leagues are locked, players will still be able to play out their remaining bonus pool and compete for standing within their divisions until the season ends two weeks later. The matchmaking skill ratings which determine league promotion and demotion will also continue to update during the lock, so games played during the lock still count toward Season 4 league placement.

Now that the lock is in effect, Season 3 will soon come to an end. We’ll be turning over to Season 4 during the week of October 24. Season milestone rewards will be awarded and bonus pools will reset with the beginning of the new season. Hidden skill ratings used for matchmaking and league placement will carry over from the previous season though, so players who have completed placement matches in a previous season will only need to play one new placement match after Season 4 starts.

Beginning with Season 4, two changes are coming to future ladder seasons:

• Seasons will now last for approximately two months.
• Grandmaster league placement time will be reduced to one week (from two weeks) to account for the reduced season length.