At the very end of the first season, yes. I remember this posting did a lot to draw players back into Feast at the end of Season 1, because Shatter was so utterly boring that no one wanted to play it. It was fantastic, because queue times went from a hour + to 5 or 10 minutes.
Before that, though, queues were nearly dead. I waited in hour long queues just to get into one or two matches a night. A lot of players were practically locked into whatever rank they had before Shatter came out, because there just wasn't enough activity. There were quite a few posts about it right here in the forums.
I've been curious about this as well, because I wasn't sure how the lack of new incentives would effect the community. I've been happy to see, so far, that people are still playing regardless of their position last season. It would seem that they still give a damn, especially with all the salt over new players costing vets their matches. There have been a few absent faces, but by in large it's been a half decent turn out. It's good to see people playing for enjoyment of the game mode, rather than just purely for rewards ... though it does kind of suck that there isn't additional incentives for repeat performances... Maybe they should put in a hall of fame or something?
