Ranked is mega unpopular even though it offers the same rewards as Unranked

[Eisi]

Why don't players like Ranked?

I find it way more fun than the chaotic and kinda silly Unranked.

[MintnHoney]

Why don't players like Ranked?

You have the reason right in the title. Why put pressure on yourself to play a ranked mode when you can just play an unranked mode for the same rewards and not feel judged for it?

[Eisi]

You have the reason right in the title. Why put pressure on yourself to play a ranked mode when you can just play an unranked mode for the same rewards and not feel judged for it?

Why do you think the pressure and the feeling of being judged is there in Ranked but not Unranked?

I judge people in Unranked all the time!

[Balmung_Griffin]

Because losing at unranked doesn't make you feel like you're going one step forward, five step backwards.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Why people play Unranked over Ranked:
1.) No rank restrictions, so faster queues
2.) Same reward for way less effort required
3.) Nobody's rank is on the line, so low pressure
4.) Easier to have fun if you sit on the higher end of skill in a match

If Ranked has a bunch of restrictions and pressure points, you need to incentivise it.

Right now the most active Ranked players are those who already are at the high end of the skill gap, seeking occasionally intense matches. Or they just scrim in Custom Match for 3rd Party tournaments.

[Kansene]

I play CC either when super bored, or to get stickers for my book, so casual feels appropriate.

[Bluish]

Ranked is far more interesting than casual! From my experience the ranking system makes it very addictive; the gambling element is really there. Ranked is also much more aggressive and toxic which can be testing for those who respond to such things emotionally. You are not likely to make any friends there since everyone is sus and you literally cannot tell who is a friend or a foe (this is further complicated by tons of alts). It gets worse the closer to the top you are, you will know you are high enough once the hellos stop complately. Players fear being ostracized and rightfully so! It's very understandable. Regardless, I do wish more laid back people would join and dilute all the toxicity. I just wouldn't want anyone to do that at the expense to their mental health <3

Unranked IS kinda silly but great for practicing. Also it helps to go for a few unranked matches or frontlines before ranked cc simply to detach emotionally and get into the swing of it. I'm not sure if there is a need to say this but for those who are planning on doing ranked, stay away from discord and pvp community unless vulgar and dodgy behaviour are to your taste...or you want to test your stoic stance.

If you are playing ranked cc on regular, at least ask yourself, how addicted do you consider yourself to be and what is the element that you find most compelling. I find that there is no other content that pushes you this hard to respond fast and make quick decisions in a changing environment, the margin of error is huge and every team member owns a fair chunk of it but that is what makes it fun.

[Elfidan]

Listen if you aren't going to fix ranked, they need to at least fix the match making for unranked. Minute and a half matches because one team has long time players and the other has all new players isn't fun for anyone and it hurts retention. Also stupid things like stacking on team with mass CC and the other with little to none feels bad. For me this is just a failure to incentivize and moderate. Two things SE is known for failing at.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Small addendum, we are currently close to the end of season, so this also puts a dent on queue times.

[Ransu]

Because losing at unranked doesn't make you feel like you're going one step forward, five step backwards.

Its a 1 for 1 system... You lose 1 star or gain 1 star. The only difference is if you're on a win streak then you win 2 stars. Its literally the most friendly ranked system ever. You don't even de rank out of a tier till like plat or something.

I personally don't see the point in pvping unless its ranked. You gain nothing from unranked and the lack of some kind of matchmaking makes the matches way more wild because you get people who want to try and you get people who don't care at all.

Square needs to make a decision with small scale pvp and have a single mode. Either remove unranked or remove ranked. PvP isn't popular enough to split the queues the way they do. Personally I'd prefer if they removed unranked and then they went back to the first version of ranking for CC so its casual enough for casuals to make their way through the tiers because you can't fall out of any tier you enter and with the crystal ranked having its own point system for the higher end skills. Feel like that would be a good middle ground.

Listen if you aren't going to fix ranked, they need to at least fix the match making for unranked. Minute and a half matches because one team has long time players and the other has all new players isn't fun for anyone and it hurts retention. Also stupid things like stacking on team with mass CC and the other with little to none feels bad. For me this is just a failure to incentivize and moderate. Two things SE is known for failing at.

The mode needs a best of 3 type rounds imo.