Deadlock Hero Unlocks. Twenty-One Hours to Play One Hero in Ranked?

Deadlock hero unlocks require 35 points per hero as of Ranked Beta Season 2. Valve gives you two for a win and one for a loss. Seven wins and 21 losses averaging 45 minutes each come to 21 hours for one hero. I have a job, other obligations and more than half the roster still locked for Ranked. Am I really supposed to give up that much time just to play Billy for rank? To me, that's fucking absurd. Valve, Ranked - Beta Season 2

Sixty wins open Ranked. Every hero has a separate gate

Valve set Ranked eligibility at 60 Standard wins and at least three unlocked heroes. A hero previously took 15 Standard wins. On November 5, Valve replaced that hero-specific requirement with 35 points. A loss moves that hero's counter by one and a win by two. A Standard win on that hero also goes toward your account's 60, so you can work on both requirements in the same games. Valve, Matchmaking Update · Valve, Season 2 rules

I understand why Valve wants you to know your hero before you bring them into Ranked. I also understand why losses should count. The old 15-win rule took roughly 30 games if you won about half. You can now finish in 23. After a rough evening, I still look at my hero screen and see hours between me and being allowed to pick them in a match that counts.

Where do the 21 hours come from?

I counted Standard matches on one hero from zero to 35 points. An October sample based on the community's Deadlock API put unranked Standard games at 38 minutes and 32 seconds on average. The second time column assumes longer games at 45 minutes each. Queue time and time between games are extra. Standard match duration data

At a 50% win rate, reaching 60 account wins takes about 120 games, or about 77 hours of match time at that sample average. You can unlock heroes during those matches. Every additional hero with zero progress starts another counter. That repetition is what puts me off. I want to play a couple of Ranked games after work. The system gives me every reason to play a hero I already have. Players raised similar concerns on Steam when the first version of these rules came out. Steam player discussion

Four bans, a narrow pool and a meta that moves faster than my progress

Valve increased the number of Ranked bans from three to four in Season 2. It also raised the base match value from 300 to 350 Rank Points. Those points go toward your rank, on a separate counter from hero unlocks. With only a handful of heroes available, I have fewer useful options when one is banned or the lineup needs something else. I can win with a weaker pick. I still resent starting at a disadvantage when adapting to the patch means another set of evenings in Standard. Valve, Ranked changes

Drifter is one of the strongest assassins at punishing isolated players, in my experience. On October 30, Valve raised his base weapon damage by 3%, improved Bloodscent T3 and extended Eternal Night T3. On November 4, Valve shortened Celeste’s Dazzling Trick T3 silence and increased Shining Wonder’s cooldown from 160 to 170 seconds. Drifter was untouched in that patch. Our November 5 snapshot covers 30 days of Ranked. Drifter is in A with a 50.7% win rate and Celeste is in B with 49.1%. Those games span several patches. Drifter makes me rethink solo rotations and whether a teammate can cover me. Celeste felt manageable before those cuts. Valve, Halloween and November 4 patch notes · UltimateMove Ranked tier list

Then there's melee. It's where I feel the biggest skill gap. Spacing, baiting a heavy attack, timing the parry and getting out after the trade all matter. I get frustrated when a durable hero can close the gap, survive the response and still take me out in that same exchange. Halloween increased Billy's Rising Ram T3 max-health bonus and shortened Blasted's cooldown. It also weakened Rebuttal's parry cooldown reduction and gave Torment Pulse more melee resistance. Both sides got tools. I want Valve to react faster when a hero has too little reason to back off after a bad engage. Valve, hero and item changes

My first game on Billy

While the update was rolling out, the game briefly let me take Billy into Ranked even though I normally had him locked. It was my first game on Billy. I won, and I played well. One match is the whole sample. The point is that I already know things that carry over between heroes. I can read the map, recognise when a fight is turning and tell when going in just hands the other team free souls. Another player might need more practice. The 35-point counter treats us the same.

Replay #131881587 confirms the win in 37:52. Billy finished 8/5/13, with six of those eight kills logged as melee. Rem and I were assigned to the same lane. By six minutes, the match data recorded 52 total teammate healing from Rem. He finished with 13 444. Early lane and the full match tell different stories. The aggregate does not identify the recipient of that healing. Open the match in UDRA

From my seat, Rem started playing for his own rotation early. I stayed in lane and felt I was losing access to shared resources too. At six minutes I led 4,882 to 3,588 souls. By nine minutes, Rem was on 7 050and I was on 5 897. By then he had earned 1,067 souls from neutralsto my 406. The farm swing is visible. Those totals do not identify who took specific camps or establish the cause of the gap. I still have a question for Valve. What gives a player a reason to stay and help their lane partner when rotating alone can put them ahead on economy so quickly?

Other games have entry requirements too. Riot requires level 30, at least 20 champions and 10 Swiftplay or Normal Draft games to enter Ranked in League of Legends. That entry rule checks account experience and roster breadth. Deadlock also puts a separate counter on each hero I want to add after I've already qualified. Riot Games, unlocking game modes

Keep a single account gate for Ranked. Once I clear it, let me learn new heroes in the mode I actually want to play. If Valve wants a separate basics check, a short set of completed games with credit for earlier matches would do. Right now I can spend another evening on the same picks or put time into Billy's counter. That makes me less inclined to launch Deadlock at all.

See how my Standard match for Victor’s unlock points played out.