8-25-2022 Ladder Fairness Update
We have changed the intervals of teams which can be challenged when you participate in a ladder competition. In a ladder, you can challenge teams above you, and as you progress upward the number of teams you can challenge will narrow. By design, there have always been certain bottlenecks in ladders where it becomes harder to find an opponent, since you are a point where your selection is smaller while the teams just behind you still have a bigger selection. We have made a number of changes to make these bottlenecks less painful, primarily by adding more intervals, especially within the top 200 positions in a ladder. We also fixed a bug which caused some teams with lower rankings to get smaller selections.
These bottlenecks have been especially noteworthy in the Anniversary Ladder competition, given its size and the fact that it operates at a higher speed.
Given this, we have decided to extend the Anniversary Ladder. Teams that end at the top on the original finish date will receive their prizes, but we will also have a new end date at the end of 2022 - four more months in which everyone will get a chance to grab a new set of prizes.
These fixes are already in effect, and apply to all ladders.