Right now, ranked feels invisible. Grind games, improve your mechanics, learn matchups, and… an arbitrary MMR rating goes up. No Bronze, Silver, Gold, Mythic-style progression.
Ranked badges matter because they create motivation outside of pure numbers. Most players don’t remember exact MMR values — they remember the feeling of hitting Gold, Diamond, or Mythic. Badges make progression tangible and rewarding.
How it will help our community:
• Player Retention - Rewards motivate players (especially new players) to keep playing and striving for the next tier or badge. Without them, progression feels flat, and interest fades quickly.
• Healthy Competition - Leagues create natural brackets where players compete against others of similar skill, making matches more balanced and enjoyable.
• Community Growth - Achievements and badges give players something to showcase, encouraging them to share progress and highlights with friends.
• Identity & Pride - Badges and achievements allow players to build a visible identity within the community, strengthening loyalty to the game.
• Marketing Boost - Casual players are already grinding the single-player co‑op mode because it offers rewards. They frequently post screenshots of these rewards on social media, which organically promotes the game and attracts new players. Not only can having players post screenshots of ranked rewards attract new players, but it can also attract casual players to ranked gameplay, increasing long-term player retention.
Almost every successful competitive game understands this:
League, AoE4, Valorant, and CS.
Retold already has the gameplay depth to support a strong competitive scene and a connected community that motivates each other. Seeing your own, your friends’, or your rivals’ ranked crest evolve adds prestige and identity that goes beyond “number go up”.
MMR alone is functional. Ranked badges make it feel meaningful.
If devs want this game to thrive, this should get implemented.
A lot of people prefer some sort of a reward for the time invested into the game. Rewards could also be myth inspired which would go hand in hand with the theme of the game. Really hoping this get the attention it deserves and we can all have good time playing this game.
While ranked badges can help, i think system league similar to Path of exile will attract more players. The majority of players play PvE rather than PvP. And creating consistent content for player to play with reward system is way more attractive for the player base. Adding better system for ranked is a good thing as well, it will affect and attract less people but will be good QOL.
I completely disagree. Ranked badges mainly matter to people who don’t actually play the game. For active ranked players, MMR already says everything that needs to be said.
Badges are just simplified wrappers over the same number. They may help viewers or outsiders understand progression more easily, but for the ranked community itself they’re mostly unnecessary noise.
I’d much rather see development time spent on matchmaking, balance, spectator tools, and tournaments than on cosmetic progression systems.
The idea is to encourage ladder activity for higher and lower level players, as well as newcomers who are just trying out ranked. It provides an incentive to participate rather than tying their entire experience to the campaign.
As much as I agree with what you suggested, from what we’ve seen so far, if there aren’t enough players on the ladder, the devs are unlikely to make any major changes. However, if things shift and more people start flowing into the ladder, there’s a possibility that the issues you mentioned will be taken more seriously. Hence the idea of introducing badges, ranked rewards, and similar incentives.