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The season for Hearthstone just ended and I got downranked. Last night my rank was 4 or 5, but when I logged on this morning I got my season chests, but then when I went to play my rank was 7, at least 2 steps down from my previous rank.

Is this some kind of regular thing that players are downranked at the end of each season?

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This is the expected behavior while playing ranked matches in Hearthstone. At the end of each season, your rank is reset to 4 ranks lower from the highest rank you achieved during the season. The player's rank is reset this way to allow for better matchmaking and fairness when it comes to skill level when the seasons reset.

Prior to the rank updates in March 2018, at the end of each season, players would start out in the new between rank 25 and rank 16. However, this logic resulted in unfair matches with experienced who achieved Legendary rank vs in-experienced players who are just starting out. The post-March 2018 update brought balance the matchmaking in order to match players who are on the same skill level.

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  • Hmm, ok I will accept this answer. What is the logic of the downranking?
    – Tyler Durden
    Oct 1, 2019 at 14:11
  • @TylerDurden The HS wiki says players are reset 4 ranks lower than the highest rank they achieved during the season. Did you at any point get to rank 3 during the season?
    – Roijan says reinstate Monica
    Oct 1, 2019 at 14:30
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    @TylerDurden Why they downrank is kind of a dev/design question, but my guess is to give every player a fresh start at the beginning of each season. I did update my answer to provide why the downraking system works the way it does
    – Wondercricket
    Oct 1, 2019 at 14:40
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    also to allow for inactivity. Inactive players would automatically slowly progress to lower ranks, making room for more active players at similar skill.
    – StampedeXV
    Oct 1, 2019 at 15:21

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