Guild Wars 2 news » Test Your Mettle in the Second Player vs. Player Ladder Test Season

We’re excited to announce the kickoff of our second PvP Ladder Test Season, starting Friday, March 20, at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (16:00 UTC) and ending Thursday, May 14, at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (16:00 UTC). Participate to win prizes—including glory, bragging rights, and double the Mini Llamas—and help us continue to polish the matchmaking and ranking systems.

With the help of the feedback we received from the inaugural Ladder Test Season we ran from December to January, we’ve gone ahead and made careful changes to the algorithm that determines player positions on the PvP Ranked Arena leaderboard. In the newest version of this system, we’re putting a much stronger focus on wins, with less weight given to the sheer number of games played over a period of time. This means that simply having the most games played during the season will not guarantee high placement on the leaderboard—you’ll need to win those games, too! Additionally, we’re going to increase the length of our next season to eight total weeks in order to gather data on how the algorithm performs over a longer period of time.

Have you ever sat there admiring a Mini Llama and thought that it’d be so much cuter and fancier if it sported a bow tie, monocle, or top hat—or possibly all three? Well, my friends, the time has come. Once this next test season has concluded, you’ll be able to approach Zommoros, carefully place a few Mini Llamas together in a scientific (and hopefully humane) fashion, and combine them to create the ultimate form of cuteness and fuzziness. Mini Llamas that you received prior to the Ladder Test Seasons can also go through this transformation, so don’t let any that you may already have in your possession run away!

As we draw closer to the season’s end, more information will become available on how you can grow your Mini Llama into a model of dapperness. Until then, good luck, and we’ll see you in the Mists!