[TheGentleman]

Season 8 lock and big changes for next season.

Season naming convention changed:

Naming system of seasons now changed. They will now be referred to by year and season number. E.g. 2012 Season 3 rather than Season 8.

Season numbers are starting to climb, so we will be changing the way seasons are named. Starting now, each season will get a year tag as well as a season number. For example, last season would have been 2012 Season 3, while the upcoming season will be 2012 Season 4.

Season 8 lock and next seasons start date:

Season 8 (2012 Season 3): is locked and will end September 11th. [link]
2012 Season 4: will begin on September 12th.

We are aware that this date is different from the one previously projected and displayed in the StarCraft II client and for that we apologize. The original expectation was for the season lock to occur on August 25, however the new tools implemented in patch 1.5.0 for handling upcoming season rolls did not function as we had anticipated. That being said, this season will now officially lock on September 4 and come to a conclusion on September 11 with the start of Season 4.

Ladder Map Changes:

1v1:

• Tal'darim Altar LE: Rocks from third bases removed from all starting locations. (Blizzard Image | wiki link)

3v3:

• Arakan Citadel Removed. (wiki link)
• Frontier Removed. (wiki link)
• Silent Dunes Added (New map!) (Blizzard Image)
• Monsoon Added. (wiki link)

4v4:

• Extinction Removed. (wiki link)
• Toxic Slums Removed. (wiki link)
• High Ground Added (wiki link)
• Megaton Added. (wiki link)

+ [Tal'darim Altar LE (without rocks on third)] +

+ [New Map: Silent Dunes Map.] +

Ladder Tier Removal:

All StarCraft 2 divisions will no longer be in tiers (so that one division may have more skilled players than others). Instead as of 2012 Season 4 division tiers will be removed and your rank in the division will represent where you are compared to all divisions. So if you are Rank 2 Diamond you're in the top 2% of all Diamonds, similarly Rank 50 Platinum is the top 50% of the Platinum league, etcetera, etcetera...

Currently not all divisions within a League are created equal. Individual divisions are actually assigned to different “tiers”, and players are assigned to tiers based on skill. This system hasn't been very transparent, making it difficult to determine your next promotion. For example, if you’re in a lower tiered Diamond division, just getting to Rank 1 doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll see a promotion soon.

With the goal of increasing transparency for ladder players, we’re removing tiers from the ladder with the commencement of 2012 Season 4. The removal of tiers from all leagues will allow players to better gauge exactly where they’re at on the ladder and how far away they are from the next league.

After this change, climbing to (for example) Rank 2 Diamond will mean that you are in the top 2% of all Diamond players, and you are very close to moving into the Master League. Similarly, Rank 50 Platinum is in the top 50% in the Platinum league, and so forth.

Source: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/715...eason-9_6_2012