Despite its successful launch, Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt’s ranked mode queue times have skyrocketed as popularity has declined, leading to the devs disabling it entirely.
While Sharkmob’s Vampire: The Masquerade-inspired battle royale, Bloodhunt, ushers in a new era of BR, the game’s ranked mode has left a lot to be desired.
As players stray away from playing competitively, Kindred from every corner of the globe have been stuck waiting in hour-long queues, oftentimes giving up before they actually get into the game.
Following backlash, Sharkmob have completely suspended ranked, promising that it will return new and improved with Bloodhunt’s next update.
Bloodhunt ranked disabled as queue times soar
A brief glance at the official Bloodhunt Reddit sees hordes of players posting their insanely long wait times when trying to get a game in ranked mode.
“I’m committed at this point,” writes one, whose queue time sits at a somewhat impressive 1 hour, 17 minutes, and 37 seconds. Another echoes this with “one day…” having waited 1 hour and 21 seconds.
Following the mode’s rapid decline, Sharkmob confirmed in a May 25 tweet that they would be disabling it until the June Update, noting “after careful evaluation, we have decided to pause Ranked mode temporarily until the new update arrives.
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“We hope the new balance changes and gamepad improvements will increase the mode’s popularity again and make matchmaking viable once more.”
Hello Bloodhunt Community! After careful evaluation, we have decided to pause Ranked mode temporarily until the new update arrives. We hope the new balance changes and gamepad improvements will increase the mode's popularity again and make matchmaking viable once more. pic.twitter.com/hevBckuhSP
— Bloodhunt (@Bloodhunt) May 25, 2022
“Great news honestly,” comments one fan. “I don’t think the game necessarily needs ranked unless it’s ready and enjoyable. This makes me want to play the game more.”
“It was too early to bring it in to start with, so this is a good move,” replies another. “There are a lot of things that need fixing as a priority, as honestly, the game is just not as fun as it was in early access at present. The escalating queue times need addressing – maybe add back the cultist bots.”
As Sharkmob continue to develop the game’s ranked system to make it more attractive to competitive players, it’ll be interesting to see how it shapes up post-June update. Until then, though, you’ll still be able to haunt the streets of Prague in Solo Bloodhunt, Duos, or Trios.