The Dirty Bomb Forums announce that Ranked Season 1 begins today in this online shooter from Splash Damage and Nexon, saying all who qualified for preseason trinkets should find them in their inventories over the next couple of days (thanks Patrick). They say you must reach level 7 to qualify, everyone will have to play 10 placement matches (though your preseason results will influence where you land), and they outline a new named ranking system, saying the number system was confusing." Here's more on what's new:

What Else Has Changed?

• Skill Limit Update - We're significantly tightening up the maximum allowed skill difference between players for more evenly matched games. While we will always match the closest available players, you might occasionally come across a difference of 3-5 Ranks.
• Rank Bracket Update - We've updated the point at which new players enter the system to the top of Bronze, rather than the top of Silver.
• Leaver Penalty - To discourage players from leaving Ranked games, anyone who leaves will no longer receive ANY credits at the end of the match. Previously they would leave with anything they had earned up until that point.
• Solo/Duo Queue - For this first Season, we'll be limiting queues to Solo/Duo. This is to prevent the majority of players who join as Solo coming up against 5-Player pre-made Parties. We plan to re-introduce full 5vs5 Ranked play with a few improvements as soon as we can, as we consider organised teamplay the lifeblood of Dirty Bomb. For a greater breakdown on the change, check out this forum post.
• Disabled AU & Asia Regions - We will be disabling the AU and Asia regions in Ranked play for the time being, to avoid overly long queue times due to the smaller player counts in these regions