Official Season 4 Gear Requirements

[Concillian]

The effect is obvious; more people will just stop playing arenas, leading to a deflation in point values, making it even harder to get the ratings, possibly leading to even more people quitting.

Ought to be interesting. :)

I don't think that's the only effect that will make the ratings more difficult to attain...

"If a character’s personal rating is more than 150 points below the team rating, they will earn points based on their personal rating instead of the team rating."

This means that a player cannot join a highly rated team and begin earning points based purely on the pre-established rating of the team before they joined it. They'll need to compete, improve, and gain a personal rating worthy of the points they would receive.

This is going to cycle an even larger number of inappropriate matchups through the lower ranks, making then 1500-1700 range even more impacted than it is and even more difficult to surpass than it is.