The current ranked play system in Heroes of the Storm is basic at best, and completely ineffective at worst. Its not infrequent to meet players that are of a similar rank to you, yet in a completely different league skill-wise, both positive and negative.
With the upcoming June 14 ranked play revamp these issues should all be a thing of the past as Heroes of the Storm is adapting a system very similar to the proven and tested one from Starcraft 2, and best of all, there are some nifty prizes for those that decided to push through the ranks.
The new system will divide the general playerbase in to five tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamon), with each of those having five sub-divisions within them. In order to advance from tier to tier you will need to battle your way from the 5th division to the 1st, and then successfully complete your promotion match which will then push you up to the next tier - 5th division. Naturally, if you perform poorly enough and drop all the way to the 5th division, and then continue to plummet, you might find yourself facing a demotion down to the previous tier.
On the other hand, the very best players will inhabit their own little ecosystem in the Master and Grand Master leagues. Once you manage to reach the Master League you will no longer have to worry about tiers and divisions, instead its all going to be about your overall rating (MMR). Finally, the 500 best players from the Master League will be elevated to the lofty Grand Master League where the only number on display will be their position on the regional ladder.
As you might expect with any serious matchmaking system, there are some restrictions when it comes to ranked play. First of all, you will only be able to party up with players that are within a single tier from you, so for example a player in Gold will only be able to group up with players from Silver 5 through Platinum 1. The second, and much more important restriction, is that silenced players will not be able to play ranked until their penalty expires. Hopefully this will curb at least some of the pointless anger that tends to occur in any competitive MOBA match.
Blizzard has also released the rewards for the currently on-going pre-season that will finish on June 14. Depending on your rank within the Hero League / Team League you will be granted a certain amount of gold, a portrait exclusive to your standing, and if you're good enough, two rather amazing looking wolves to ride around as mounts. They haven't announced any of the rewards for Season 1, but I'd imagine you can expect to see something similar to these ones.
On a final, and completely unrelated note, I just want to highlight a Blizzard employee bringing down the righteous hammer on a player who's complaining about being unable to join the ranked mode because he's constantly being unfairly silenced:
"[Player Name], the reason you've been reported for abusive chat appears to be for colorful expression of harassment toward your teammates (nothing to do with your team picks). Not surprisingly, your appeal contained the same type of behavior, and our Game Masters determined that it would be prudent to continue your silence.
This is one of the *cleaner* games I found that had content we actually felt comfortable sharing. Keep in mind that the tone you've chosen to use is often MUCH worse:
4/24/2016 22:47 deal some [removed] siege damage
4/24/2016 22:47 gg
4/24/2016 22:47 afk
4/24/2016 22:51 can you all stop sucking please
4/24/2016 22:55 you are all [removed]
4/24/2016 22:55 great game losers
Your account is not currently silenced, but does have some reported complaints already. Hopefully this notice provided you enough incentive/lead time to consider the consequences if the abusive chat continues."