Is It Easier to Reach Legend Late in the Season? Hearthstone Star Bonus and Matchmaking Explained!

Is the star bonus based on your MMR or solely on the rank achieved?

The worst thing is finding exceptional legend players at really low ranks like Bronze, this seems to happen all the time despite attempts to stop it. I don't get it, but I just get beaten up and struggle to get into Silver.

I play very casual the ladder, yet I'm getting 7 star bonus for reaching gold last season.
I don't don't if it's done so I can catch my past rank and continue climbing? But honestly I'm not interested, nor have the time to play.

I got 7 stars. I won all my games in a row and got fire bonus. My first bonus gave me 14 stars. Then 12, then 10, ect. I got back to where I started in just a few games. It doesn't subtract a star for each lvl you gain, just that you gained. So I was gaining multiple levels and only losing 1 star yet I was on fire so I was getting double the amount.

Technically if you’re outside of legend it doesn’t take a snapshot the moment the ladder resets. It uses you highest rank you’ve reached in the season. But since there are floors it doesn’t effect the star bonus. It only affects the dust reward. For example you get slightly more dust if you reach D3 instead of D5.

But when I’m in legend. I’ve definitely been matched up against Diamond players (I were grinding achievements and ran out of legend players to play against).

Heya man, I had a question, what would you say is the most enjoyable way to get as many unlock in the mercenaries mode without spending too much - and get every mercenaries ?

Good explanation with the pictures 👍

Star bonus has a lot more going for it than your end-of-season rank.
I've been lazy these last couple of seasons. I don't play Hearthstone very much. When I do play, I play to win.
Despite finishing last season with a Gold rank, I have a star bonus of x10 for this season.
My average winrate is ~65%. I have opponents who play Legend level, while I'm in bronze.

Thanks for clarification.
My 2 cents: I feel this stars-based system frustrating.
I'm a Legend player, I got Legend in the last 20 months but I never received 11 stars.
This means every month I face a relaxing climb until Diamond 5 (relaxing = I can accept a 50% win-rate to climb), but at Dia5 I need to do 16 wins more than loses.
16 wins could appear not too much. But, mathematically speaking, let's assume a 60% win-rate that is actually good against people of your level. I'd need 80 games (48-32) just to climb from Dia5 to Legend. That is: just to confirm my level.
With an even more reasonable but still excellent 55% win-rate I'd need 160 games to confirm my level. With the ideal 50% win-rate I just don't confirm my level. This is completely stupid. And, above all, it forces you to do this grind every month, otherwise you will lose even more stars.
In Starcraft2, for example, the rank is based on MMR only, it's maintained from a season to another one and you don't lose it if for some reason you can't play for a season. You always face people of your MMR since the basic idea is that everyone must always have a perfect 50% win-rate, because you are always facing people of your level (from Low Bronze to Top Grandmaster). Not that you must have an over 50% win-rate just to maintain your level.

I have a question - i reached legend before, and when i was there, i often meet non legend players. So how do we reconcile the fact that we should be playing weaker players late season if you could end up being matched with legend when you are at diamond 4 for example

I havent been able to get past diamond 5