Blizzard addresses Overwatch 2 competitive concerns with explanation about mode’s system

It's not only you getting placed lower than you expected.

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Though Overwatch 2 players may be frustrated with the game’s competitive mode, Blizzard has stepped forward to ensure that everything instated within the mode is working as intended.

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Following immense pushback from fans regarding the state of Overwatch 2’s second competitive season, Blizzard responded today with an understanding of the concerns, while also providing players with an explanation of how the competitive system functions. Much of these concerns stemmed from players feeling that they had been unfairly placed in a lower rank compared to where they ended the previous season.

“When a season begins, we apply some rank decay to all roles,” Blizzard wrote on the official Overwatch 2 Twitter. “Over the course of a season, players should climb back to ranks that represent their true skill level.”

Evidently, players in the replies to the tweet and on other social media platforms were unhappy with Blizzard’s response, feeling that not only is the grind back to stable skill expression more than monotonous but the rewards for such a grind are less than satisfying. Blizzard notably removed the SR system in Overwatch 2 to instead replace it with a new system of ranking up every seven wins, only rewarding players at the end of the season based on their highest rank of the three roles.

Overwatch 2’s competitive mode has been the subject of massive criticism from fans since the game’s early-access launch in October. Issues with initial placements and general matchmaking created difficult experiences for players. While some of these areas have been addressed, players have continued to voice their frustrations as to how different this high-stakes mode is from the original game.

Blizzard recently announced that, with the start of season two, players will receive exclusive name cards alongside Competitive Points at the end of each season. These cards can only be used for the following season and are given based on the rank that the player previously ended at.

The current competitive season is ongoing and will last until the end of Overwatch 2 season two, which is expected to end on Feb. 6. By completing the battle pass, players can earn rewards such as the Mythic skin Zeus Junker Queen and the new tank hero, Ramattra.

Author
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Ethan Garcia
Ethan Garcia is a freelance writer for Dot Esports, having been part of the company for three years. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Magazine Journalism from Syracuse University and specializes particularly in coverage of League of Legends, various Nintendo IPs, and beyond.