Overwatch’s seventh competitive season has ended.
The Overwatch offseason will last just a few days, and the eighth competitive season will begin on Dec. 31. Player progress in season seven was halted on Dec. 28 when the competitive queue closed.
Related: Changes to Blizzard’s skill rating system are coming in Overwatch’s eighth competitive season
Season eight, when it begins, will have some changes that affect the way skill rating works. Overwatch principal designer Scott Mercer outlined these adjustments in early December. Players can expect to be matched with players with similar SR, as Blizzard has limited the maximum SR difference between the “highest SR player on a team and the lowest SR player on the same team,” Mercer said.
Simply put, there should just be less of a gap between teammate SR in Overwatch matches.
Mercer initially noted the change would go live on Jan. 2 after Blizzard’s holiday break. But with the next competitive season starting in two days, it’s unclear if the changes will be live imminently.
Players in diamond and above will see additional changes for SR gained or lost during a match. The personal performance SR system in Overwatch has been controversial in the past, as Blizzard has not disclosed exactly how it works. Personal SR will be turned off for diamond-tiered players and above.
