Overwatch 2 is one of the most well-known competitive FPS titles on the market, and while it gives players a ton of free gameplay to grind and fun times to be had, for competitive gamers, there’s something that still needs work.
The rank system has a massive list of placements to get. You’ll have to grind your way through seven wins for each rank, all the way to Grand Master. But, even within the designated ranks of Gold, Silver, and Bronze, there are a few levels within these placements to trek through before you reach the very top of the ladder.
All OW2 players are seeing right now are the seven wins they have to get to determine their next rank. But the seven wins seem to be “extremely unrewarding” for some in the scene, especially on the main Overwatch Reddit forum.
‘Clarity’ and ‘grind’ the biggest player issues with Overwatch 2 ranked
The competitive rank system is different from the previous iteration, in that it doesn’t show how close you are to a rank up. Players have to go through seven wins to see their next rank, and if you lose more than seven, you’ll more than likely go down a rank or stay at the same point.
Like most modern games, Overwatch has a rank reset every season. Usually, when that switch is pulled by the Blizzard boffins, a giant collection of players get put into a rank, and after a few weeks, you’ll either make your way back up to what you were before or get destroyed to the point that you de-rank to where you should’ve been.
That ranked reset, and the system itself, is “unrewarding,” players say.
One OW2 gamer said in the Jan. 15 thread: “Just wait until you get de-ranked next season and they expect you to do it all over again,” and it’s a reasonably fair point; the whole grind can be obsolete as the season comes to an end.
The biggest issue they highlighted was that, in most cases, players don’t have the slightest inkling of how close they are to a rank-up until it’s already happened. The rules are confusing, and OW2 players want to know how it works exactly. “What is annoying is that even if you win more than you lose you still may not rank up,” one Redditor pointed out.
Overwatch players want OW1 system back
This brought players all the way back to the release of OW2.
When the second installment was released, players expected more of a difference between the first game and OW2’s competitive system. “I thought OW2 was gunna (sic) expand upon and have more features not less,” said one player.
Overwatch 1 had a feature where you could see how close you were to ranking up based on the number of points you had. This mechanic has cut that out completely, making it incredibly hard to gauge where’ll you’ll be placed. Maybe, many of the Overwatch gamers demanded, it’s time for the devs to “use OW1’s system, instead of this uniquely bad 7W/20L take.”
This could be something that’s changed over time, other players suggested.
To be fair, the Overwatch 2 devs have mixed up the FPS as time’s gone on, so it is possible. Blizzard has added new characters, maps, changes, and modes to test out, all in a bid to freshen up the sequel in new ways. There’s always a chance they rethink their competitive strategy too, and may even bring back the old ways.
