Blizzard’s own Scott Mercer took to Battle.net recently to announce a range of changes that will be tested on the PTR for Overwatch. While they had the dilemma of deciding how each player’s skill rating would be determined, Blizzard has found the solution to this, as well as some pretty neat changes to boot.
A simple yet effective change comes in the form of lower downtime between seasons. What this means is that there will now only be a week between the end of one season, and the start of the next. Not only this, but Overwatch players will be blessed with an in-game countdown signifying the start of the next season. We can’t really say that this is what anyone was asking for, but hey, can’t complain about a free countdown timer, right?
The biggest change discussed is the changes to skill rating, and how this will be reflected at the start of each season. A lot of players had problems with how broken the ranking system was in parts, with most players filling the gold and platinum divisions, and there being very few in silver and bronze. The overcrowding was a result of some kind of miscalculation in part, where resetting players ranks at the start of a season led to their higher placements.
While nobody complained about being high ranked, the complaints followed after players began drastically dropping in rank. This was due to such a high range of skill in gold and platinum, which Mercer admits isn’t what they wanted. It was decided that players won’t have their skill rating completely reset at the start of the season, meaning you get the perks of a fresh start, as well as fair and justified matchups.
Another aspect to competitive that will be different is the starting skill rank, which will be lowered slightly so that players’ skill rating gains will be higher. Mercer said that they will keep a close eye on its success in the PTR, and may have to make more changes before its release.
Season two of competitive Overwatch will end on Nov. 24, and season three will commence a week later on Dec. 1.
Do you think these changes will improve Overwatch’s competitive? Leave a comment down below, or tweet us @GAMURScom.
Jordan Aldridge-Payne is an esports journalist for GAMURS and can be reached on Twitter @mrjordanap.
