The latest season of Overwatch 2 is live, bringing another new hero to the game alongside many other changes to both the heroes and the game as a whole. But when fans logging in for the first time looked at what rank they are starting at, it led to confusion and a little bit of anger.
Even after the previous controversy with the new ranking system and how it changes in between seasons, a recent rank change has led to some players logging into season four to see they’re a full rank below where they used to be.
Before you start to get angry about being placed lower than you should be, just know that this is an attempt to balance the ranks fairly, not only for season four but for the future of Overwatch 2. Blizzard has also noted there is a number of bugs currently affecting Overwatch 2, including a ranked bug from season three.
What was the issue with some ranks at the end of season three?
The developers are currently investigating an issue in which season three’s final ranks were modified. This made some players get lower-tier rewards and they also wrongfully decayed in season four. To fix this, players who reach their next Competitive Updated should receive their expected ranks, according to Blizzard.
In a post to social media, Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller acknowledge the problem, and said that, a fix will come in the game’s next update, and affected players will not only get their rightful reward, but Blizzard will make sure that the wait was worthwhile.
“We’ve been working to solve an issue for some players who received a lower final rank in Season 3 than they should have,” He said. “We’ve identified a fix and plan to include it in the next patch later this month. Impacted players should receive their correct Season 3 ranking and receive competitive points and titles based on where they ended once the patch goes live. To help make up for it, competitive points will be granted again. So these players will get both the correct CP gain, but they also get to keep the original grant we gave them.”
The exact timing of the patch has not been confirmed, but based on Keller’s post, it seems as though players may have to wait a couple of weeks to get their appropriate competitive point and title rewards.
Why did my rank in Overwatch 2 change?
Your rank might have changed due to the bug mentioned above, but it also might have changed because of a change to the way Overwatch 2 tracks player ranks. With the changes from the original Overwatch, the devs created something called Skill Tier Divisions.
Instead of simply being placed in a rank with a number signifying how high or low you are in it, Skill Tier Divisions represent where you are by giving you a number after your rank. Each rank has five numbers, from one to five. So, instead of being a low-ranked Diamond at 3024, you’re Diamond Five.
This system isn’t going away, designed to make players cooperate more at a skill tier rather than just trash talk over who has the higher number. But how the game is using it changes. Now, instead of your Skill Tier Division determining what your rank is for the next season, your MMR is. MMR stands for Matchmaking Rating, and it is a simpler version of internal code that determines what skill level you are at as a player.
The ranked adjustment from Skill Tier Divisions to MMR is leading to a lot of players having a big rank change in between seasons. While the ones who get a lower rank are going to be angry, we’ve already had examples of players who’ve actually gone up in rank after this change.
The goal of this change is to make season four and future seasons more balanced by placing players in their correct tiers. Sometimes, it can feel like players aren’t in the rank they should be in. But with this change, it should make matches more balanced. We’ll have to wait and see what the true effects of this are from now on.
