It isn’t really admirable either, it’s cowardly on it’s best day.
Agreed, but most smurfs aren’t actually smurfs either.
The ones OP is talking about are most likely alternate accounts ranking up and out of lower elo matches. Not staying at lower elo’s just to troll.
Legitimately smurfing is very difficult in this game. Most people illegitimately smurf if they smurf at all, throwing games on purpose to achieve lower ranks. Which by the way is reportable and bannable.
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It’s really not that hard to soft throw a game when you are about to jump to the next tier. Pick Lucio and skate around on speed nowhere near your team.
You make it sound like they are watching closely yet that could not be further from the truth.
People exploit this garbage system all the time.
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Question:
If I can play a number of roles at GM level, but my ability with certain heroes is significantly lower (for example, my genji/widow/rein is trash), and I want to practice those heroes, is it better for me to use a different account where I can be placed at an appropriate SR for those heroes, or is it better to play them on my main account and “soft throw” games because I can’t perform on those heroes at a GM level? How is that fair to the other 11 players? And how would it be fair if I dropped to masters/diamond/whatever and decided to climb back up on heroes I am better at, and ruin another string of games until I’m close to my appropriate SR again?
Which is reportable and bannable as I stated.
Not sure what you mean by this.
And most people don’t know what they’re talking about. As someone who has tested different smurfing techniques, the easiest ones (ie throwing in any capacity) is reportable and bannable. The harder ones (combination of W/L counts, skill checking, hero choices, stat tracking) is legitimate but quite frankly not worth the effort or the time.
Report the throwers, the problem will be minimized. At least on PC, console smurfing has been a problem since the inception of hub based gaming and isn’t going away until console manufacturers deal with it.
You can’t be serious to think a GM player is constantly in Bronze without throwing.
He may not throw the current game but he does throw at some point in order to stay there. By your own logic he would have climbed out because of the “system”, yet there he is, in Bronze, constantly.
I like the ban smurfs instantly idea. If widow gets 2 headshots in a row they are instantly banned.
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There is no way even on my worst hero I would be below diamond. Regardless of how garbage I am at somebody from a hero standpoint, playing them doesn’t take away my mechanical skill, game sense, or understanding of how to play and win a game of Overwatch.
I agree that a GM player in bronze would need to be intentionally throwing.
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I don’t believe smurfs exist in the capacity people think they do. That being said, if he’s throwing, REPORT HIM. I can’t repeat that enough. Because of skill based SR at lower ranks, one or two steamroll games at bronze would take many many thrown games to balance out. In my own experience, it’s about 5 skill checked losses to balance out 1 steamroll win.
Also, if you can show me an example of a GM who has stayed at bronze for multiple games in a row while subsequently steamrolling the other team single handedly, I’ll admit defeat and say I was wrong about smurfs. But since it doesn’t happen, you’re going to have a hard time finding an example.
Most “smurfs” are alt accounts simply ranking up and out of lower elos. True smurfing through throwing is reportable, so please if you want to actually solve the problem instead of just complaining, report the throwers.
I initially made an alt account because the “Appear Offline” feature wasn’t implemented yet, and I have social anxiety. So sometimes I wanted to escape away from friends and messages and just play some OW.
Don’t really play that account anymore because there’s no need now, but to be fair … it was actually a higher SR than my main account. XD
I also started a “Sniper only” account for fun, since I’m very bad at them and wanted to be placed in a reasonable MR. I may not play comp on that one, though. Just wanted some matches where I wasn’t getting rolled for trying to learn Widow/Hanzo/Ana. Quick Play is fine, though I am curious where I’d place on it.
Anyway ^ that’s why I don’t mind alt accounts. Smurfing is a whole other story, though.
@OP: I agree smurfs are a problem and do ruin comp. However, your issue here may be your attitude. You seem very emotionally biased in some of your posts I’ve read lately. Not trying to strike a nerve, just noting an observation. I’d recommend calming down before posting, as showing that much negative emotion in your writing usually leads to people not taking you seriously and just labeling you as a “whiner,” even if your base concerns are valid.
I don’t have an issue with people trying to win on alt accounts, although more than one account in a competitive environment undermines competitive. But that’s is Blizzard’s issue not the individual’s.
If you are legit playing to win, the system will place you where your abilities are.
Just report them anyway. The system is automated and with enough reports maybe Blizzard will actually implement some changes or do anything to stop this nonsense.
OP: BAN SMURFS!
also OP: posts on new account. could end up smurfing at 25
That’s NOT a smurph. Simply having someone more skilled than you in a game isn’t smurphing. If he follows the rules the game will automatically rank him out of your bracket within 10 games or so.
A smurph is someone who “purposely” loses games to keep his rank artificially low solely for sake of griefing players down the road. That’s unfair to both teams. Unfair to yours because he arbitrarily throws games to derank and unfair to the other guy because he solely plays to grief him.
See the difference? Unfortunately one game alone isn’t enough to tell if that guy really is a smurph or just someone ranking on through.
lol welcome to this horrible community where blizzard themselves have stated
“community reports, deem what is ok and what is not within the community”
meaning they won’t post official rules for there own bloody game
how pathetic is that ?
this is why the random bannings and abuse of the report system happen
I don’t think most of the smurfing players that are being complained about here would necessarily have to be GM. The skill gap is wide enough that even a plat/diamond with good mechanics could “noob-wreck” enough to disrupt the game.
They just feel like GMs to those of us in the slums.
OP, I’ve written about this at length, but I’ll throw it in there one more time.
Steps to Overwatch happiness at lower ELO:
- Report smurfs for Sabotage or Cheating and move on. Let it go. Realize that not every game is winnable, but getting tilted by human nature will make them all unwinnable.
- Stop caring about SR. Stop caring about SR. Stop caring about SR. Rinse and repeat.
- Find a group of people you enjoy playing with and play with them. Play QP, play PUGs and customs, play ranked, but play with them.
I still run up against players who outclass me all the time, especially when I’m playing QP with friends who are in higher tiers. When I manage to stay alive and contribute it feels good. When I’m not, I thank my lucky stars that the game will be over shortly and I can queue up again in no time.
I continue to have fantastic experience after fantastic experience, but I don’t expect Blizzard or my teammates to do anything for me. I am fully in control of my experience.
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And Jeff said that boosting and throwing are reportable. Jeff also said that smurfs, or what he called alts, are not reportable.
You literally cannot establish whether they were smurfing or simply on another account.
I think the perception of the amount of smurfs in the game is inflated due to illogical reasoning like this.
Just because someone is low level does not mean they are a smurf. I have an alternate account and I try just as hard on that one than I do on my main account. The only thing you can worry about is your own play. Stop worrying about what other people are doing and stop blaming people for your losses.
By the time you reach level 25 the matchmaker has a good idea where you belong if you play the way you always do. I tested this out long ago back in like season 4 and 5. Being on PS4 I can make as many accounts as I want.
So I set up 5 accounts. One to play just like I always do, one for each role only so a tank account, healer and DPS. Then the fifth one I tried to play terrible. Heroes I never touch, wiffing widow shots on purpose.
When I did the placements on them, the first four were all placed between low diamond to high diamond, back when I use to play much more and just better. The fifth, I was able to get placed in high silver.
So I played that one a bit more to see how the Sr gains worked. Play a game like normal, gain almost 40 sr, play like crap and lose, lost 30 Sr. If you keep mixing it up, sooner or later the system just assumed you belong there and the gains and loses just equaled out to about 25 either way.
So yes a Smurf can do that if they put time in. Now before people attack me, I have not touched that account or any of the alt accounts since like season 6.
So yes you can mess with the match making before you even reach level 25 to give you what you want. That’s not even counting people that might just use FFA to level up.
Why do you think pro level players and top 500 are able to start so low? Because they don’t try at all when leveling so when they do placements they don’t try and get bronze then do their bronze to GM thing.
The matchmaker should already have a good idea where you belong by the time you hit level 10
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