Banned for 10 minutes for no fair reason

Technical Support
#1

Just need to air my disappointment on what just happened to me. So I am in the menu trying to join a competitive. It doesn’t let me, and the timer is stuck at 15 seconds. I only get thrown back into the menu. I try to join a new competitive game, still the same issue. I wait like 10 seconds wondering what is going on, and suddenly it says I am queued properly and the game launches.

Ok cool I think, it was just a glitch. And so I enter the game, select Rein to play and even get as far as saying hi in chat and suggesting a strategy. BOOM I am kicked out of the game (before the round even starts) saying I lost connection to the server. The game is “trying to reconnect”. No luck. I exit the game to restart it fast to rejoin as fast as possible. I get into the game, but there is no “rejoining” game. I guess the 10 seconds grace period had already passed. Instead I now see I am banned for 10 minutes from competitive.

Thanks! There was absolutely no technical issue on my part as I had YT running behind the scenes which I always have and that did not complain anything at all.

I have had my account for almost two years now, and NEVER before lost connection to a game, and I have NEVER been toxic, only constructive. I have been adamant to report players who misbehave and tried to work actively towards making the game a better experience for everyone.

I am just stressing the fact that my account is (or should be) keeping in a relatively high standard by just looking at the stats and the activity of it. Having played hundreds of hours without any DC it still doesn’t give me the benefit of the doubt that maybe, just maybe, this particular DC was unintentional and should not be subject to a penalty.

Now I have a ban marker on my account for all eternity for no reason at all. Thanks Blizz, I feel very rewarded… sadface

#2

Disconnections can and will happen to anyone at anytime. I have been playing the game since launch and have had over 3 dozen different instances where my game has disconnected or crashed overall. In fact, I nearly got season banned in Season 2, when I dealt with a very stubborn conflict between the game software and the drivers to my USB headset. It is my experience from that incident that has lead me to dedicate a portion of my time as a forum MVP to try and help other players with technical issues.

The only permanent competitive ban record that you can get on your account is if you get a season ban. A single disconnection/crash/leave cannot do this. It can happen in as little as six leaves in a row, however, you can get back into good standing relatively easily by simply completing a majority of the competitive matches. If this is merely your first ever disconnection in a competitive game of Overwatch, please consider yourself VERY, VERY LUCKY.

However that is why the penalty system starts very small because Blizzard does know some players have unintentional accidents, however, because you did leave the game (albeit unintentionally), your teammates very likely lost the match. Leavers and players who are ignorant of their technical issues are a huge problem in Overwatch, and I am willing to bet you have been in at least one competitive match where a teammate left. Understand that Blizzard must balance the penalty system between those who are struggling with disconnections versus the rest of the community who struggles with leavers. This is why it only starts with a mild 10-minute suspension. Those who are serial leavers, however, will quickly find themselves reaching a season ban and those that get three season bans will be removed from Competitive permanently. I highly doubt based on what you have said that will ever happen to you.

Unfortunately all disconnections and game crashes counts as leaving the match and will be penalized appropriately. The game server has no way to discern a legitimate disconnection or game crash from one that is forcefully caused by a dishonest player to bypass leaver penalties. You can learn about this policy here:

If this is your first disconnection, and you have no immediate issues reconnecting, I will spare any troubleshooting advice. However remember here in the technical support forum players like myself and Blizzard Support Agents can help you troubleshoot persistent disconnections or crashes.