Blizzard, fix your disconnect penalty system already

General Discussion
#1

I am so tired of continually being disconnected from overwatch competitive and being suspended for it. This is literally the only game that has problems with my internet. I have consistent 150+ Mb/s download, and my internet rarely if ever drops out. Why is it that this game can’t seem to hold a connection with it’s own servers? The odd thing is that it only happens in competitive, and it happens most often as soon as I join a game, making it impossible to reconnect. This tells me that it is a blizzard server problem, or maybe a bug in the game. It is not a coincidence that it happens at that exact time so often. Computers just don’t work that way. Why is it that even if I reconnect, it still ends the match before it starts, and then docks me 50 sr and suspends me? It’s like I never reconnected.

I am a computer engineering student with networking emphasis. I know how programming/networking works. You should be able to have some kind of protocol that analyzes the disconnect and determines if it was intentional. Also, you should not end the game immediately upon someone disconnecting at the beginning of a comp game. The game should be paused for 1 or 2 minutes allowing the person to reconnect. I am not saying people that purposely press “esc” and then “leave game” should get to rejoin, i am saying that people that disconnect due to a server error should be able to rejoin. This is not an uncommon occurrence, either. I browse the forums frequently, and other players have the same problem. It isn’t like the game freezes and then suddenly disconnects, it will be in the middle of a fight, I have perfect ping, and then BAM. I’m back on the login screen and it says “couldn’t connect to game server”. I have occasional lag spikes where the ping skyrockets to 1000 or more, but I don’t disconnect then. Why can the game tolerate that much lag over a spread of a few seconds, but it disconnects so fast randomly? Also, why the crap does it make me re-type all my login info to relog even though it can auto login when I startup the game?

My point is, Blizzard has been ignoring this problem for months. I would be slightly more ok with the disconnects if their stupid leavers penalties weren’t so dang instant and harsh, not leaving any room for people that disconnected on accident. Technical support has been no help, I have contacted them, and they basically said that it was my internet/computer’s fault and that I should try their list of steps that I know for a fact don’t help because I’ve tried them many times. I’m not blaming the support reps, I’m sure they have a script that they have to follow when they’re doing these types of calls.

The least Blizzard could do would be to at least acknowledge this as a real problem and not just separate isolated incidents. If anyone else has this problem, I would appreciate it if they would comment on anything that might have helped them relieve it.

Thanks.

7 Likes
#2

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:

Remember if you see the message, “Lost Connection to the Server” in the title screen or the message “Failed to Connect to Server” in red text in the text chat box, this means there is something that disrupted your connection to the game server and not a problem with the game server itself. There can be a variety of reasons this happens including those that don’t disconnect your computer from the Internet. There is great troubleshooting to start with that can most likely resolve most issues and I encourage you to check them out here:

As always if nothing in that guide works, please reply saying you completed these steps and additional advice can be provided. Good luck!

(^^)v

#3

You can have a gigabit internet connection.
Doesn’t mean anything if your connection is unstable due to noise on the line.

You might not notice an issue when browsing the web as it might be a small hiccup, but in game when you need a constant connection you will.

You have 2 minutes or so to rejoin.
Rejoining in this time frame does not punish you.

Your team mates might report you but that is because they don’t understand the difference between a leaver and a disconnect.

#4

When you lose connection right when a match starts, it ends the match in 10 seconds, regardless if the person rejoins or not. This is primarily what I’m complaining about. Also, the disconnects happen almost always right at the start of a comp game, and only comp games. There is no way that is just coincidence. There must be some kind of glitch somewhere that causes it. Also, it isn’t like overwatch is overly sensitive to internet hiccups or anything. There have been a couple of times that I was playing on another internet connection, and it dropped for a full second, and the game recovered without disconnecting me, yet these dropouts occur instantly without any warning, not even a ping increase.

1 Like
#5

I was just disconnected before the new match screen even displayed. I was suspended and penalized 50 points, 2 days before the season ends. I was 30 points away from gold!!

#6

I know, I would have been in gold long ago if this wasn’t a problem

#7

I know what you mean, I live in with a family of 5 and they love to get on netflex. Just today I lagged out twice and it just gave me a 8 game penalty!! Granted Idc about my rank on overwatch so the on reason this bothers me is that I know others with lag issues that do care will be treated unfair by this

#8

I know exactly what you mean. I just want it to stop. in the past week I have lost over 200 ladder points due to server did not connect instant suspension. I have current 2 hour suspension because of this bs service issue. I just want this to be fixed and my stats fixed.