Blizzard owes it to us to make preserving the integrity of competitive a priority

I know it sounds lame, but this game is important to me. It’s for a reason. I met my boyfriend playing it, we got to know each other playing it, we moved in together… we had so much fun and it was how we spent a lot of time together. He was diagnosed with cancer recently and playing video games is something we want to do together when he’s too sick from chemo to go out (which is a lot).

Playing OW together (used to be our favorite thing!) could have provided a little normalcy while we get through the next six months but instead it’s been a source of sadness and frustration. We don’t play anymore. He plays League now, and I’ve picked up and put down several games because they just aren’t my favorite. They aren’t Overwatch how Overwatch used to be.

This game, and for me, gaming in general have been ruined by sad jerks.

After putting literally hundreds of hours and a significant amount of money into their game, I feel like Blizzard owes it to me and everyone else like me to make preserving the integrity of competitive a priority.

New characters? I’m rolling my eyes because I won’t play them, or any characters, and feel less than GARBAGE about it afterward.

I want to know what, if anything, is being done to stop derankers from destroying lower level competitive.

Since I started playing Overwatch about a year and a half ago, my SR steadily increased until last season. I went from <500 to around 1700 with a LOT of practice over months of playing.

Last season I placed around 1660 and ended below 1200. I consistently got matched up with people who didn’t use comms or went AFK or were obviously losing on purpose…

When I tried LFG to remedy this, I’d often find myself up against 5 and 6 stacks of ‘derankers’ who were then on their way back UP-- so at bronze level in a 6 stack of hard-working bronze/silver/gold players with awesome communication we were getting absolutely demolished by high level players playing at low rank.

I lost 9 of 10 placement matches this season and my SR currently sits around 1050. LFG or not, I’m either stuck with throwers or up against them as they play at plat level to climb. Infuriating.

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It’s not a real competitive system, sad to say. It’s more like a Vegas casino. You get a random result with random rewards if you’re below diamond. I hear diamond and up has more consistency in teams, but good luck getting there even if you have diamond skill.

Comp is a treadmill that moves faster than you can run most of the time, but will allow you to catch up or gain ground enough to keep you from falling off completely. It’s made to be addicting, not fair. Accept this, and you’ll have more fun playing the few really fair matches you come across.

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The game is geared toward making sure the casual experience is a fun as possible. That’s why there are hidden MMR mechanics, hidden profiles, hidden stats, overly aggressive auto-moderation, a 1000SR allowable spread to group, cosmetics only obtainable through comp play… it’s all about the casual experience and attracting the drop-outs from serious competitive titles that were just too hard or had communities that were too mean to them.

You have to play comp with enjoyment in mind. Taking it seriously will drive you mad. Forget about SR and just focus on playing your personal best. It’s the only way.

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i invested a lot of time and money into playing this game as well. put about 1000 hours into it, and it became somewhat a part of my nighttime life after work. ive been punished over and over by the report system for retaliating against players who provoke me with insults, negative voice coms, trolling, smurfing, and im sick of it and done. I will no longer provide income to this game, and will not recommend it to anyone anymore. The automated report system is a lazy, abusive way to give power to the wrong players. The one jerk who says ‘our hanzo/symm/torb/bastion or whatever is throwing, report them’ because the team happens to be losing is never punished, but the victim who really did nothing wrong and is the ‘excuse’ gets suspensions or chat privileges revoked in the end. Well done.

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Just play and don’t worry about it.

Some games aren’t winnable, some games are easy. Just try.