Ever since starting Overwatch 2, I find that I just can’t seem to climb in Solo Queue like I could in OW1. I thought that by now, the balance of the game and its new ranking system would make it so this felt possible again, but I’ve really been struggling to make progress into even the next division.
Back in Overwatch 1, I had no issue jumping up SR and managed to land in high Masters, and towards the end of OW1 I was going for low GM.
Nowadays, I feel like I can’t even make that climb without joining a stack of people so that we can all communicate and play together, otherwise everyone seems to be out of sync.
Is this a common thing for everyone or am I just completely washed now?
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Same system…why wouldn’t you be able to?
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That’s literally what I’m asking, thank you, though
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Ever since the ranked resets the distribution made Diamond, Master, and Grand Master a lot harder to obtain than they were in OW1. That may be part of why ranking up feels so difficult.
I think they also slowed down the streak and calibration bonuses. I hadn’t played tank since before either rank reset being reset down from diamond. After going 8-2 in placements I was still in gold. I kept playing for the drive and by the end of the night was still low plat despite having a near 70% win rate.
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This makes sense, seems like you have to grind a whole lot more, which is a good thing for the game in general I suppose. The bonuses definitely don’t push you up as much as they did initially, guess I’ll just need to play more frequently
It is not the same system though? So… That’s probably why?
Not really, i think i’m hardstuck where i’m supposed to be. Climbed back up after the rank reset. Get like around 20% per game ± 2-3% modifiers and a streak bonus if i’m on one. Was low/mid masters in ow1 and now i’m high. Solo q only.
It’s same system…the only difference is you can see the modifiers now
The rank ranges might be slightly different and wide grouping is a thing (inexplicably)…but as far as what happens match to match, it does the same exact things it used to do before
There’s no (technical) reason for someone not to be able to climb
Since the S9 changes, I fell hard. Played 100 games last season and didn’t reach GM, while I was GM3-1 for all of OW2 (not a GM1 caliber player)
Nah, performance based SR used to be a thing and it was far easier to drop and climb as a result of it. They even changed the system from a few seasons ago where people could complete unranked to GM in an hour. You cannot do that now and you definitely cannot do a bronze to GM in the same time frame. It’s all different. They are constantly iterating.
The move away from that predates OW2 even…so yes it’s still the same system as before
Not to mention we’ve had several rank resets and such which is followed by thousands of people once again climbing the ladder to upper ranks….
This notion that it’s no longer possible to climb is silly
You are acknowledging they moved away from it? In other words, they changed something. I have no idea what you are trying to argue, but to pretend they have not made adjustments is disingenuous and does not help anyone.
I am not saying you cannot climb. I am saying the parameters changed which is probably why they themselves are no longer able to climb (with the same approach). They need to adjust as well in order to conform to what the system expects if they want to climb.
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He said he was an upper rank player towards the end of OW1…ie when performance was not a factor he didn’t have issues….the only difference between then and now are that the modifiers (the stuff that impacts how much you gain/lose from match to match) are now visible. If he’s struggling to climb now it’s not because it’s “harder” from a technical standpoint….the gameplay/style itself not suiting them maybe….but not because “they changed it so that it’s harder to climb”
Plenty of people climb (with no issues) after all these resets they keep doing (for no reason whatsoever I might add)
You can climb. It’s inevitable as long as you sink in a hefty amount of playing time.
The downside is the more you climb the more you are rewarded with longer wait times as the player population size shrinks
I’ve climbed but at some point just not worth the steep time investment especially when I got other games I still have to play.
You just put in the hours and figure out the best time of day to play as well as when you get the best flow of players to compete with.
Good luck to you. Personally the amount of time commitment for climbing feels like a job to me. That’s why I clocked out to play the game casually.
I guess maybe I was a bit too specific even though I was just using performance based SR as an example of an objective change because, quite frankly, we have no idea what other adjustments they have made.
But in reality, this is just a different game. That’s pretty observable in Classic. I am pretty sure my winrate in that mode is sky high and I have to assume the matchmaking is the same. I think I am just stronger in 6v6, and especially open queue. These changes will affect your performance regardless of how often they are downplayed. It’s just a different game.
Climbing is a skill in and of itself. Nobody who understands the game genuinely believes Yszna or whatever is the best player on ladder. Far from it. But that kid sure does know how to exploit the system. He has talent for that, no doubt.
And I figured out how to vaguely abuse it on my alt account as well. It’s just an algorithm…
Imo it’s mostly not up to you. Takes a lot of luck. You are only 1/5th of the equation so even when you do really well your team has to do their part. If they don’t it really doesn’t matter what you do.
I’ve had games where I do amazing and lose, I’ve had games where I suck and my team carries. Luck of the draw.
Yea, ow2 s3 until s9 came out was the easiest time to hit gm. Since s9 is likely the hardest. I would have to look, but I think last season top500 wasn’t even all gm. Or if it was, the cutoff was gm5. Where previous seasons there were thousands and thousands of gm players.
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You can but it’s not worth it unless you don’t value your mental health and sanity.
I think I’ve cracked the main thing; I had wayyy more time because I was like 20 at university back then. I just don’t have the time to invest like that anymore to climb. That’s probably just one of the factors, but definitely a big one
But at some point, you reached your peak in OW1, right (even though you would sometimes decay a lot and reach a slightly higher SR - but not to the point of reaching a higher rank) ?
People are often misled thinking F2P 5v5 Overwatch is a different game from P2P 6v6 Overwatch but it’s pretty much the same game.
There’s no reason for anyone to climb higher in 5v5 unless they joined Overwatch 1 pretty late and were still in the process of “getting better” at the game.
Maybe Overwatch’s new ranking system makes it feel more difficult to climb because SR are distributed differently per victory and loss ?