I am a fairly new player, I have only been playing Overwatch about 6 months ago to accompany my daughter who wanted to try this game out.
I have only just started to get into the Competitive Mode games because i like the structured manner in which it works and runs.
I am not a highly ranked player insofar as Competitive Mode goes, I just reached Silver Tier from Bronze at the end of Season 11. I have heard that there is some kind of elitist bias towards players who are from Bronze to Gold Tiers and especially the Bronze and Silver Tier-ed players.
Despite this, i have only been greeted with courtesy and respect by the frequenters of this sub-forum but today, i saw this post:
Irrespective of whether it was directed at me or someone else and i assume that the poster was of a very high level, i just wanted to ask if players such myself who are in the lower Tiers should just keep our mouths shut.
If that is the case, that is fine. I always conform to the existing culture as a visitor should and as etiquette dictates.
Thank you very much to any one who would answer my query.
God bless and continue to have have fun, gentlemen.
Hi, welcome to overwatch. Hope youāre having fun!
The person you quoted was trying to highlight how lower tiers and higher tiers are basically different games. So something that seems apparent at a lower rank might not be true at higher ranks.
Anyway we all paid for this game and we can all share our views of it.
Apologies if this post comes across as offensive, my aim is to be succinct rather than dismissive.
The short answer is that there are three basic groups of players in competitive:
SR < 2000 - Those that donāt have a clue.
2000 - 3000 Those that are figuring it out.
SR > 3000 - Players who are good.
These numbers are based on the player distribution (between tiers) and the artificial populations that form around the boundaries between ranks.
Overwatch is a game based on teamwork and resource (cool downs + ult) management. Put simply players at ELOās < 2000 SR donāt play like they understand this, so there is little value to the games down there.
The best advice to anyone at that ELO is get out as quickly as you can.
Any cheese strat that works for you is a good strat.
The general consensus is that you should play either S76 or Pharah.
S76 because he is self sustaining with his heal pack and burst damage.
Pharah because low ELO players canāt easily shoot Pharah out of the sky.
Once you get into gold you will be playing with a mix of the same Silver/Bronze players, plus some with a bit more insight into how the game is played, hence it makes a much more conducive environment to improve your own gameplay.
There are numerous posts on this forum from players with SR < 2000 which take the the form:
The matchmaker is rigged.
Toxic players are out of control.
My teammates are holding me back.
Bronze is full of smurfs / throwers / aim-botters
We need an MMR reset.
If you believe that games @ < 2000 SR are representative of all overwatch games then you will probably struggle to get out of that ELO and start to believe some of the statements above.
The reality is that high skill players can get out of bronze/silver playing any hero, but if your not top 10% (> 3000 SR) you will likely struggle to get out, unless you cheese your way out per my earlier comment - there is no shame in cheesing its just something you have do.
Its also not quick, you can assume on average the grind will take 1 minute per SR gained.
Those of us that have been on the forum a long time have little patience for such posts, because we have seen them many times before and donāt believe them to be true, as a result typically responses are:
Git gud
You are the rank you deserve.
If you have specific points/strategies you want to validate, you will probably get (some) reasonable responses.
However if you repeat one of the points above you are likely to get a thread full of toxicity.
To sum up, we all know it sucks to be in Bronze or Silver, the best advice we can give you is get out by whatever means works for you.
Thank you to caffeine, masterifrit2, crimsonfker and Gibberish for your replies and the many others who had taken the time to read my query.
As etiquette dictates, at least back in my time some 40+ years ago, one should always rely if responded to. So please do forgive the very long post because forum rules are such, that I cannot provide multiple comments unless a certain number of replies are logged into a thread.
+1 to all who have responded as a sign of appreciation (it costs me nothing anyway) and given the replies, I daresay that you are all a credit to the forum as well as your families.
Thank you for the welcome, caffeine. I must say that I was quite surprised that I am enjoying OW as much as I am, right now. In fact, far more than my daughter who has gotten a little bored of it. Although my son may pick up the reins from her.
For context, please allow me to post:
I believe that it is fairly clear that I made reference to my lowly rank and that I was commenting on Tiers from Bronze to Silver. Now, banana made the comment immediately after I made my second comment which was a direct reply to the Thread Starter who asked āIs moira as a healer throwing in most comps?ā and he was referring to his friend who was in Gold Tier, I believe.
Now, perhaps banana was trying to say that and if he did, then as a person who has graduated from a university who is ranked 11th in the world and is arguably among the top 5-7% of my country, I would say, People from ālower ranked schoolsā who act like smart alecks who do not read in a discerning manner are disgracing themselves. That is even assuming that banana and others here even graduated from university / college.
Moreover, I would have every right to be such a snob because I did graduated from the National University of Singapore back in 2001. However, I do not believe that that makes me any better or worse than any one and I have always respected the right of every one.
That said, I am unbothered by his apparent elitist bias remark personally. I am more concerned with the bigger picture which is that there may be such a bias in the forums and within a game especially when people are complaining of ātoxicityā. Does such a snide remark do naught but contribute to the already negative atmosphere?
However, if that really is the culture, that a lowly Bronze or Silver or Gold tiered player is expected to keep their mouths shut over any matter regarding their own tiers, then sure, I would respect that and just keep my peace.
Yes, sir, indeed it is! I can give a myriad of reasons why it is incredible and I am certain that you would already know it all so I shall just say, āgame onā!
And you are probably right, I should keep off the forums but when I see threads like this, I just cannot keep away.
Why thank you, kind sir and you must be a man of equal excellence and brilliance, having graduated from a top ranked university, runs a business with a multi-million dollar revenue as well as drive a Mercedes GLC250d just like me to recognise excellence as such. Because if you arenāt, you really donāt know what you are saying.
(I trust that you know what I am doing here, crimsonfker but just in caseā¦not because I doubt your ability to recognise satire and irony but because I do not trust men who are not of our level to see thatā¦ oh waitā¦)
Thank you for your succinct response, it was direct if not brief.
No, I do not take offense at all particularly not from a forum about a video game.
Based on your reply, I have garnered as much as I need to pertaining the alleged elitist snobbery within the players in the Competitive Mode. Unsurprisingly, it does mirror how things are wont to be like in real life.
That said, please allow me to clarify that I am 42 years old and am totally aware that I am past my athletic prime in both real sports or e-sports although I am still a lean 5ā10", 163lbs. Hence, I really do not care too much about getting out of Bronze or Silver.
I am playing Competitive Mode because I enjoy the sense of structure which the Mode requires, as I mentioned in my initial post. So by extension, one can infer that I enjoy working as a team.
Moreover, because I value the experience and advice of those whom are more experienced than me in this game, I have sought the advice of many of you and even submitted a bug report when it was mentioned that my promotion to Silver from Bronze Tier was because of a bug and not by any effort of my own.
I submitted this knowing full well that I could be regulated back to Bronze and honestly, the principle of the matter i.e. truth and fairness matter more to me than just advancing. Perhaps this might allow you to decide if I belong to your run of the mill whiner.
Moreover, making assumptions because one has been around for āa long timeā can be dangerous (the term you may be looking for is ājadedā). I realised that you were in the same thread as well and what I mentioned was more or less in tandem with what you mentioned about Moira:
So unless the ranking system is wrong or I am a total smurf, we both appear to agree on somewhat similar grounds with regards to Moira being utilised at the lower ELOs (Bronze to Gold) despite being of vastly different Tiers.
One does not need to be a politician to know about politics.
One does not have to an elite NBA Hall of Fame player to know about basketball. In fact, Phil Jackson was never the best player on his team and it is arguable if Red Auerbach was as well on a basketball team when he was young.
Look, Gibberish, I have nothing against you and i sincerely thank you for trying to shed light onto my query. If you found what i mentioned as offensive, i apologise. My aim is to clarify, rather than be condescending.
You should offer your opinion, but realize that your view is warped. I see people in bronze whine about how Torb and Bastion are OP. In reality, they are two of the worst heroes in the game.
Hello Again, DongQuixote. Of course, that is why i would make a qualifier such as ābased on my view from silver or bronze or whateverā as i always have within these forums and in real life.
Actually when one thinks about it, people in the Bronze (and Silver, maybe Gold) Tiers are not entirely wrong when they whine about Bastion and Torb being OP-ed, at their ELO.
Of course, as you mentioned and as I have always done since my schooling days, such things should always be mentioned with a qualifier and also, be responded with patience with the aim to inform instead of condescension.
Eh you gotta realize half of us in master are clueless. The only ones truly good at the game are those who have good mechanical skill, communication, and game sense. The people that have all three of those are constantly bouncing around t500. And really Iād add one more group to the list.
This forum is actually pretty small core group who often have love/hate for each other.
I donāt believe bananas post was directed at you in an effort to subtly rank shame.
As long as low rank players stay in touch with reality and donāt fall into the category of blame or conspiracy delusions they are generally well received.
You never have to ākeep your mouth shutā because you are low rank. You ARE always expected to maintain humility. Accept critique from higher rank players and donāt immediately act like you know more based on age or experience (not saying you did this just that is the general expectation).
Its known that some of the most harsh high rank posters in this forum would help anyone be better for literally hours of their time as long as willingness and self reflection remains.
Thanks for the reply, Mizzerella. I believe that you read through everything posted to have come up with your response.
You also read my ironical comments right, for the sarcasm and ironic nature in which they were written. Doubly thank you and appreciate the effort.
Yes, I very much like this sub-forum as well after making my first post here and reading through all the threads. The attitude is really so much more positive than the General Topics one.
The query was really a genuine query and part bait. I have never believed age to be a guarantor of any right, so I was prepared to listen to my betters even if they are less than half my age and expected me to keep my mouth shut.
So, based on what has been discussed here, it is fairly obvious what the stance is and my other agenda of encouraging people to participate here, within reason, would be realised.
As I mentioned in my very first thread, Competitive Mode has been shunned by too many for all the wrong reasons and peeps should really just get into it if they enjoy a proper structured play style and mode. Provided that they have the right mentality. Likewise, in this sub-forum, speak with no fear but not without any sense of humility (and with plenty of qualifiers).
I have played at the very top of Bronze and spent a lot of time in Silver. It is believing statements like the one you just made that keeps people in Bronze and Silver.
Instead, ask the question: I am only one person, how can I counter a Bastion or Torb at this ELO.
Bastion
Rarely has a shield tank supporting him, in Silver and bronze and if they do, said tank often gets distracted and starts doing something else.
As such you can peek round corners with a ranged hero and take out the bastion.
Torb
Has many weaknesses.
The turret has no way to repair itself, if you can force Torb himself to move the turret is easy to kill.
The turret is fairly long ranged - but its not infinite Pharah can spam the turret at long range taking no damage at all.
The turret doesnāt have much health S-76 can burst it down pretty quickly.
Im sorry you just stepped over the line in my earlier post about people repeating the same line we have seen hundreds of times before, its simply not true.
HA! Sure, fair enough Gibberish.
I was just trying to defend and see things from the other side of the fence.
What I did not mention is that I know of the strategies involved in taking out a Bastion or a Torb. I just won a QP game with a Bastion who was constantly breaking my Orisaās Barrier by pelleting him from the side as he shot my barrier and then pulled him each time he tried to get away.
I did not mention all these because humility. If I could, I would have switched to Widowmaker and make even faster work of the Bastion but well, no tanks other than me.
As I said, I definitely do not belong to the whiner camp but I can see things from their side of the fence.
P.S. Whiners complain about not being able to escape Bronze ELO hell but I did that in 4 games post placement. Yet, people say that it is a bug that I climbed so fast. So I listen to them and submitted a bug report. Judge how you will, as I mentioned.
TBH I am annoyed with myself for spending so long in silver (most of my season highs are just over the line into Gold) and I have played since season 1.
I had a long list of things that used to piss me off:
Leavers
People not joining team chat.
People not switching.
People picking ādumbā heros.
ā¦
The simple truth was, it was me giving up when I came across them that was preventing me from climbing.
i understand and feel you, dude.
I do not aim to climb and if i do, it is organically although age is stacked against me and i am ok with that. Just having fun =)
Of all the things which irritate me the most, it would be Leavers because i hate quitters. in real life and in game.
Switching, well, if you see my profile, you would realise that i switch/flex quite a bit. But i am usually not to bothered with that from my team mates at Bronze / Silver because as you and DongQuixote mentioned, the game sense and game strat at these levels are low so i just bear with it.
If we played, you would hate me for, there is a reason why i am called ā**silent**hillā. XD
P.S. I do have a mic and will only use it when everyone does.
You write far too eloquent to even worry about what half of these neāer-do-wellās on these forums have to say. Some have great advice, some are friendly, most are opinionated at best, insufferable at worst.
In-game, most of these āgentlemenā are not too kind to female players, of any age. Seen it time after time.
Overwatch is fun, but if you expect people to be cooperative and kind in most of your matches; youāll be disappointed. Itās mostly in competitive. People lose their mind in there for some reason.
And no, Iām not a toxic low-ranked player whoās deprecating the game. Iām usually low Masterās. Iām just being realistic and stating what is. Toxicity plagues the entire game. Top to bottom. This game has a way of exposing the worse of what humanity has to offerā¦on a digital platform.
lol of course i read the 37 paragraph response as well as the original post. not only that i went through your post history to establish although there is a lot of sillyness and irony today the question posed seemed genuine deserving of a genuine response.
The point of post was that at higher ranks, picking a hero at times can be considered a āthrow pickā. Throw pick as in you could pick someone else and they would be a lot more useful, but you decided not to. Picking Moira over a better overall healer Mercy is not that serious. Itās not gonna cause you the game. At higher ranks it might, because other players will punish you for your hero choice. But at lower ranks, it doesnāt make that much of a difference.
What I said literally, was to show that people who act like they know everything in lower ranks (when clearly they donāt), donāt realize that at lower ranks, meta picks arenāt as serious and picking different options is fine.
Hereās an example, gold players picking a meta comp, can still easily be outplayed by a non-meta comp. Because of their general rank (aim, gamesense, etc.), they wonāt coordinate as well.
Masters players picking a meta comp over a non-meta comp, will probably have the meta comp win. Better coordination, players being able to get the job done, etc.
All in all, I seriously think you too took my original post a bit too far. I was merely saying that lower rank players trying too hard to enforce a comp or hero on a team are not helpful. Assuming that my post was directed to you, definitely shows that you read it wrong, because nothing that I said could show that I was directing it towards you, nor any other player.