The majority of the people that complain about smurfs are referring to alt accounts or low level accounts that roll them. Most don’t realize that it’s often high level bronze and silver and gold accounts that are sold to boosters/bronze to gm etc. Level doesn’t equal smurf.
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Keep trying what?
Realise that most people who play mostly ranked will play what between 100-400 matches depending on time?
I’d be surprised if throwers and smurfs ruin more than about 5% of those.
Whilst that isn’t good and needs to be dealt with, it doesn’t change your ability to improve and climb.
Totally.
Smurfing is a specifc act. Most people looking to do it hard deranked (that takes levels…) or as you say, buy an account.
Which also disproved the whole “blizzard make money from smurfs so they wont do anything”
You’re just making up stuff I wasn’t even talking about.
It’s not about improving or even climbing, it’s about having people out of your skill level being placed in matches with those who are in their skill level, having complete stomper or game throwers. Win or lose here doesn’t matter. This is what the talk is about.
Yeah. And what I am saying it doesn’t matter.
You can get stomped by people who you think are in your skill.
It is also near impossible to “smurf” in QP. As Jeff has said in the past, takes the MMR system about 15 games to get you on your level.
If someone is deranking, ban them.
If they have been placed too low and are just ranking up. Whats the problem. They are not ruining games. It is only hurting the feelings of players who aren’t as good as them.
Instead of crying about it, learn something from it.
“Smurfs strike again! Toxic 1.5 hour game”
Here’s a great example with match code as proof, but sure, we’re just crying here and not getting good instead.
RIght. If they have deranked to mess about in matches. Ban time. I agree.
But calling someone buying an account and then just playing the game normally a smurf is what I would have an issue with.
What are my thoughts?
This is 4 years too late.
Would suck to get banned as a new player just because you do too good vs. the other new players. There’s no way to reliably identify a smurf.
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I am totally on board with banning smurfs, as they ruin the game and also negatively impact the Match Making algorithm/system.
There are some main problems to address since even if 10% of smurf-bannings are mistakes, it’d be utter trash and unfair. Giving that type of reporting power to the players is also a mistake, since anyone better than me is a smurf!!!
Current hurdles:
- If there are 2 accounts on the same computer, are they the same person? (no feasible streamlined and solid solution)
- Are they a smurf or just an OW-veteran starting on a new platform? (can be fixed by cross-platform account linking)
- Was the person previously impaired physically or bottlenecked by hardware? (being at full health or having better gear means performance can skyrocket; no reasonable way to prove the difference)
- And probably other stupid things I can’t think of at the moment.
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The best part is where they include new accounts in the definition of smurfing. Something many people here is having a hard time to see as a problem. Even if you play “properly”, in your way back to your actual rank, you will have ruined dozens of matches (QP and Comp), and created plenty of MMR variation for other players, mudding the whole MMR distribution.
To be honest, I’d love to hear a renewed comment on smurfing from Jeff, as I think the message would be different from the one he said a couple years ago.
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The only issue I see with this is that Overwatch is a Hero Shooter.
Those new players could be from console, others saw videos and have a good idea of what does what, some others could grasp things quickly.
I’m only assuming more people will play the game if smurfs were banned. Some of those people will be tank players, returning or new.
Positive sentiment is infectious and goes a long way. It could have an effect on thousands of players.
No way to know for sure though.
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This quote sums up my response pretty well.
TDLR: “alts” ruin the competitive integrity just as much as smurfs. I’d like to see everyone with one account as there is very little reason to have an extra one that isn’t cheating the system somehow.
Look at alts now. They are diamond and above that like to practice their weaker champs in lower Q’s. If they win or lose the game should have never happened in the first place if the alt practiced in the elo he belongs. Instead he helps destroy any competitive integrity left, spoiling the game for others that wants a competitive experience.
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Ok, I’ll bite. I don’t play comp (nor do I have any alts) these days but when I did I was diamond. I’m also a terrible support player outside of Ana and Lucio. If I wanted to play Zenyatta, should I play on my main account and ruin the game for my teammates every time I try to play him, or should I ruin the game for my opponents for <15 matches (according to Jeff Kaplan) while the game figures out my alt’s MMR?
And no, “You aren’t allowed to play Zenyatta” and “You have to play quickplay until your Zenyatta is as good as your best characters” are not acceptable answers.
You should play Zen at your rank and lose with him at your rank till you are good enough to play him at your rank. When you go to a lower tier with higher game sense than everyone else, then you’re cheating despite what the TOS says.
Personally, the first game that comes out that forces people to use their Social security number (or any federal identification) to sign up will be the game I jump on.
Make and separate a “truly solo q mode” from other competitive modes that you can group up and Q for and you’ll have the most competitive video game the world has ever seen.
I pray that that is the future of gaming. Right now the gaming industry is floundering trying to appease everyone.
It is still not fair. I deranked to low gold as Genji, guess what happens when I play literally anyone else. The enemy team gets spanked. No matter what your rank is going to be off. Play at a proper rank with a hero you suck at, you are basically throwing. Play at a lower rank and pick a different hero, now you are effectively smurfing.
Alt accounts genuinely are the best solution.
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Maybe if everyone was at their proper rank and not a single person was smurfing or alting then you wouldn’t have this problem.
Edit: miss read your comment.
No I think going down in rank when you play something you’re weak with is fair and is exactly how it’s supposed to be. A player that can’t play all the champions deserves a lower rank. The best players will be good with more characters than the lower tiered player.
Alting stops you from deranking due to practice and is cheating because you should have played the game and lost on your main and naturally rise as you get better. If there was no cheaters or alts or smurfs, you certainly would rise if you got better. When you make an alt you only make the problem worst.
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Is that fair to my teammates that I randomly get paired with? Isn’t that effectively the same problem people have with smurfing? What about when I swap to someone like Zarya and climb again? Is it fair to play someone above my current SR (because I just dropped with Zen)? Am I boosting/throwing by doing so?
Blizzard has emphatically said in the past that you cannot be considered throwing by playing someone you’re not as good at. So you can’t be punished for doing so. Then the question is, is it better to constantly inconvenience everyone around you for having an uneven skillset, or is it better to make an alt to play the characters you don’t normally play? I think the answer to that question is fairly clear.
If it takes <15 games for a smurf to stabilize their MMR (according to Jeff, though I have difficulty believing it’s that fast), then smurfing clearly isn’t a problem unless people are dropping literal thousands of dollars on new copies of Overwatch. That seems highly unlikely.
I honestly agree, which is why I do learn new heroes on my main. I find it forces me to learn faster anyways, trial by fire.
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