Me and the friend’s group that I play Overwatch with were all masters before season 4, but out of nowhere in the beginning of season 4, we all got bumped up to high GM because of rank inflation. At first, we assumed we were all going to just fall out of GM; that’s what you’d naturally think, especially since we were all in masters for twenty seasons or more. But hundreds of games later, we’re all still in GM. Not one of us has dropped out yet, I think most of us went up a division.
We’ve been discussing if we should just straight up throw our games to get back to masters so we can play with each other again. I’m not a huge fan of throwing, trolling, or whatever to lose SR, but at this point I’m genuinely considering it. My question is: why does this need to be in the game? Why do we need to limit players in GM?
I was told that it was because OWL players were stacking and dominating or something. I have no clue if this is true, and I honestly don’t care either way if it is true.
This rule needs to be removed immediately. If you’re reading this forum, then you’re probably in a similar situation where your friend groups can’t queue together in comp because you’re all in GM and there’s a rule that simply doesn’t allow it.
Stacking in any rank is going to give you a huge advantage, which doesn’t justify why GM players can’t have a normal stack limit just like any other rank.
Yeah, I get what you’re saying, but if this is their reasoning for doing this, then it just doesn’t make any sense.
You could argue that if the top of the master’s elo were stacking, it would create teams that were very hard to win against at the top of the master’s elo. If this is what you’re saying, then it’s the exact same thing for GM, with the only difference being that there’s no rank above GM. Why can players in Master’s 1 stack, making winning very difficult in their Elo, but GM players can’t do the same?
Why can masters 1 players five stack but GM 5 players can only duo when these players 90% of the time are playing in the same SR?
They would gain an advantage yes, but theres still a lot of people better than them, so they can only rank up so much more before they hit another wall. But if you have, as you said, a bunch of OWL or top500 players 5 stacking, then they can basically dominate all the top slots on ladder. Who will stop them? They’re already better than nearly everyone, and now playing with a huge comms advantage.
As you approach the top of the ladder, the difference n SR becomes exponentially more impactful. The difference between GM2 and GM1 is significantly more than M1 and GM5 (or… at least it used to be before everyone’s ranks got inflated…).
So once you hit the top of the ladder, the goal is that you carry yourself to the end.
Then they should just change or make the eligibility criteria for placing in the top 500 solo queue only.
Or add what they mentioned back in, like, 2019, about the guild system that never made it into the game, which I’m pretty sure was going to be an SR for a specific group of players.
The problem is that there isn’t a dedicated solo/duo queue. The Overwatch team didn’t want to split the players so this is the compromise they came up with.
Next season there will be a dedicated 5v5 team format where full stacks will go head to head. It’s probably not what you want, but you’ll at least be able to group up there.
I’m not entirely sure how that’s going to work, as it didn’t look like they specified the rule set or anything, but the immediate problem with that is that gamemode isn’t a permanent mode; it’s only temporary.
The problem is that grouping gives you enough of an advantage that you can become rated the best without actually being the best.
Even if you take OWL players as an example, the best team in the world isn’t equivalent to ranks 1-5 in the world individually. They’re only the best team in the world. As individuals many may not even be top500.
If you can actually dominate the games you play, then you need to prove it. Having a team of 4 other players where you can take advantage of comms and teamwork that other people in the matchmaker cant do doesnt prove youre the best.
i see you keep trying to argue that gm players should be able to stack, so im not going to waste my time explaining the obvious fact that a team of OWL players every single game would be unbeatable.
if you really want to group with ur friends, play qp.
While I generally agree with you the game needs to not be too rough on solo queue players as they are the majority. I know the match-maker has a strong bias for matching groups with other groups, and in ranks where you have a large player population this generally means if you solo queue you rarely face stacks. This is not a guarantee in higher ranks though. I’d say there needs to be a separate solo queue. Sure queuing as a group might make for very long wait times in higher ranks, but I suspect people would rather wait longer to play with their friends than not have the option.
I am pretty sure i heard that OWL players are not even allowed to group together outside of OWL games.
Like it is actually a contractual obligation they have to agree to when they sign up as a pro player
I play at GM but don’t have any friends that even play overwatch anymore. So it personally doesnt impact my games but i think they should allow stacking in GM for people that want to do it.
What is the worst part of ranked? Random teammates. How can you reduce the impact of random teammates? Play as a group. So why can GM players not play as a group? The devs have even said the best way to experience the game is with friends but apparently that is only allowed for some parts of the playerbase
It does because you have much smaller player pool the higher you go.
Which means one stack of 5 can dominate the entire elo just because they have stacked.
So? If they are good let them be good together lol. Why punish good players with arbitrary restrictions? If they can dominate the entire elo then they deserve to be at the top no? what sense does it make to hold those people back from their potential
They would already have to contend with longer queues while the game searched for another 5 stack or a 2&3 stack. They already are paying a premium to stack in the first place. Just let people play how they want to play ffs.
We do not have the playerbase to be picky over stuff like that. If people just cant play with their friends like OP said they will either
throw to lower their rank, which ruins games way more than stacking would
smurf, which ruins games way more than stacking
or leave the game entirely, which ruins the game way more than stacking
I don’t want to play quick play; I want to play competitively with my friends; it’s that simple through and through.
Plus, the odds of you actually going up against a stack of OWL players are so miniscule unless you’re at the OWL level yourself.
There wouldn’t be GM5 players five stacking against an OWL five stack or a contenders five stack; hell, even GM1’s five stacking wouldn’t be going up against OWL and contender stacks.
Grandmaster does not equal contender level or pro play; that’s not how it works.
There’s still a monstrous difference in SR between GM1 players and the top 500, OWL, and contenders players.
what sense does it make to hold those people back from their potential