I am not usually one to speculate too much or work to create hype, but I do like to think I bring hope and encouragement. I have seen some unusual signs that hint at possible changes that might be announced next week at BlizzCon, of course, if there are any major changes we will have to see something soon with the season less than 3 days away from its conclusion.
The Season 13 Sprays and Player Icons have not yet appeared - In the last few seasons of Competitive Play, usually a major patch release before the end of a current competitive season often adds the next season’s sprays to the Hero Gallery where we can view them. This has not happened. In fact, for a short instance, there was a “Team Deathmatch Competitive Arcade Spray” added but has since been removed. Even the PTR patch that was released on Tuesday does not show the Season 13 sprays.
This may be nothing in reality, for as far as I know the development team has since patched the game to avoid spoiling the new sprays and player icons from being revealed. I will observe, however, that Competitive has now had sprays featuring the 12 original maps in the game when it was first released.
Overwatch’s public channels have been unusually quiet about the end of Season 12 - Usually one week before the end of a Competitive Season, the community managers usually post in the Competitive Discussion forum giving the standard message about the season ending. This is also echoed on the official Overwatch Twitter and Facebook channels. Now I won’t deny BlizzCon is incredibly close, and low communication from Blizzard is natural this time of year. Heck, it’s nice that we got a Developer Video Update two days ago. Still, I notice these sort of things.
Game Director Jeff Kaplan did say about long-term plans to improve Competitive - A year ago, Jeff Kaplan put up a post on the old general discussion forum reminding players they had long-term plans to improve Competitive, here it is for reference:
We can assume that features like Avoid as Teammate and Looking-for-Group are part of this, along with the recently announced Esports Viewer which will eventually transition into the Replay System that we all look forward to. There is also a third social feature promised which unfortunately was pushed back. However, I have a feeling there is something more coming soon that will reorganize the Competitive Play structure. As a matter of personal opinion, players are frustrated that it is extremely difficult to climb, however, that is because the system is very structured to keep skill levels at their appropriate ranks in each season. There is no SR reset and the system is not a progression system (meaning you build up but don’t fall down to a certain extent). It also doesn’t help that high-silver through low-diamond has such a narrow margin of differences (in terms of actual skill presented in stats), which is why the high majority of our player base fill the gold and platinum spots on the ladder. How the developers perceive these problems and how they will approach them has yet to be seen.