How to escape Bronze, probably

Competitive Discussion
1

Hi, I’m in Platinum currently and have always been around Plat-Gold, only once dropping to silver very briefly. I’ve never actually been in bronze but when my friends at school played, most of them were. With this knowledge and from what I’ve seen online, I’ve come to a conclusion about most people stuck in Bronze: it’s not so much skill holding them back but their settings, software, hardware, and other real-life elements. There is a very, very slim chance that you’re genuinely, irreversibly awful but I honestly highly doubt that. So here are some things you should look at that might be preventing you from even improving at the game in the first place:

  • Internet
      • Simply having high ping shouldn't necessarily affect you much at lower Elo. In my experience anything up to 120 ping, as long as it is consistent, is manageable. Inconsistent, volatile ping however can be a huge liability. I myself have god-awful rural Australian internet. If someone is on the same network is doing something as simple as watching a YouTube video in 480p, my ping will jump between 50-200 as the video buffers. One way to minimize this happening is to simply know what other people on your network are doing. Also disconnecting all your other personal devices could help. iPhones especially have some pretty bandwidth-consuming background processes. Also something that will make your base-ping a little bit higher but largely prevents inconsistent ping is enabled "limit client send-rate" in your gameplay settings. I don't know how exactly this works but it helps me. Also you can view your ping by doing into video settings, putting "display performance stats" on, and then enabling "show network latency" in the display performance stats dropdown menu.
  • Your PC
      • This is mostly obvious stuff, most people know if they have a bad computer however there are a few things you can do to minimize how bad your computer is:
      • Clear your harddrive. Having an empty harddrive can have really positive effects on your FPS, again I don't know the mechanics of this it just works that way. Straight up clearing unneeded files and uninstalling programs you don't use can help, I recommend installing BleachBit and clearing your system cache and stuff like that.
      • Run a simple windows theme. This is a stretch since I think it only works on Windows 7 but it should help if your PC is that bad and you have that OS. Maybe Windows 10 can do it, I dunno.
      • Clean out your PC. A lot of people don't seem to know your PC gets dusty and should be cleaned out. If you haven't done this for a while or not at all, open it up, use some compressed air, make sure you don't let the fans spin around.
  • Other hardware
      • It's pretty important that you have all of this stuff.
      • A mouse. Don't use a trackpad for the love of god. A slightly expensive mouse for the sake of ergonomics is preferable but if you're cool with a small USB mouse then that's fine, really.
      • A mousepad/mousemat. You probably need this even if you think you don't or have been doing fine without one. Fantastic ones by Razer and the like can only cost twenty bucks so its worth getting a nice one for the sake of comfort.
      • A headset. Almost essential. Directional sound and situational awareness is such an enormous aspect of the game. If you're using speakers, whether they're studio quality or inbuilt laptop speakers, stop.
      • A microphone. For the love of god get a mic. Communicate with your team, it is the most essential competitive element of Overwatch. Use push-to-talk, though.
      • A decent monitor. Probably the least essential thing on this list but still pretty important. Just being able to see more and in more clarity helps a lot.
      • A keyboard. Obvious, I know but if you're using your laptop's inbuilt keyboard you should probably stop. Having a great keyboard isn't that important. Just use an old Logitech one from 2007, its fine.
      Along these lines is the way your PC is set up, in terms of how you're sitting, how close your monitor is to eye level, stuff like that. A gaming chair is nice but at least just have a chair that's comfortable and puts you at a nice height relative to your keyboard and mouse. I don't know the exact dynamics of this so if you're worried, look it up. Just make sure you're comfy. Also make sure the center of your monitor is at eye-level. Usually if you just put them on a desk they end up lower, which can screw your neck, so place the monitor on a pile of books until they're at a nice height. Bonus tip: Make sure our wrists aren't resting on the edge of your desk, this can really screw your wrists up.
  • Your settings
      • The biggest thing I see with low Elo players is they play on a ludicrously high sensitivity because it's the default. Your sensitivity can determine your playstyle a lot so play around with a lot of different sensitivities and maybe consider changing your relative zoom sensitivity in your sniper heroes' hero-specific settings. Also, Overwatch doesn't have an option to enable mouse acceleration, thank god, but it's worth going into your system mouse settings and disabling "enhance pointer precision", just in case. If you think you preferred having this enabled, you're wrong. Obviously you should turn your graphics settings down low if your computer can't handle it. However, don't necessarily rely on Overwatch's graphic presets, I believe the lowest option doesn't actually put every setting to its lowest so try doing it manually. I believe anti-aliasing is an extremely CPU hungry setting and I have it disabled by choice anyway so turn that off. Render scale is probably the easiest way to get a lot of frames but it can reduce your accuracy or just be distracting as it basically makes everything look blurry so only turn it does as a last resort. Also some more minor things:
      • Consider adjusting your gamma correction, contrast, and brightness at the bottom of the video settings tab. I think most people keep these on default but I have mine adjust slightly, its just personal preference though.
      • Your crosshair is also personal preference really so play around with that. I personally just use a dot for most heroes, although I have a larger circle for supports and a dot with crosshair for sniper characters.
      • The default controls are pretty spot on in my opinion but you might have a weird keyboard or something so if your hands are hurting from contorting weirdly, consider some more comfortable rebinds. Also some pros have some weird binds like having jump on their right click and stuff.
  • Your personality
      • This may be the most important thing but its also the hardest to control which is why I left it until last. Your personality determines how you play, how you communicate, how you react to situations, and how you tilt. Obviously don't be toxic but I think there's another extreme that's arguably worse. People who get angry and rage can channel that into making clutch plays and focusing but I don't really see an advantage in being obnoxiously, overly nice. Don't excuse mistakes, you shouldn't flame people for them but just brushing them off can sometimes be disastrous. People never learn if they don't get told when they've screwed up. This personality type can also result in you being the guy who fills. This isn't necessarily bad but you should have a somewhat limited hero pool so you can improve. Also don't try too hard to be nice and friendly. Constant chatter can flood comms and make communication really difficult, also you might just end up being annoying.
    Okay, I don't know what else to add and I'm bored, I'll make edits if I'm wrong about something. I hope this helps! <3
    2 Likes
    2

    How to escape bronze: stop playing with your feet.

    5 Likes
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    You’ve got it all wrong. There is a very, very slim chance that you’re not genuinely, irreversibly, awful but I honestly doubt that. And the sooner you accept that YOU’RE the problem (not you in particular) the faster you’ll climb out of that tier. If you just tell people that “Oh no, it’s not your fault!” “It’s the hardware, the software, the leavers, the throwers, the griefers” the less and less inclined they’ll be to actually improve and get out of there tiers.

    1 Like
    4

    Turning down the default sensitivity to something reasonable would be enough. 15 is the default setting BTW…what insane person thought that one up…???

    5

    Jeff probably :stuck_out_tongue:
    Personally mine is set at 8 (with only 400 dpi)

    6

    I somewhat agree but I think thats silver-low gold. Bronze just seems to be a purgatory for people who don’t know how to use a computer, this is the aim of my post.

    7

    I like how people are only now realizing what [hopefully] a majority of players already know.

    8

    Remember, you don’t need to get gud to get out of bronze. It’s below average so just don’t be bad. Focus on making as few blatant mistakes as possible and you can try and do better than that around plat.

    9

    TLDR: how not to be in bronze, fine tune every mundane setting to your liking which are universal to literately every game in existence

    somehow thats the reason why you are the lowest rank the game has to offer…

    if these tips never once crossed your mind then I cant imagine how that would lead your decisions in a match

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    most reliable way to get out of bronze is understanding how the matchmaking system works, two things about it in particular. first thing is that it forces 50 percent winrate on you and second, performance sr(the better u do, the more sr u earn or the less u lose) is how u climb until diamond. so in other words one tricking, preferably not a dps one trick cause theres too many of that already.(there seems to be a shortage of tanks atm)

    11

    most of my bronze friends use a trackpad

    2 Likes
    12

    Well there you go…

    13

    U forgot mouse acceleration. I turned that off and made it to masters from bronze in a year.

    1 Like
    14

    Thats in the post. ,

    15

    I would add, watch some CS GO tutorial for mouse optimisation, like removing acceleration is huge plus and available to anyone (trackpad is troll for fps anyway :p).

    60hz can do to hit diamond, but you need 60fps constant with no drop, if you still experience drop after lowering everything, then limit the fps to a lower value until the game doesn’t drop fps anymore.

    Good mouse (wired only) and mousepad !!
    Cheap mouses have low refresh rate, making you imprecise and missing by few to dozens pixels a correct movement of your hand.
    Look at that also (advanced): overwatch-dpi-tool (google search it)

    Bad mousepad or not mousepad will make your aiming inconsistent, think of changing your mousepad if it is old (6 month if you play often), or to wash it with soft shampoo.

    Sensitivity lowering is good too, you should at least need a small gaming mousepad (around 30x40cm), less needed for heros like winston and mercy.
    If you don’t play with your arm, play with your wrist, but don’t only play with your fingers. Well, this stuff also come naturally with time when playing fps.

    Cheap keyboard are to avoid. hard to press or pressing wrong one by error… Mecanical keyboard is good, but only make a little difference, negligable comparad to the others tips.

    Mouse, mouse settings, mousepad, stable 60fps framerate, internet, is what will make the most difference.
    144hz screen and good keyboard can come after that.

    Also there is some settings to disable like frame buffering, take a look at that : GUIDE: Maximizing System Performance for Overwatch (PC) (google search it)

    There is more to say, but I could go all night with that…

    16

    Ranking Up just isn’t possible, I know it hurts to hear such, but that’s just how this game was designed from the ground up.

    But what’s actually funny, is that you can rank down literally as much as you want I am proof of such. But, you will not by any means recover the rank you lost, try as you may

    A wonderful and addictive design if I do say so myself, I’m jealous of the devs.

    17

    i doe have tobagree here. bronzr is a hell holevthat we can never esacsoe bbeavuse of the constant havker. i make 10 post about this andb blizzard do not do anythjng about it. my pc also too slow to get bebyerr at thsi game abd so my skill bronze. streamer are rich to so thegy havev money for ricjch setuptt. they get tropv500 so easiy

    18

    Such a ridiculous post. You can go watch 100+ people who did “bronze to diamond/GM” streams. Starting on low-ranked accounts and rocketing up the ranks. You can pay people to boost your Overwatch account. Where you failed to be able to climb, boosters will get on and do it effortlessly.

    Heck, there have been many posts on this very forum of people talking about their own personal climbs up 1000+SR as they improved.

    If YOU couldn’t climb, it just meant you were at the SR/MMR that was appropriate for your skill. You can’t climb above how good you are, you can easily throw intentionally to drop lower. You are right about that at least.

    2 Likes
    19

    Okay then, LUL.

    I could argue with you, but nah.

    You cannot and you will never climb, a wonderful design by the devs I think.

    It’s like Gambling, One more game, hopefully I can win and make up the SR I lost, but you lose and it never happens :smile:

    20

    What about how I climed from silver to diamond? Or how I have climbed after drastic falls? (Like how I’m sure I’ll get diamond again in the next week once I refocus). And how about my friend who went from plat to Grand Master, or the people who were once bronze, and took the initiative to get better and are now in gold/plat, but you couldn’t understand that cause it can’t possible be your fault, you’re so good at this game …

    1 Like