I don’t report people leaving game report them not playing game and sitting in game because of penalty for leaving, if you want to leave thats your propagative didn’t want you there to begin with don’t enjoy playing with slacker andy’s
It isn’t about the level of seriousness it is about playing the game of you want to mess around and roast marshmallows by the fire goto custom games for that… I really don’t care if someone is playing widow and missing all there shots, if it looks like they are not trying they get reported, they also get reported waving and standing with the enemy there is custom games for that…
I wish you could queue to skrimish lobbies just to hang out but you can’t…
I have no problem with criticism either way and I don’t take anything anyone online says to me seriously, so feel free to speak your mind
I’m going to use an analogy to explain this, as my brain is currently fried and it’s the only simple way I can think of that still makes sense while explaining the issue with that system.
This is like cutting down a tree from the very base of the trunk. Sure, you will get rid of the tree, but the amount of damage that will occur from it falling over could be fatal. Instead you should be taking it step by step from the top of the tree (incentivizing players to stay in the match by giving them a reason to play the game) and work your way down until you reach the base (until either players stop leaving as much or until a temporary ban is required).
There is no reason for them to be doing this, especially when the tree (Overwatch) is on the verge of collapsing (from consistent, willful incompetence at Blizzard).
The issue with this is, you wont gain any people back as it’s not even close to one of the actual glaring issue with Overwatch 2. If I left because of toxicity and they ended up “fixing” it, my mind would instantly go “Okay, what about all the other issues like the meta/the horrible UI/the greedy monetization?” None of these very prominent issues are being tackled, yet they “got rid of a problem” by forcing people to stay in unenjoyable matches (that were caused by a lack of separate playlists for unenjoyable game modes).
That to me just seems like something unappealing and unworthy of my attention (and I’m a die-hard for this game).
Yes, this exactly.
I don’t think so. Not when you are forced to play through a match with no real meaning to it. Incentives provide retention, bans are just a deterrent.
Thank you for your answer, I knew that my reasoning was too simplistic, but not why it was, thanks to your response I know it now, thank you again for broadening the narrowness of my vision.
It’s people like you, who know how to talk about their passion in a reasonable and open-minded way, who make this forum still have some use.
While I tend to agree with the obvious solution here, I cannot agree with a system that is oppressive by design.
Players who aren’t breaking the rules are being forced into games with players who now hard throw rather than leave, because of said consequences.
Personally, I prefer to play with people who WANT to play the game. Not having the freedom to engage with players who don’t abandon games - those who backfill and stay - is a concern worthy of protest.
Then you disagree with rules that have been there in sports for centuries and rules that have been there in online gaming for decades.
Are you saying that we should remove fair play rules and let chaos settle in ?
Really… ? This would need real statistics and since players who are against penalties and that are serial leavers want them gone, they’d obviously lie about it stating it’s getting worse.
As far as I’m concerned, my QP experience has improved by a lot. I get less backfills and when I do, it’s usually matches that have barely started which is okayish to me (and know that I’m against backfills in general 'cause I find it unfair that decent players are forced to replace leavers).
The only times I’ve seen people hard throw was tanks when I play very late. It’s usually people that complete their “all roles” weekly challenges but that doesn’t have anything to do with the recent change to penalties in QP. It’s always been there since October 2022.
As we all do which is why it’s important to make serial leavers leave for good so only people that WANT to play the game remain. Keep in mind that serial leavers who don’t care about being penalized are a minority. QP was in a horrible state because players who didn’t buy the Premium BP didn’t care about having their BP progress penalized.
Now that QP penalties give leavers a timer to actually queue in QP, they are less tempted to leave for silly reasons such as losing one single fight. Many impatient players wrongfully think that losing the first fight = match loss or stomp incoming and they don’t even try, which is a big mistake 'cause it’s always possible to make a come back.
I feel like the OW community gives up too easily and they never try to transcend themselves which is kinda sad in a team-based game.
Why can’t you engage with them exactly ? Now that leavers are less common, you indeed engage with people that actually want to play and that stay. If you see people throw, just report them. This doesn’t change anything.
Most people reported throwers, even before the new penalties were implemented in QP. Just keep doing that and you’ll see those players less (though I don’t see them often currently, unless I play past midnight, which is rare too).
I’ve not played for a week - the stress levels induced by the game are as high as they ever were, its just now you get trapped in stressful, unfun widow / hanzo / sombra games or stomps. That doesnt make me angry, it makes the game less fun.
The leaver issue is caused by stress. Stress doenst go away if you trap people in games. The increased stress from the trap probably means you actually reduce your long term retention numbers.
If people drop out sooner on average, that’s long term less money.
The problem for me in all of this is the leaver’s penalty actually does the opposite of what I perceive that its meant to achieve while the actual problem is being ignored.
People weren’t being banned for abandoning online games centuries ago.
That makes no sense.
The rule was placed into effect in October, 2023.
Nothing you are saying makes sense.
So on one hand, you want an honest account of player sentiment towards the policy.
On the other hand, you’re safe with drawing conclusions based on the “obvious.”
Great. Good for you.
That doesn’t invalidate what I said, as what I said remains true for many players nonetheless.
The number of backfill games are about the same.
And I refuse to count the number of backfill games where I or others join at the exact end. Personally speaking, I play about as many full games as backfill games. A 50% backfill chance is not an indication of success.
If the policy was effective, backfilling would be an extremely rare occurrence as players would lament facing penalties for leaving.
However, because backfill games are still happening - by your own account, no less - that means players are still leaving, which indicates a failure of the policy to enforce its intended effect.
Leavers are still leaving games.
The point of the policy is to deter leavers from leaving. But they still do it.
That still doesn’t address the issue of non-decent players who would wish to leave, but are deterred and remain in game. In such a case, a decent player to replace the non-decent player is always preferred.
Otherwise, the game is ruined for 4 players by 1 non-participating player. And that’s unfair to the players remaining in the game. If fairness is truly a concern to you, then backfilling for someone who no longer wants to play the game only helps to undo the unfairness 1 bad player inflicts onto 4 others + 1 backfiller.
If you can’t see the logic in that, then there’s really nothing to discuss.
The game is free to play.
And cheaters get banned everyday, only to come back on a new account anyway.
Imposing a restriction on quickplay is not a deterrent.
So, no. They will never leave for good.
Further, it does more harm than good towards players who DO want to play the game, by giving bad players a vehicle to hold the game hostage for anyone trying to enjoy it.
Backfill is a 50% occurrence.
And in each game there are 10 chances 1 or more players will leave.
So it is far more likely that a game will have a leaver than not. And those who choose to leave, which is still extremely common, apparently do not care about being penalized.
In just about any quickplay game, most players will still encounter a leaver.
So the idea that leavers are a minority, even if true, is still enough to ruin an entire game for most players.
It’s truly sad that only 10% of the player population can ruin the game for 90% of others. But I digress.
Battle pass progress through quickplay is a non-issue.
Players that leave games likely left the games they were in simply because they no longer wished to play. It’s as simple as that.
Leavers should be placed in games with other leavers. A simple and elegant solution, and keeps games clean for those seeking to enjoy them.
Trying to change people will never work the way you want it to.
Convincing a leaver not to leave is like trying to convince a thief not to steal.
Because there is a non-participating player in a slot that could be backfilled by a participating player.
This is in no way true.
That assumption is based on effective results.
And effectively, quickplay games still have leavers. I’d argue at least 90% of the time.
If you really want to argue this, send me a game code of a quickplay game that has no leavers in it.
For each code you send, I will play and send you 10 quickplay games with at least one leaver. That’s a promise.
Sometimes, but not always.
This doesn’t make the inherent problem where an unwilling player, who fears for their account privileges, doesn’t want to leave and instead stays in game to troll/throw/grief.
The enforcement of a single radical policy creates numerous new problems.
Even then, that doesn’t make the problem go away.
Leavers, throwers, trolls, and griefers will always exist. Penalizing their account will not change the human being on the other side of it.
Making it so these people are forced into playing just makes the problem worse for everyone else.
Well, that’s the thing.
Nothing has changed for leavers. It’s just worse for law-abiding citizens.
Reminds me of a similar argument about gun control.
And that’s the way it should be.
Always has been, actually.
What would truly help is to place leavers in their own queues. Then they can all play together, report each other, and leave everyone else alone.
By fixing the system so that it becomes impossible to interact with bad-faith players, no deterrent becomes necessary. Leavers are effectively removed from the general population without direct account penalization. And more players can enjoy their games.
It’s an obvious win-win-win. Well, except for the leavers.
I kind of hope they start soft banning players that rage quit. I’m tired of the players that expect to win every match. They’re people that as kids, got participation awards, and never learned the value in a loss, and learning from it.
They will be keeping an eye on the leavers retention rate, and the non leavers retention rate.
If it doesn’t see an increase in non leavers retention, then they will drop it.
No they got banned drop abandoning offline games centuries ago.
For overwatch, but for other online games they have had it a lot longer.
Yep, and we will see those in retention rates of leavers and non leavers.
Blizzard will remove it if it is making the retention rates overall worse
Yep, and we will see those in retention rates of leavers and non leavers.
Blizzard will remove it if it is making the retention rates overall worse
I’ve seen less, personally, and again, Blizzard will keep an eye on it.
Deter doesn’t mean eliminate entirely. They are aiming for “less” not “none”
Yep, but like cheaters, you make it a pain in the booty, and they will do it LESS.
Yes, which is what lead to changing the penalties so they will care more.
Given the number of people EXTREMELY upset and threating to abandon overwatch entirely we have seen on the forums over this, I would say it is working as intended.
Yes, and different policies towards how to solve that problem is why there is different amounts of thievery in different countries.
It say, doesn’t effect me, since I’m not leaving games in any great quantity.
The forums have poisoned my brain and I can’t tell if this is sarcasm or if it’s genuine. In the case that it is genuine, that is very sweet of you. I wish more people were willing to look at opposing view points, so that we can understand each other better.
Thank you for your kindness and for taking the time to read my post
I’m seeing very few leavers now. It’s almost a different game for me now that people have discovered staying and trying is always the best option. Sad that they needed devs to make that decision for them, but it needed to happen. Competetive integrity exists again.
I wouldn’t say it’s ‘always’ possible to make a comeback in this game. I’ve been playing since Beta of OW1 and I gotta tell you, even though I’ve personally never left over the first fight turning into a rout?
It’s almost scary how many times I’ve said ‘Fantastic, it’s gonna be one of these games’ meaning an absolute stomp and turned out to be right.
You play any FPS game long enough, you tend to get gut feelings based off what you see in the early going’s.
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