Who? I know cases of Players getting suspended for boosting but not for smurfing.
If a high rank player is playing on a lower rank smurf/alt/whatever account, then they’re bringing higher level experience and game sense into those lower rank games. That gives them an unfair advantage over those actually at those lower ranks.
The game’s reporting system defines anything that gives an unfair advantage as cheating, so yes, it’s reportable per Blizzard’s own rules.
It doesn’t make them any money on the console versions as it’s free to make a new account so your argument falls flat there.
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Smurfing has gotten so bad. Blizzard is never going to change it. The group find and locked profiles are both in place to allow even greater smurfing and also to promote multiple sales of the game. Blizzard cares most for it’s OWL…the rest of us are just pawns.
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Agreed. But WHAT a necro. Why would you necro a 8 month old thread? Are you going for some kind of achievement I don’t know about?
The answer to that seems obvious…if I started a new one, you’d be giving me grief for starting a thread that’d already been touched on.
Nah, I think the necro is pretty funny 
Besides, I’ll never give someone any kind of issue if they are wanting to try to get Blizzard to do something about the smurfs.
I’ll have your back 100%, seriously.
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Bruh even if they don’t make money on console they still make it on PC which is where the majority of the players are. Smurfing is not reportable unless you have proof of someone smurfing. If they are in gold and they are incredibly good for their skill rank and they are smurfing but there is no evidence, reporting won’t do much, I have never heard of anyone getting banned for smurfing unless they were cheating on another account and they bought a new one.
Everything is a reportable offense if you report it. Blizzard does not verify reports.
From your perspective it is simply game play sabotage. Report it and they will get banned.
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Yeah thats true because their system is automated. But you would need to convince a lot of people to report it, and since Overwatch can be toxic, some people will believe that they are just good and argue with it. I have gotten suspended before and it requires a LOT of reports every game. I got suspended for a week and I contacted Blizzard and they said I had 102 reports when they banned me. And when no action is taken when someone is reported, The reports disappear because they are seen as false reports so they go away. You need a lot of reports in a short amount of time (I think its like 30 days) which requires a lot. So it is VERY hard to get banned especially for smurfing, thats why so many people did it. Take streamers for example. xQc got suspended from Overwatch multiple times, but he showed that he contacted Blizzard and asked them if he could play on another account and they let him. That just proves how naive they are. They let him use another account which made everyone think they could. Techincally it is allowed as long as you weren’t banned for cheating on another account.
No it is not. If you cant make it out of spawn thats your own fault. Belive it or not there are not a lot of true smurfs in the game. Its more likely that you got queued up with bad teamates or you have been getting carried by good teammates.
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20 characters…
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They ruin gameplay by exploiting Blizzards matchmaking algorithms.
One of the main-reasons for smurf-accounts is that youre going to play intentionally poorly and dont want to drop on your main-account for it.
This gets reported every time by me. I suggest you do the same.
I’m done with Blizzard on this topic.
The next thing is those who are top 500 players but find it fun to ruin lower rank matches by exploiting and dodging the algorithms via smurfaccounts.
A top 500 Widow ruins the match for his personal enjoyment.
I say report them - i don’t care how they feel about it. They know theyre in the wrong, no matter what they say.
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I tend to agree with this, as well.
I get the “action has been taken against an account that you reported” notification message all the time when I log in–and I don’t file reports very often, either–only when I feel that there will a good chance that, when the report is reviewed by Blizz, they will clearly be able to verify and agree with the basis of the report I’m filing. I believe that’s because when I report someone, they deserve it. I’ve never filed a report out of spite or because I’m tilted/raging after a comp loss.
I don’t waste my time reporting things that I know are probably true, but can’t be proven–someone throwing but actually still “helping escort the payload”, for example–everyone knows they’re really not. Or if I think someone may be aim botting, or smurfing, if they don’t act in a way that allows Blizzard to really do anything–people trolling and acting like they don’t know how to play, for example, while actually (obviously) throwing the game. Even if they are, there is no proof they were throwing. Maybe they are just bad. You can’t punish someone for just actually sucking at the game. That’d be particularly harsh, I think. In situations like that–honestly–it’s just a waste of everyone’s time.
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Smurfing as most people seem to use it, people who throw to wreck lower players,
is reportable since their throwing
“Smurfing” as some people use it, People playing heros they aren’t good at trying ti improve on their heros(Most refer to these as alts), is not reportable
Edit: STOP NECROING THREADS
Proof is irrelevant though. They don’t check for it so why should you include it? Report people you think should have action taken against and be done with it. It takes 1-2 seconds to do. The automatic system takes care of the rest.
It is absolutely absurd that this system is automatic and gives other players the power to suspend others. This needs to be changed asap and the only thing Blizzard will notice is a complete failure of their system.
in order to smurf, you eventually have to throw to maintain a lower SR, right? and typically have to throw multiple games to achieve that lower SR you desire right? but…you know… smurfing is fine. it doesnt skew statistics at all or ruin games for other people. but a boosted player who doesnt belong in higher ranks when those same people are trying to climb…its just blasphemy and everything that is wrong with this game.
they are both equally wrong. just because you’re better at the game doesnt give you a right to ruin games and skew stats at lower rank games, just like I have no right skewing stats and ruining higher rank games. but because it’s fun or funny to better players to stomp lower players when climbing but throw when deranking, it’s just deemed a part of the game.
The vast majority of smurfs are practicing new characters and roles and building up the skill to play at their main’s SR. Their advantage lies in a better understanding of teamwork, cooperation, positioning, etc. Anyone can learn these things but most don’t and are thus at a disadvantage.
Consider this: PlayerX is a Master tier Reinhardt and has only played tanks to get to his rank. Is it fair for them to randomly start playing DPS characters with no experience in that SR? It’s the same thing as someone getting boosted and not being able to keep up with. The only real solution is to either have everyone play every role equally (not happening ever) or for them to practice on a new account until they’re good enough for their main rank.
no its not a reportable offense smurfs will climb out of your rank faster then you can say omegalul
they will also derank faster than that first omegalul. ya know, so they can continue to smurf and “have fun pwning noobs”
I report it as cheating - since I can’t really know if it is a smurf or a cheater.