I am writing to express my growing concern about the increasing number of bots in Competitive Overwatch matches. Despite daily reports and avoids, the problem seems to be getting worse. These bots are not only ruining the gameplay experience but are also frequently being matched together, which feels like a bug or oversight in the matchmaking system.
It’s frustrating to see that while players who disconnect multiple times face season bans, these bots, which completely disrupt the game, face no consequences. This inconsistency in enforcement is unfair and discouraging for players who are trying to enjoy Competitive Overwatch.
I would like to ask:
Why are these bots not being prevented or detected more effectively?
Is there a lack of resources or support for Overwatch’s competitive integrity?
Are there any plans to address this issue in the near future?
As a dedicated player, I hope Blizzard takes this matter seriously and implements stronger measures to combat bots and maintain the quality of Competitive Overwatch.
Thank you for your attention, and I look forward to your response.
You are likely matching with absolute donkeys, or a chance someone just deliberately deranking an account (or possibly more, but that is a lot less common now).
I’m pretty sure OP is referring to player made “bot” accounts, not hard to set up an account, have a bot play around and throw the game and not get banned
there have been bots in QP for a while now (blizzard sanctioned ones that they were testing).
they just announced bots will be coming to casual modes ‘officially’.
it stands to reason, that a company that deceives about one mode will deceive about the other. this is the same company that patented rigging ™, so you never know.
correct. the new wave of bots aka player-looking bots are basically identical. they don’t look entirely like the ones in vs. AI modes. They behave somewhat like those in custom workshops with improved AI. The Blizz ones have random names and endorsements. When more than one on a team, they sometimes work like a multi-boxer. They will all dodge/move forward/backward in a formation, usually, and their aim will look sus.
you have to step back from the herd to notice the grouping, spacing, and tempo.
the bots rarely take flank angles or high ground or distinguish themselves from the clump.
I tested it, it’s funny. You can stand back as your bots slaughter the enemy bots. They will also never get to kill you because their priority to go to the objective is greater than you standing in their face or shooting them.
The bots also ignore some RQ rules such as 1 hero per role, I saw 2 bastions.
It’s also not always an entire bot team, and not always the first 5 games. For me it was 2 games, with the second game having an actual human mercy (I noticed they were running after me trying to save me and at first though that’s a cute mercy bot, but apparently it was a human)
Bots will always leave immediately on match end and are also not eligible for POTG it seems.
The bot messages you see at the end of the game are fake and just system messages
Unjust Account Suspension Despite Reporting Bots and Smurfs
Dear Overwatch Support Team,
I am reaching out to address an issue that has left me extremely frustrated and confused. Despite actively reporting numerous bot players and smurfs in the game on a daily basis, my account has been suspended. This makes no sense to me, as I have always played fairly and followed the rules.
Every day, I encounter a significant number of bots and smurfs that ruin the game for me and other legitimate players. I make it a point to report these players whenever I see them, as they violate the game’s policies and create an unfair environment. However, instead of seeing action taken against these rule-breakers, my own account has been banned. This is incredibly unfair and disheartening.
I kindly request a thorough review of my account to determine why this suspension occurred. I also urge the team to investigate the prevalence of bots and smurfs in the game, as they are a major issue that continues to go unaddressed.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. I hope for a resolution that allows me to continue enjoying Overwatch while ensuring that the real offenders are held accountable.
dude i made a forum post last night the first one ever to complain about bots in my games, over 60% of my games had a bot on either my team or the enemy team and then my accoutn was chat banned and reduced to endorement level 0
it’s genuinely insane and sad to see people mindlessly refusing there are player-made bots in competitive. these are NOT people playing very badly. these are not bots Bliz created. these are bots that just follow a waypoint towards the point/objective, and do nothing else. they don’t even attack ONCE. now that we have “bans” in competitive, they’re even easier to spot because they can’t even ban. literally 5 minutes ago i got matched with 4 bots that just walk and die. they have either generic single word names like OLIVE, SEAL etc or 1 adjective + noun like NEONEAGLE, QUARTZBEAR, SMARTPANDA etc (these are real bot names as i picked them from my “avoid as teammate” list, which is FILLED with bots now).
i’ve seen people talk about them in these forums many many times i don’t really understand why it’s so hard to grasp this and blindly claim people just confuse very bad players with bots. because every friggin time, there’s at least 10 people baselessly claiming there are no bots in the game and they’re just very bad players. no they are not. there are bots in competitive. period.
Reported many as bots, they just advance into walls, corners etc. Usually 3+ in a game, not just one. We all know they’re bots, we all talk about it, it’s an easy win for human side. Please fix blizzard. One game all 5 were clearly bots, just advancing forward like you just had W pressed down. All 5. In comp. Think about how that is possibly human. And if so, that clearly is gameplay sabotage and worthy of addressing.
We just saw more few replay codes, posted in OW policing discord server, who track cheaters and bots, of bots in competitive. We also saw from reddit and forums history, posts of bots in games.
Bots have been shown everywhere. You are maybe not fast enough to notice.