Having the new accounts be able to be generated from the main account so it has the same MMR wouldn’t break a lot of things. They still buy them, but, they start with the right MMR.
That wouldn’t be bad.
This is VERY much detectable, but, they don’t. Which is just WEIRD, it would clean up so much of the game.
I’ve seen 5% win rates on Torb’s, and 90% win rates on the accounts Genji. Both with plenty of games.
How Blizzard doesn’t search for accounts doing things like this is what makes me think they don’t care about the smurfing situation at all.
It is the most obvious cases, AND the easiest to do something about.
Unfortunately there is no way for us to know if these ratios are truly out of proportion. As I mentioned above, I do have games I cannot win and I will win hands down.
Which are what?
I report these as I see them. Remember if you see these, click the little mark next to the group leader’s name and select Report Group Title.
If there is repeated behavior of Code of Conduct violations, actions including hardware bans will take place. This has been proven with popular streamers who have received actions from Blizzard.
Hardware bans are passed out for use of third party software, not boosting. Boosting only eventually leads to account closure. And only then to the boosting account.
We’ve seen “popular streamers” told they can play alt accounts while others are banned. The policy is officially that the ban applies to the account, not the player.
I consider this an ineffective solution overall. The game is targeted for a wide audience including minors under the age of 18, and not everyone has mobile devices. This would hinder honest players from being able to play the game. Now to qualify to the top 500 for PC leaderboards, your account must have Blizzard SMS Protect enabled, but this is not a requirement for playing the game overall. There is also debate on how easy it is to set up a burner phone number with SMS features for free.
I see multiple of em every day without fail. Given probably at minimum 50 people see them for every group formed (given there’s often +10 groups in prime time) I’m gonna take a guess and say they don’t get banned often. I could do an experiment if you like but as far as I’ve seen reporting for this reason is basically a placebo.
As for making smurfing harder.
-Higher level req for comp.
-More aggressive SR adjustment with high enough stats (Dafran playing godlike as hard as he possibly can placed like threshold of diamond masters which is as high as anyone places. He’s one of the best soldier players in the world. They can push people like that through the ranks faster).
-More value on stand out performance in QP. There’s no reason Dafran should be fighting gold and plat after 25 levels of QP. New players routinely place gold (which is another problem that seems to be unique to Overwatch) it happened to me and OW was my first PC shooter. Why the heck is Dafran playing against gold after having insane stats for like 15 hours of QP.
-Lower SR losses when fighting someone who’s a likely smurf candidate. If some dude is getting 65SR a win and has insane stats (common on new accounts for GM dpi playing dps) then have people who lose to this seemingly standout account take less of a SR loss. This doesnt even have the normal problem of SR inflation because smurfs naturally take SR out of the system.
These are all off the top of my head. Lots could be done if they cared. These are all addressing new accounts as well. If people who intentionally throw in 6stack were actually banned that would already have a huge influence on how easy it is to maintain undervalued accounts.
This is of course the only sane mentality to hold if you’d like to improve at the game and climb. It is my own mentality. It does not in any way mean that one is not able to dislike the effect smurfing has on match quality. As someone who doesn’t really care if I ever pass or even reach my peak of low diamond I don’t really care if smurfs make it easier or harder for me to climb. I feel similarly about throwers. What they do is degrade the quality of matches. And that’s enough reason for Blizzard to make concerted effort at minimizing their impact. I play this game for fun and landslides make the game less fun from either side.
Probably no more than your own mistakes and your own performance in each game. I myself, have played in mostly Gold Rank, I believe I belong here right now and I review my own games a lot. I make a lot of mistakes that cost matches. I am working to improve and I have over the last three years, but really so has everyone else the game has evolved so much.
I once fell to bronze briefly due to tilt in season 3, but quickly rebounded in season 4 all the way to low platinum. I proved there that I did not belong in Bronze because I had the experience, game sense, and mechanical skills to exploit the Bronze and Silver ranks and climb back. I struggle to reach higher in Platinum ranks, because I am being outplayed by others (and I love facing against stronger opponents) and I just don’t have enough experience at higher ranks to survive.
Also, I have had significant lifestyle changes which impacted my time playing Overwatch. I am attending college, studying Graphic Design, and I have a full time job as a graphic designer. I used to be able to play Overwatch as much as eight hours a night, 7 days a week. Now its about 8 to 12 hours a week overall and most of it is not even spent in Competitive.
In conclusion, I will remind that while “uncontrollable factors” like the “perception” of smurfs seem like they are holding a player back, it still comes down to the player perfecting their skill and improving against stronger opponents regardless if those opponents are ranked correctly or not.
The issue isn’t about climbing. I don’t care where I rank. I just want fun, competitive games against people of my skill level. That is being robbed from me by smurfs. I’ve been just as angry after wins as I have after losses because the match just was not fun due to a smurf.
I don’t know how many ways I can explain to you that it is NOT ABOUT RANK. It is about MATCH EXPERIENCE. Watching my team get farmed by a lvl 5 Widow or Genji all match and not being able to leave spawn isn’t fun.
Who cares if you get a shiny emblem that means some 5 million players are still better than you? OW is a casual game. A lot of people play this game to have a good time. As you’ve already admitted you don’t like games where it feels your own impact has less influence on the game (where your efforts are mostly irrelevant to the outcome). This is completely normal and very common. The factors we are discussing make these scenarios more likely and sap enjoyment out of the game. This has nothing to do with “wahh I can’t climb cause ‘factor x that similarly effects everyone who plays’ and everything to do with ‘factor x leads to worse less enjoyable games for all participants’.
This is a commonplace suggestion, and its not a bad one, however I feel it would discourage new players from continuing to invest time into the game and become long term players.
This is already being done (see my quoted post from Jeff Kaplan above) or check out Kawummba’s guide here:
This comes down to they specifically separate the MMR from Quick Play and Competitive Modes. This is mostly to benefit quick queue times and a more casual experience in Quick Play.
This is already being done to some extent. One of the factors in your MMR adjustement after each competitive match is comparing the opponent’s MMRs to that of your own to determine the strength of schedule. If going into the match they had superior MMR to that of your own, you will lose less if you lose and gain more if you win.
I agree, but it does nothing for the enjoyment of people playing with / against smurfs.
They don’t stop you climbing (they CAN delay it at end of season bronze, because it fills up with them, so your skill doesn’t really get a look in for those games)
It is the obvious accounts which Blizzard just ignores which is doing the real damage down there.
I get it, there are limited dev resources, but, this has been a big problem, for a long time. Both my kids stopped playing because of it.
mark next to the group leader’s name and select Report Group Title.