This has likely been posted, but I still see questions being asked.
If I’m reading this right, and others have come to the same conclusion, it looks like for the most part the decay was not intentional.
Overwatch 2 Known Issues - April 11, 2023
To the heroes of Overwatch,
We want to keep you up to date on some of the bugs and issues we’re aware of that are affecting the game. This is not a complete list of all currently tracked issues affecting Overwatch 2, rather this is a targeted list of some known specific issues with this release.
We’re sorry for any inconvenience, and we appreciate y’all’s understanding. Our team is working to resolve these issues, and we will provide more information as soon as we have updates!
Current Issues
- We are investigating an issue where Season Three end-of-season final ranks were modified causing lower tier rewards issued for some players, and for current rankings to have wrongly decayed. Players who reach their next Competitive Update should receive their expected ranks.