Reminder: Blizzard will never do anything about smurfs

[ShiaLaBeouf-11755]

That is all

[Baja-11423]

cause there isnt any real sure fire way of identifying them…we accuse anybody whos having a decent game of being a smurf…false accusations (or worse - punishments) would be through the roof

[Ventorath-1520]

Reminder: Players exaggerate the effect of smurfs to begin with. They’re only a problem for their first like… 5 games. After that the game is really good about throwing them in with players appropriate to how well they’re playing, regardless of their level. I know this because I’ve had a couple different alt BNET accounts I’ve played on in the past.

If a “smurf” is hovering in Bronze/Silver or whatever rank that’s clearly below their ability while constantly stomping and single handedly carrying every game, it’s because they’re actively throwing other games to balance it out and remain at that level of play. THOSE are the problem players, but it’s no longer because they’re a smurf, it’s because they’re throwing matches.

[UGotBenched-1849]

That’s because it’s nowhere near the problem this forum makes it seem.

[PainWarriorX-1280]

Yeah. I’ve been accused of smurfing before when I had a particularly great game. I’m level 750.

[AmserCranc-2481]

@Ventorath-1520

They’re only a problem for their first like… 5 games

I’ve never found that to be true. The game gives you really rough games for the first five placements. For example; I made a new account to play with a friend, it gave me all Silver games, I won all the Silver games, it put me in Silver. After that, I was going up/down ~70SR. That’s still a minimum of a 20 win-streak to get back where I am, currently, on my main.

Whenever I’ve seen someone smurf from Masters or GMs, it’s always taken 30-ish games to get back to Diamond, because the SR gain slow down to ~30 after 15-20 games. The Moment you lose a game, the SR gains tank.

Players might exaggerate the existence of smurfs, but every single Overwatch player I know has one (or multiple, one guy having 7).

[Kurisu-11239]

Bruh i said it before and ill say it again. Blizzard treats their smurf players like the back alley ho3s that some homies smash and pass around the group then talk behind her back calling her a ho3 and stuff.

Its a non-issue thats a win win either way. They get more money from all the people buying the game on sale every other month and then on their quarterly report they go to the shareholders
“WOWZERS WE HAVE 10 MILLION BAJILLION PEOPLE PLAYING OVERWATCH.” knowing damn well that those numbers arent concurrent players but just accounts signed in in the past couple months and one out of every 3-4 people have like minimum 5 accounts at this point and when you get to masters above they have like 8-10 accounts cuz they don’t want to sweat every day.

Its honestly disgusting and one of the reasons i just dont care about blizztovision at this point.

[Kurisu-11239]

And this isn’t even getting into console smurfing lmao. The answer is easy. increase the level to join comp to 75-100. You would be surprised at how effective that would be to get people from buying new accounts knowing they would have to dedicate almost 2 weeks of nonstop gaming just to be able to hit comp vs the 2-3 days you can get to level 25.

[Kaedi-11739]

How about we put some proper reminders up of where the development team stands with alternate accounts, boosting, and throwing.

@Game Director Jeff Kaplan

I think there are two separate concepts:

1. Smurfing. I would define this as an experienced player buying a second account to reset their account progress and internal matchmaking rating (MMR)

2. Boosting. This is behavior some players engage in in Competitive Play where one player is more skilled than their partner and attempts to “carry” the lower skilled player to a higher skill tier.

Boosting is bad and we are very actively working on preventing and punishing this behavior. Rules like the 500 SR differential in Comp above Diamond exist because of Boosting. There is nothing about Boosting that is acceptable and we want you to know that we are taking great efforts to minimize the impact on “fair” players.

Smurfing – and I know this isn’t what you want to hear – isn’t really that big of an issue. For example, a few weeks ago one of the Pro Overwatch players created a smurf account and was streaming from it. We were able to watch his MMR internally and compare it against his “main” account. Within 15 games, the MMR’s were equal. I know there is a very bad perception of Smurfing. But the reality is, skilled players are moved rapidly out of lower skill situations.

I’ve also personally witnessed a few cases of players assuming someone is smurfing when they are not. One of the people I play with is highly skilled. He played a ton in the beta. He works on the Heroes of the Storm team and plays Heroes most nights. But occasionally he comes and plays OW with us because he really enjoys the game. As a result, he is way lower level than we are. Most of us are 3-5 stars… and he is about level 30. Every time we group with him, someone accuses him of being a smurf. But he’s not.

Anyway, we will always monitor deviant behavior and if we feel like there is behavior occurring that hurts honest, fair players, we will take action. We are definitely working on the boosting issue.

Source: Overwatch Forums Developer Post Archives

@Game Director Jeff Kaplan

Having a second account you play on is fine. New accounts very rapidly adjust to play at the proper skill level.

Doing anything to manipulate your internal MMR or Skill Rating (i.e. Boosting or Throwing) is not fine.

Penalties for boosting and throwing are about to increase dramatically. Please report the behavior (reporting is being worked on for Console but is not ready yet).

Source: Overwatch Forums Developer Post Archives

@JeffreyKaplan

Starting a new account is not against the rules. Boosting or throwing is against the rules.

If you start a new account and play normally, the matchmaker determines your skill level very quickly and matches you with similar players.

@Prinicipal Designer Scott Mercer

“Smurfs” are another topic we’re discussing, but it’s important to note that there’s a lot of different issues here. Let me start by saying if you throw a bunch of games to derank so you can then rise back up to a higher SR, that is considered gameplay disruption and action can be taken against that account. Don’t do that, folks.

Things get a little murkier when the “smurf” is a brand new account. We have multiple different systems in the matchmaker to try and identify new players skill and adjust quickly such as win streak bonuses, increased rate of MMR change for new players, and we still make some adjustments based on your personal performance until the player reaches a high SR. We can tune these more aggressively, but it can create negative consequences for players who actually ARE new. So we’re looking at some new ways to identify skill so we can quickly identify the players who skill and SR don’t match. It’s a tricky problem, but we’re working on it.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/i0t53g/ask_us_anything_join_the_overwatch_development/fzsglrw/

[McLawsuit-1945]

@Ventorath-1520

After that the game is really good about throwing them in with players appropriate to how well they’re playing

After that the next smurf comes along. And the next. And the next. Console players are truly left to rot. Due to free alt accounts smurfing is a plague.

[Kurisu-11239]

dont worry dude the lvl 36 genji is totally new when he’s ghost dashing blading pharah mid air. totally normal. not bannable. he just gave papa jeff 20 bucks to roll some noobs because his actual elo is to cancer to play the character he wants and blizz isn’t really doing much about it. lvl 36 is totally a fine level to join comp by the way. when i was lvl 36 i could barely walk in a straight line but thats good enough for competive play even if you are new.

[McLawsuit-1945]

I don’t really blame smurfs for doing it tbh. I’ve seen what queue times are like in high ranks and being able to watch an episode or two of your favorite TV show while you wait for one match is asinine. Still ruins games for low ranks which is also asinine but what can you do when the devs don’t care as the game is dying?

[DXLR8R-1789]

@UGotBenched-1849

That’s because it’s nowhere near the problem this forum makes it seem.

Exactly.

Same deal as someone that gets wrecked by one particular character in one match and they immediately run to the forum to complain about that one character.

[Vilkath-1644]

It depends on your rank to a degree, the lower you are the more likely you are to run into smurfs. Entire “Bronze to GM” series exist for a reason for years.

That said as the mod said buying new accounts isn’t against the rules for multiple reasons. One it be nearly impossible to track but also it makes Blizzard money so they won’t want to stop that practice.

What Blizzard really doesn’t do enough to stop is throwing. Blatantly you see “Throw to bronze” groups turn up in LFG. Yet they seemingly get away with it.