I’m not sure who is in charge of Defense Matrix, or what goal they were trying to achieve. But, if it was reducing gamechat and VC to an abandoned western town, you 100% nailed it.
People are terrified to talk in chat because it can mean potentially mean losing their entire account since anyone can abuse the blatantly broken automated report system. In what world is that ok?…
Its just another one of those issues that didn’t need to exist that Blizzard somehow created for themselves, just like a majority of Overwatch 2s lifespan.
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I prefer quieter voice comms over the excessively toxic voice and text chat that was in OW1
I still run into nice people in voice/text in OW2, but way less toxicity
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I don’t even join voice chat when I play Overwatch. The game is hectic as it is already. I can’t handle anymore things to keep track of like voice comms, which isn’t even useful anyways in low ranks and if anything, just distracting. But yeah, it’s concerning to hear that people are talking less now. People always talked rarely in my server (OCE), so I haven’t really noticed much difference 
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So true op. I’m one of those that don’t want to be false ban so I don’t chat anymore.
They truly redefined what a sequel means… 
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im a firm believer that most toxicity in the game arises from blizzard’s terrible terrible terrible matchmaking and overall game design.
tank roulette of constant counterswapping
getting people queued into your team who have no business being there
the games are progressively becoming more and more not fun.
this is frustrating players, players vent against the low performers on the team, and then blizzard comes in and implements a strong ban system.
you basically need to just put up with blizzard’s terrible design choices, or you get banned.
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Unfortunate reality in which the community treats itself to others. This is where we are now.
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Also, accounts got automatic banned by simply being mass reported for whatever reason. And it stays banned without appeal or explanation.
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I mean people getting offended over when ever people type “tank difference” aka “tank diff” aka “their tank is better” and even when typing “gg” at the end of the game. Why do you think people dont want to communicate anymore? I think, because you can get banned for any stupid thing.
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by deliberate devious design. deliberate removal of group finder. deliberately discouraging chat use. equals social decimation. self inflicted sabotage.
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People stop talking in chat way before defense matrix.
Coming back to the game after a few years has been shocking. The toxicity spooked me I can’t lie. It’s like the report button is a weapon
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Gee, I wonder why. My husband is currently silenced for literally saying that getting triple ulted “Hurt like ****”.
That was the actual email log he was sent about why they silenced him.
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It’s so dumb because there are solutions to most of these “problems” already in the game. You can block/mute/etc. to you hearts content on an individual basis if something bothers you.
It’s so weird that they are catering to the lowest common denominator just for the extra cookie points of being a “non-toxic and inclusive game.”
And they have the audacity to call Overwatch a “Social Competitive game.”
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At this point I am not even sad about it, I laugh maniacally because you can’t make this crap up.
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I’ve never seen anything more deluded in my life. OW1 was toxic but OW2 is 100x more toxic because now nobody can talk without the permanent threat of losing your main account with all your skins, which makes it 100x more toxic by default.
Totally deluded 
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Saying “tank diff” is toxic. End of story.
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Tell me how “That hurt like hell” was grounds to get suspended though?
You literally can get banned for anything, since that was literally the quoted segment of the appeal email.
The report system is weaponized, plain and simple.
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I totally agree. It’s become ridiculous to even contact support, it’s literally impossible to talk to an operator without receiving an automated message that says “talk about it in the forums 
” when the forum rules are extremely clear in saying that problems regarding your account’s actions are not forum related. 
if you want a control on the sanction and we ask for a verification, there must be HUMANS who manually check that same account banned by a machine.
it’s never happened to me, fortunately. and it’s one of the reasons why I categorically refuse to do a comp match.
at this point you might as well do the “nintendo treatment”: only automatic ping system communications, no chat until you want use your personal discord channels. it’s ridiculous.
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people simply dont know how to play anymore
comms used to have actual comms
like ult combos, “lets take high ground” “soldier behind”
now its just single player.
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No, people dont use voice chat because half the time people are just jerks. Why open your mic if you’re just gonna get screamed at and blamed for everything by some screeching kid who thinks being toxic makes him a tough guy lol.
the mental gymnastics going on in this thread is crazy, all to just justify being a jerk to strangers in a game lol. wild.
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