We have an ageing playerbase. Every day you’re getting better but so are the people you play against. With very few new players coming into the game, the existing playerbase is getting better and better without enough newbies to fill the lower ranks.
This is why the bar for a diamond player now is much higher than what it was a couple years ago, for example. Games with a heavy flow of new players will have those new players fill up below/average ranks and the existing players that are naturally improving will consequently gradually climb.
What people fail to realise is that “hardstuck” players are constantly improving. With the argument made in my OP, failing to improve over your OW career will lead to you dropping in SR due to not keeping up with the improving playerbase.
My worry is that new players that come with OW2 will be turned away from PvP after they get stomped by existing players. I just gotta hope smurfs and MMR is fixed by then.
I think a large part of why people can’t climb is because they’re so stuck in their ways. The people who play now are the ones who have been playing for years… and it’s hard to break old habits
I’m more or less the same SR I was 2 years ago (200sr higher) but I know I’ve improved tenfold over that time. I just haven’t improved enough to break out of the cycle.
If you look at T500 videos from wayyy back when OW first came out, the difference in skill is massive. T500 from ~2016 looks like high plat/low diamond today. The increase of skill the playerbase has achieved since release is undeniable. It’s going to be a bit of a shock for people coming back to the game I think.
I disagree, while a brand new player is in for a much worse time than they were when OW was new, I don’t think an ageing playerbase is going to make them struggle to climb once they’ve hit a rank around their “skill”
Most people aren’t climbing because they’re not improving, after a certain amount of time you stop actively improving just from doing something, you have to actually stop and ask yourself what you’re doing wrong to be able to improve, without that key attitude, you won’t improve any further
I agree that alt accounts do muddy the SR system, both from unskilled players playing in a higher rank than they should be and high skilled players playing in a lower rank than they should be, but double shield isn’t stopping anyone from climbing, it’s not even the main tank composition used at the moment
It’s not that there’s no new people coming into the game
There still are people who try this game and are new to it
It is true though that the reason it’s harder to hit t500 now than it was at launch is that people are just better across all ranks, that’s how games work
You can improve faster than others though I used to be a silver player
Now I’m almost masters
So it is possible you just have to put in time and effort which is something not everyone can afford (and why you should NEVER rank shame. No excuses it doesn’t matter what level they are they can be in whatever rank)
Against maybe, but not with. No new players means all the same trolls and smurfs. I’ve had more than a few times where someone goes: “Zero heal” and then they start to sit is spawn amoting or jumping around just so they don’t get kicked. I will sometimes tell my Ana to switch cause she can’t snipe my huge tank hitbox, but I will still shield like always. But there’s likely to always be that one guy who just decides to just walk forward without shooting right into the enemy team because they’re on a smurf.
Still, I was expecting this post to be the “The only constant thing is you”. I hate that argument. It’s like people don’t understand this isn’t a 1v1 fighting game. You can be a top 5 god-tier carry, but it won’t help if five other players keep walking off the map.
