It’s actually quite easy to understand. The Placement system puts you in placement games for the same Elo you ended whatever season on. Say season 3 you placed plat quit then started in season 15. You would place Plat because that’s where you last left off.
Now there are things that take into account hidden SR while leveling a new account. Say you buy a new account and start leveling through QP, well pretty soon the game will understand that the level 6 who is shredding doesn’t belong with other low levels and you will have 10 minute queues for quickplay and be up against other QP people who are Plat level, a few more games of you shredding and the queues will be longer and if you are good enough to keep up you will be doing QP with Diamonds and Masters. Now you take that account and hop right into Placements at level 25, your first game you will absolutely steam roll. The next game you will jump up to Diamond players. The game will then take the hidden SR from QP and how you played first 2 placement games into what ELO to put you in for placements. Now if you continue to do well you should end up in High Plat or Diamond, unless you’re a GM smurf who made a new account and tried really hard you might end up in Masters or higher. Now that is only for the first placement.
Placement matches are mostly for show. You aren’t placing anything. You’re playing 10 competitive matches where you simply don’t get to the SR change after each match. It takes your season final from the previous season and goes from there. You typically start out ~150 off from where you were before, based off how you did in your placements.
The word “Placements” is misleading.
Absolutely! Excellent points!! I’m glad your son understands that!!
I’m going to get some comments from this…I’m 52, a Househusband and have been gaming on a PC since 1995. I know what I am capable of doing and where my skill ceiling is. I built 2 high end computers and got 240 Hz monitors last year (his and hers) and they are built specifically for gaming. I’m extremely fortunate.
My wife was getting “tilted” early on and I put a stop to that right away by saying “if you’re not having fun it’s not worth playing”. If I hear her get upset I remind her its a game and it’s for fun…I have been gaming so long, I’m immune to feeling toxic or getting upset. I do get disappointed when I do not have the support of teammates trying to play as a team. I do play chess and I understand strategy and predicting moves.
I love a good fair gaming experience win or lose. If everyone plays their best, it’s a GG for everyone.
With that said, It’s all down to my skill in comp games, and I feel a bit disappointed because of where I placed, but now with the help of the feedback here I understand why I placed where I placed. In the end I really just like good old QP with friends the most.
Thanks for sharing, Patooti and for being so candid.
If it is one thing I have realised about this particular game, is that our age do work against us.
I can definitely empathise here. It is not exactly a good feeling being at the bottom rung of the ladder, for sure. We all have our pride, especially so when I read flippant and dismissive comments which appear condescending of the efforts of players who are less skilled.
Indeed. I have the most fun playing with my children. Hearing their whoops of joy when they beat me is just priceless. =)
Are we really in here defending placements? lol
I see what you’re saying, but it doesn’t really answer my question. Why would a player who is bronze or silver on his primary account be suddenly shredding through quickplay and rolling with Plats on a new account? If he’s truly a bronze or silver player, with bronze/silver accuracy and bronze/silver game sense (because if he couldn’t blast out of silver on his main account, then that means he belonged there, right?) then that’s what his hidden MMR would be placed at: Bronze/silver. Not with Plats or Masters. And by the time he reached his placements at Level 25, he’s still a bronze/silver player. And when he finished his placements… still a bronze/silver player.
My point is that if it’s really as simple as “you belong at your rank,” then that player who is bronze/silver on his main account shouldn’t even get a whiff of Plat/Diamond/Master just because he created a new account and re-ran Level 1-25 followed by 10 placements. He’s still got bronze/silver game sense and skills. That should follow him, and shouldn’t get him placed in anything other than bronze or silver (or possibly low gold). But wherever you get placed you’re still a low-tier player, so you’d drop right back down to where your skills match the other players, which in this context, is bronze/silver.
No? Is that NOT what the “you belong at your rank” crowd is saying? If not that, then how to they explain that scenario? How does a low-rank player end up holding their own with Plat/Diamond players, without dropping back down, while STILL unable to climb out of silver on his original account?
Honestly, I don’t know how wide-spread this scenario is, and I don’t think anybody else could accurately quantify it either, but if it happens at all, while not decisive, it sure sounds like ammo for the “elo hell” theory.
So early comp SR (new accounts) is inaccurate, especially if your SR is vastly different from 2500 SR where all new accounts start when doing the first placement game.
and your wife is better than you.
To answer your question ill put it like it is. They are usually lazy. Not everyone, but it is still a grind. An OWL coach and streamer Jayne broke down a really good SR/Hour that is possible for a good player to climb. It’s around 10 sr per hour. Now if you think about it 10 sr/hour is kinda low right? Well that’s because he factors in losses.
It’s easier to make a new account and place in plat because it’s easier to maintain elo that to climb.
If I’m 1000 SR and I go with Jaynes 10 sr / hour stat then it would take me 150 hours to climb from 1000 SR Bronze to 2500 SR plat. 150 is quite a lot don’t you agree?
That’s the answer to your question. It’s not an overnight thing when I climbed from 1000 SR to 3350 it averaged out to a little over 15 sr per hour and I was straight shredding throughout all of my games.
To add onto my last reply even further to people who will say just give more SR per win, the issue with that comes into players that don’t actually belong in an elo. Some games in Diamond I carry, some games I get carried. Say someone gets lucky with match making and his teams are all godlike and hes getting an insane amount of SR per win and next thing you know he is in gold but has the playstyle of a bronze or silver then they will end up hurting their team, tilting themselves and others, and giving the enemy team an advantage further adding to the problem.
Just gonna write random thoughts I had as reading this cuz I’m too lazy to form a coherent response
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You get placed closer to the average on a new account than where your skill truly is. So if you were bronze when your wife placed her new account, she’s going to place closer to 2350 than you even if her skill is the same as yours. That’s why a lot of people often place in gold/high silver then immediately drop 500-1k SR.
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Playing with your wife in QP has no real effect on your MMR, and it absolutely does not touch your comp MMR. I play with bronze-silver friends in QP and arcade all the time, yet when I go solo I’m still placed in master+ QP games, and my SR is solidly master.
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If I compare some of my stats to 4300 players, they are similar. Does that mean I’m a 4300 player? No, because their stats are from 4300 games, while my stats are from 3800 games. Put me in a 4300 game, and I will not get the stats I do right now. Same goes for you comparing your stats to gold friends. Congratz. You get good stats against bronze players. Put them in your rank, and they’ll put up way better numbers than you do.
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So you placed an account that used to be in silver in bronze (a couple hundred SR lower than it left off), and you’re calling that a success? The fact that you dropped in that much from placements alone shows that you were underperforming hard.
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You’re focusing too much on being a “I play everything!!” player. Aka the worst players in the game. Pick a role that you want to be good at, and get really good at it.
Very good points all the way around and I appreciate the time you took to reply. I have taken this all into consideration and it makes sense. Great summary and explanations and I agree. I will take your advice and focus on a limited number of hero’s to get better with over time.
An analogy, if you will of why I wrote this post is 2 fold really. My wife and I are vastly different players, and it was honestly embarrassing she placed much higher than I did after my 1 year experience in this game and her 4 months. We both got different accounts, later on, and placed higher on those, but those are not our “main accounts” with all the stuff unlocked on them, so we don’t play them as much.
I’m going to take all the advice here and just do the best i can see how long it takes to get to the level I feel is my top level. The issue is I’m being held back by team members at the level I’m at and therefore…lose and its just a difficult task.
I wish that each and every season the comp stats are re-set as if it was your first time ever placing in comp. It would solve a lot of this, and it would still be fair.
Why not do that? a Blizzard answer would do nicely here!!!
I think each season should be a fresh start as if it was the first. I bet you will see happier player base and better matches in general in the comp arena, and it would help curb the issue with people buying accounts all over again just to get placed higher so they can play with a more competent tier of players.
Yeah you don’t understand how the MMR system works. If you did you would understand that if you lost 500games in QP before ranking in you would face toddlers in the lowest of lowest. Wich would mean that you would win every game SO EASY, because you are a ‘God damn pro player’ and you will get to top 500 easy cuz that’s where you belong.
I think the MMR for QP should not apply to comp games. That’s what I’m suggesting. There is a better way to place in the proper rank other than starting an alt account.
I can just play my heart out, and I am, to get out of the bronze pit I’m in, and actually no I’m not a top 500, not even close, but I am better than low Bronze where players make huge mistakes and are inexperienced/do not communicate…you all know this… and overall that is just frustrating.
We have evolved as players of this game, and the game needs to evolve.
A couple of forumers have had some plausible reasons why a reset would not be ideal:
For me personally, the thing is, if one is of a certain skill level; no amounts of resets would make him or her better. They would still just either rise or drop to their actual skill level.
Personally, i have played against people who are over 3000SR in Arcade Mode games and i get totally destroyed. Based off my SR from last season, 1537 and starting off at 1336. Over the course of 20 games which it took me to get there, i can safely say that i was having competitive games which could have swung either way and i firmly believe that despite what my 80% win-loss ratio may imply.
My friend (and i do consider you as one because of your affable nature and similar status as “older” gamer; “ancient” by competitive gamers), i think that there really is no reason to be embarrassed.
As you mentioned, both of you are vastly different people and gamers. If she tried playing the roles which you have played, she may not have done as well.
People are unique in their abilities.
I am sure that you have picked up and exceeded her ability in a shorter period in certain other fields as well. =)
Again, Patooti, please understand that i am not trolling you. I can empathise 100% with you because of the reasons i had mentioned above and i would add one more - that we both unabashedly love and enjoy this game, especially for people our age.
I do not think that being in Bronze is necessarily bad, if that is where i can comfortably get games which are competitive instead of rofl stomps on me.
As many have mentioned, you are probably spreading yourself too thin by flexing over to too many characters. I am certain that your knowledge of maps, positioning i.e. game sense should be superior to most players at your SR. I am also certain that by now, you probably would have understood what are the things which are lacking in Bronze tier play.
So the thing to do now is to leverage on all that knowledge and adapt.
There are a few good characters to excel at in the Bronze tier, based off my experience and if you can do Pharah, you will definitely be able to move into Sliver tier.
Thanks for all the info and suggestions!! It’s going to be a fun Season 15 for me, it’s all I’m going to play if possible. I’m lucky I have the time to play, I just need to go do it.
My pleasure, buddy. Please don’t mention it.
In fact, thank YOU.
Chatting with you just makes me want to quickly get in there and play some comp.!
Argh…how i envy your free time! Argh!
btw, if you enjoy being a damage dealer, for Bronze; Soldier 76 and Pharah are the best characters to use to get the Ws, especially the latter.
If you are fine with Support, Moira is the ticket and so is Lucio (faster, before the nerfs hit!).
If you intend to Tank, you would definitely need to duo with your missus on her Mercy and she pockets you.
I consider myself a Reinhardt main but after the disastrous 1-9 placements with me playing Reinhardt in Season 14 and the only Win was me as Winston; i gave up. Healers don’t heal in Bronze tier. Damage dealers don’t gather up behind my shield to take Reds down and leave me to die. Horrible. Horrible feeling.
And i know that it is not because i suck as Reinhardt at my skill level (i had just 1 game after placements as went Reinhardt - 24 Elims, 4 deaths and most importantly, a Win because my healers actually healed) but because of the idiosyncrasies of Bronze tier play.
So i looked at what i liked to play (tank), what i needed (healing), what the teams would likely need (tank + heals); so i made the hard decision to shelf Reinhardt for now and went for Brigitte.
So you’re better than low bronze? If so, why you not climbed?
Sounds harsh. But I had the same issue after a massive fall to 1700. I’d tank very well and idiot team mates would fail to finish off my kills, run ahead of my barrier and not heal me. Games at 1700 were unwinnable nightmares. Then, like Silent Hill, I adapted, using Lucio and Moira and climbed to gold with 80% win rate. A lot of the games were super easy.
Everybody at low ELO is bad. I was playing heroes that could take advantage of bad enemies and didn’t need good team mates.
In general, my games in gold are easier than my silver games as team mates competent and even very good, although difficulty ramps up a lot after 2300 and hitting plat going to be very hard for me, if possible.
Hello everyone…I’m the “wife.” Husband and I play Overwatch consistently, almost on a daily basis. We don’t screw around. We play well and grab medals…on fire…win, etc. We want to actually earn our SR and rank. We have focused on one of each role so that we can flex into what is needed.
We are not saying that we want it to be easier to rank up. It’s not worth anything if you didn’t fight and/or earn it. What we are trying to say is that there is something not right or fair with the SR system/MMR. Through all the hours and hours of getting paired up with random people who are NOT trying, do not care, or simply do not know how to play the hero they were stuck with sucks…our success is tied to the win or loss of the games we play … In lower elos, it just sucks and we just want out and to play with better skilled players. There just doesn’t seem any way and wish we could just start over or that Blizzard would come up with a more fair assessment and ranking that would allow you to rank up even if you lose and pair up with better teammates.