Things that need to be fixed in competitive

[Kaedi-11739]

I understand your frustration with matches that feel extremely inconsistent, but I feel these problems you are describing are not native to Overwatch. The development team have specifically stated they do not take any measurement of time played into measuring your skill or the skill of your allies and opponents in matchmaking.

@Lead Engineer Bill Warnecke

Hey there, the matchmaker COULD be aware of the level of a player but it isn’t something that we currently take into account when matchmaking.

The reason we don’t specifically take level into account is because it’s an indicator of time played on a specific account and not the skill level at which someone performs. While it is true the more you play the more skill you’re likely to gain, it’s also true that skill gain will be reflected in the matchmaking values as well.

Source: Reddit AMA 2020

Furthermore, the game does reasonably work to pit groups of equal size together, not always but it consistently does. However, this does mean solo players do require to play with groups of various sizes. Most of the time though, you will rarely see cases of all solos versus a six-stack in Competitive. Principal Designer Scott Mercer detailed some facts here:

@ScottMercer

• Only 16% of all games purely consisted of solo players.
• The most common match composition is 2,1,1,1,1 vs. 2,1,1,1,1, which represents 28% of the all matches.
• If you are in a full team of solo players, 73% of those matches were against another team of solo players and another 24% were against a 2,1,1,1,1 team composition. Only 3% of the enemy teams were groups of three or more players.
• If you’re in a duo, 74% of your matches are against other 2,1,1,1,1 teams, 14% against 1,1,1,1,1,1 teams, and 8% against 3,1,1,1 teams. Only 4% of the enemy teams you faced had groups of four players or more.
• If you’re in a full six player group, 92% of your matches are against the combination of other six player groups; 5,1 teams; 4,2 teams; 3,3 teams; and 2,2,2 teams.

@Dajinn-11300

Heroes of the Storm has 2 less max players per game, is objectively ‘more dead’ than OW, and has implemented it.

This is no longer true, Heroes of the Storm merged the Hero League Ranked Mode and Team League Ranked Mode into what is now called the Storm League and allows groups of all sizes to play in it.

@Dajinn-11300

Finally, when people leave due to disconnections, rage quits, or irrecoverable (?) game crashes, you should NOT be penalized with a hit to your SR for leaving the match early after waiting the 2 minute timer. Yes, I’m aware -sometimes- a 5 v 6 is possible, it’s just not very likely, and the problem isn’t just whatever your outlook is in the moment. Arguably and more importantly I feel it instantly demoralizes every person on your team which is already a huge set back in a game where player count matters significantly.

You are not suspended if you choose to leave early but you still take the loss and the appropriate skill rating adjustment. It’s rough, but there is a reason why this has to happen. Scott Mercer explained this on the old forums:

@Principal Designer Scott Mercer

Why do the remaining team members still receive a loss? How is this fair? The unfortunate answer is that the alternative would be worse. We don’t want to create an awful situation where players who think they’re losing are now encouraged to do whatever it takes to get someone else on their team to leave. By removing any possible incentive for anyone to “tactically” leave, it also means that more matches will complete normally. When someone leaves, Overwatch is less fun to play for everyone.

Source: https://mystgraphics.com/overwatchforumarchive/competitive-competitiveleaverrules.html

Again, I understand the frustration with having matches that feel impossible to win, and sadly that is consistent with any online team-based game no matter how strict or loose the rules are. The important thing to remember is to continue to do the best you can no matter what, because when you do play the matches that do matter, it will be your skill and how good you really are that will truly move you up or down the ranked ladder.