I really want to play and enjoy ranked but the attitudes in there are very toxic and the other reason is I like to have shorter games like in quick play.
Playing the super long ranked games with someone screaming in your ear for like 30 mins just turns me off. Its too bad though cause I want to play more seriously and I try to in QP, but I cant expect everyone to want to play in QP like that.
Im stuck between a rock in a hard place it seems xD
For myself I just wish ranked matches were shorterā¦
Me too. My final straw was a grown man who spent the ENTIRE match arguing with a 10-12 year old boy about hero picks. The dude was a toxic mess and I noped out of there after the game and never looked back. Shame the report system wasnāt in the game at the time, cause I would have definitely used it.
Iāve actually been finding that my quick play games are more organized and have less feeding than my ranked games. Itās funny, when people relax a bit, and worry less about imaginary internet points, they actually play better. Who knew?
This is actually the only reason Iām even playing comp a few more days. Iām 15 wins away from the last gold gun I want, and then Iāll never return to ranked.
As an experiment, I have an account in which I played ranked for two seasons (for a broader data point). This account always had voice chat volume at zero (so I didnāt get targeted for ānot being in voiceā) and always had text muted. This account was actually higher sr than my main, and I had a higher endorsement rating. The idea that you have to ācommunicateā to climb is a myth. Further, Iād contend that those who are most concerned with communication are rarely wanting to listen; they more likely want to micromanage and get others to play the way they expect. Hard pass on that.
Youāre playing the game with humans. All the flaws, baggage, and emotions that come with that. Weāre all messy, if youāre even getting 1% of games with GOOD communication, Iād say youāre doing pretty good. For me, the best thing to happen (besides the decision to stop playing ranked), was lowering my expectations for player behavior.
Iām a Brig main. Iām going to hear all kinds of abuse. But I also made a couple of other decisions. 1) someone is acting a fool, Iām hitting that squelch chat right away. 2) Iām no longer reporting for abusive chat. Yes, Iād love it if they got banned; but theyāll just end up on another account, and then things are a mess until the game knows where they belong. Iād rather they stay on their account where the matchmaker knows where to put them. I donāt need Blizzard to ban someone when the Block button exists and they give me that power for myself.
yea i try to squelch right away if they are very immature. but my main issue isnt even the toxicity like i said above my main thing is i dont like the long matches. but thats a me problem
Ranked is a joke of a mode anyways. If they ever released the match format to QP I would never even be tempted to play it again. Maybe my placements, but only so I could enter tournaments where submitting my rank is required. Playing competitive is a chore.
My only constant exception to this is if you are playing with the same group for 3 or more games. At that point you are getting to know each other better and are starting to play as a team, so communication can be helpful.
But if you are in a team with 5 strangers, and you are trying to use communication - itās hard to be effective. You donāt know each otherās play styles, call-out styles, or even voices yet. Youāre asking for a lot of āheal me/help meā followed by a lot of āā¦who is āmeā?!ā
Edit: I mean if you like to use comms - go for it. But donāt feel bullied into it be random teammates. Unless you are top-level, you and your team arenāt at a disadvantage.
I guess I am upset, yeah. I wasnāt really thinking about it, but yeah. I justā¦ saw such potential in this game, but Blizzard is so determined to ruin it in their perpetual insistence of coddling the solo queue players and manipulating matchmaking out of some twisted sense of fairness.
The gameās true potential can still be found, which is great, but you have to go through third party solutions, which is ridiculous. Iām willing to jump through the third party hoops, but many players (understandably) arenāt, and itās just so frustrating to think about.
Maybe so. But let me throw this alternative take at you. I get the sense that you are talking about scrims, etc. as an alternative to a ranked system that is flawed. I get that. As a competitive esport, there are issues with the path to pro, and the ladder system beneath it.
However, there is also a major upside to those flaws. Iāll just speak for myself and my story. During season 2, I was in my first year as a school principal in an extremely toxic environment. Attempting to turn a school that mistreated its students of color was draining. Normally a reader, even that felt too close to my jobāso a friend at work recommended I take up gaming and recommended Overwatch. I began on console during season 2, and have continued playing non-stop to this day and even fought my way through trying to teach my old manās hands to mouse and keyboard when I transitioned to PC.
So while you see those ranked flaws, and I get thatā¦I see something that was accessible and accepted me and has given me so much in return. So Iām also grateful for many of those flaws.
But wouldnāt it be so much better in a system that actually rewarded teamplay? A system where people were encouraged to use LFG and supported clans and communities? Where teamplay, a core concept of the actual gameplay, was encouraged by the system as opposed to banished to the shadow realm?
It bothers me on two fronts.
It punishes those who want to team up, discouraging clans from maintaining population.
It rewards lone wolf egomaniacs by allowing them to avoid opponents who know how to counter raw mechanical skill with teamplay, further encouraging solo queue and discouraging groups from forming.
This creates an environment where, combined with the heaps of positive re-enforcement the game piles on the players (regardless of actual performance), people never leave their bubble of opinion. When the truth of the game or another ego clashes with their opinion, the instinct is to lash out. Blizzardās own matchmaking is a breeding ground for toxicity.
If grouping up were the best way to play the game, a general sense of community and expected behavior would start to form (as opposed to being a game comprised of 36 million opinions that are always right). Clans would be thriving and could cater more readily to specific playstyle and social tastes. The game would not only play better, but it would be a better space to play in. Thatās my theory at least.
Not all lone wolves are egomaniacs. Some are players who are too shy to make the friendships to be included in said clans. Some (like me) are too tired to attempt those conversations when they get home from a long day.
Iām all for those things you describe, but it really places high walls around the game. So much of our rich community wouldnāt be here if those things were a prereq to play.
I donāt want to see those who want to team up punishedā¦but I also donāt want to see those who sometimes donāt have the energy for it punished either.
And yes, I completely agree with you about those general opinions. As a brig main, I suffer from the gospel of reddit on a daily basis. Even when I posted on reddit recently a fully logical post that used math to undermine their acceptance of lucio but blind hatred of brig ābecause low healsāā¦I was lambasted by players who couldnāt open their minds.
But one of the great issues to the clan and grouping system is that players like myselfāold, ālow-skilledā, and not always all that social, arenāt welcomed into what are essentially cliques any better than we are now.
If I want to have a regular group of people to play with, I have to play comp, or participate in a league or scrims. To do so, I have to grind myself to at least plat. Then I have to prove Iām more valuable than any of the other players at my position. All to be part of the group.
So what you propose is likely very healthy for the quality of gameplay, but itās very unhealthy for players. Or at least itās very unhealthy for this player.
