Cheating is worse than smurfing by far.
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Smurfing is cheating according to Blizzard.
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Exactly. If someone “smurfs” by having an alt account but is always trying to win then there’s nothing wrong. If someone smurfs by throwing to stay at low ranks then they can be reported for that and will eventually get banned. In either case there’s a chance you can beat them if they just whiff a key shot/ult or get too confident. However a hacker can functionally make themselves invincible due to the fact that if you put yourself in an angle where you can hit them, they’ll always kill you first. Cheating implies that I’m actively trying to or using a system to make the game easier for them unfairly. Someone on an alt account is not inherently trying to increase their win percentage for those first few games just because it starts everyone in gold. That’s just where everyone starts. Someone throwing to bronze for easy games? Sure since they actively make that choice. But someone getting a second copy of the game can’t choose where they start placements. It’s 2350 for everyone and they can’t really control where they place much either. All they know is eventually they should end up wherever they belong.
Don’t get me wrong, anyone who throws just to be at a rank below their main to smurf, deserves any punishment coming their way. But if I get a second or third or thirteenth account and I’m always actively trying to win no matter what hero I’m on? Well then I’m doing nothing wrong and any mismatched games are just the fault of the system as it tries to find where it thinks I should be.
people just need to accept that a major corporation is choosing to sell more accounts rather than have integrity as a game development studio.
when michael jordan joins a highschool basketball game, the students that have just been dunked on need to look at it as a learning experience.
you sound ridiculous. no competitive game should work this way. this isnt a training camp - it’s supposed to be a structured competitive game where players are ranked from day one and stay that way.
anything less is an excuse for greed.
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They shouldn’t work this way, but all competitive games DO work this way. Most ranked systems have everyone start at the bottom and climb up. You’re constantly fighting others that are better than you.
Watch replays and learn how to deal with them? I mean, on the surface that sounds good. But that advice is good for playing against someone who is 1 rank higher than you, not several.
A Bronze player for example is still struggling with mechanics, let alone game sense and positioning.
Smurfing is equivalent to a professional athlete competing against a grade schooler in crutches and then laughing at them saying “get good har har”.
IMO, Smurfing should be a bannable offense. 3 out of 20 of the LFG groups are deranking groups. That shouldn’t be happening.
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First off, smurfing absolutely feels worse to play against because depending on how much higher the smurf is, they’ll almost definitely have you outplayed in every field. Yes you can learn from them in theory but most lower ranked players won’t understand why things are being done the way they are because smurfs don’t play the same as they do in their true rank to begin with.
Perhaps the biggest issue with this is that its becoming increasingly common for smurfs to stack with each other to guarantee that the game they’re in will have the outcome they desire. I have seen games where a single smurf is dealt with, but when you get stacks with 3+ of them, then there really isn’t anything that can be done to offset that much of an imbalance.
Blizzard knows that this is an issue but stay silent about it because its hard to prove that someone is smurfing and it conveniently makes them money at the same time. No word of SMS verification for comp either. Sadly the most that the playerbase can do at the time is keep an eye out for people intentionally sabotaging the game to manipulate their SR/MMR and report them according.
But to anyone who feels overwhelmed and frustrated by this, just remember that every hour a smurf spends trying to mess up low ranked games is an hour they aren’t getting any better at the game. Just keep your chin up and don’t let these washed up players stop you from enjoying it for your own sake.
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Agreed, I really don’t mind losing to a smurf if it’s for my inability to deal with them. It’s just too tilting when people start complaining either about their inability or teammates who can’t.
Had some girl on dva trashtalk me the whole round for not killing a smurfing widow with a 78% accuracy. Girl shut the F up he could play with one hand and still beat you. Got blamed for going Tracer against Widow, wtf? Tracer was the only pick I was able to 1v2 him with a pocket and a Dva is telling me to swap? How delusional can you be staying sh*t like “I am contesting her 24/7” when she’s killing 3 people every fight.
Tried widow got rekt, tried Genji had no chance either and it’s somehow my fault? Nah that’s a Tank diff we didn’t even try Winston on f’ing Numbani lol.
Good thing I’m not Jeff Kaplan cuz I would have banished her to the shadow realm.
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It is but there is a lot more smurfs than cheat users 
yeah, but how can u improve against masters players that stomp you down in bronze. not a dam thing
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Of course you can, but some players prefer to cry on forums about smurfs intead of even trying to watch their gameplay from replay.
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The point still stands that they should not be in those games to begin with and that they make the games less enjoyable on average for the players on either team.
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9/10 this means better aim. Not brains, not braun, just aim. Congrats you got rolled by someone with a faster monitor, more acne, and a freshly snorted redbull.
I’ll never lose to bwains.
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Lmao, that question definitely deserved that type of response.
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to be fair. 9 out of 10 smurfs are grouped up with and pocketed by their friends. it’s easy for an OP genji to excel with an ana and mercy buff battery.
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Other major reason for smurfing, apart from saddos stroking their e-peens, is that high rank play is just abysmal.
Players just get fed up with random idiots throwing their games, so come down to lower ranks to wreck face and feel relevant.
That’s what my GM smurf friend told me anyway.
And even funnier is that thanks to MMR matchmaker, he could regularly get 90+ elims in his gold games as Pharah, but still lose some of those games as he got put vs another smurf or given utter humps to try and carry.
If they improve team play at high ranks, such as via clans or somesuch, then there’ll be fewer dissatisfied high level players wanting to smash the not so goods.
Lmao. I guess you don’t know why boxers are put in weight classes.
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What can you learn from someone who’s not good enough to play at their own rank?
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And your the trash who likes that ego fed because life must suck to you. Truth is smurfs are the trash that needs to Be fed they like to make themselves feel above others , i assume there irl life suck so they need a fix and trashing others in a lower rank makes them feel better. And that get gud comment you say is garbage you feed others because truth no one gets good when your steam rolled explain how do you learn because far as im concered smurfing is cheating your lying about your skill . Heres a tip instead of . Get good, STAY IN YOUR LANE.
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Sometimes its fun to get drunk and just destroy noobs anyone would have fun doing that even you if you could do it 