Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard’s multi-verse MOBA, has a distinctively different competitive mode from that of Overwatch. I am starting this topic to compare features and see what would work better if Overwatch adapted some of Heroes’ features. This is a bit lengthy so I have things divided into sections below. Cheers!
Hero League and Team League (Solo Queue/Team Queue modes)
- Heroes splits up its Ranked Mode into two “leagues” called Hero League and Team League.
- In Hero League players queue alone and only face other solo queue players.
- In Team League players queue in groups of 2, 3, or 5 (but not 4 as a team in Heroes of the Storm consist of 5 players) and face against other groups, and is more competitive in nature. There are more rewarding benefits to playing Team League over Hero League as well.
- There are separate ranks for each player in each game mode.
Personal Thoughts: I personally think this COULD work for Overwatch and would be a step to resolve a lot of problems and give players more options to toward a more consistent play experience to their liking.
Skill Rating is changed to Tier-Divisions for most ranks
- In Heroes of the Storm, all tiers except for Master and Grandmasters, have displayed “divisions” for player ranks instead of skill rating numbers. There are 5 divisions per rank tier. Masters and Grandmasters still have a skill rating number.
- The beta version of Overwatch Competitive Play was sort of going to be like this except players could not drop below any given tier once reached.
- In the current version of Heroes of the Storm, players have a chance to move and down divisions in their tier by winning and losing matches. There is still a hidden MMR underneath, so winning or losing a match does not necessarily change your division every time.
- When you reach the highest division you may be required to play a “promotion match”. Players in a promotion match will be advanced to the next possible tier if they win the match. This creates an exciting and extra competitive moment for those players.
- When you fall into the lowest division, you may be required to play a “demotion match”. Players in a demotion match will be dropped to the next possible tier if they lose the match. Like a promotion match, it encourages players to be extra serious of that battle knowing the consequences if they lose.
Personal thoughts: I too think this would help make Competitive a little more focused to serious competition so I would love to see it. However, it might create for more toxic experiences in promotion and demotion matches. Furthermore, Overwatch Competitive was changed from a 1-100 SR system to a 1-5000 SR system from Season 1 to Season 2 because the developers did not want players to be so stressed over their skill rating, however, it is my opinion this has not really changed. I think by changing to overall divisions, players will be more focused to on learning and improving rather than be fixed on any given match.
Maximum Rank Cap for new Players during Placements
- New accounts can only be placed at a maximum of a certain rank after completing placement matches. Right now it is Diamond Tier-Division 3 (equivalent to 3200-3299 SR), but will soon be reduced to Gold Tier-Division 5 (equivalent to 2400-2499 SR) in an upcoming patch.
Personal Thoughts: I could see this happening for Overwatch but only if there were significant changes to rank overall to make Overwatch Competitive more like Heroes of the Storm Ranked. Otherwise Alternate accounts would truly be smurfing the heck out of the lower ranks. (I personally think alternate accounts are not a problem now, but it could become a problem if this was the only change to Overwatch made).
Individual Hero Experience Level Requirements to play Rank
- With Heroes of the Storm, players gain experience levels for each individual hero they own. Now as a MOBA, players must earn or purchase heroes to play in the game.
- For their ranked Hero League mode, they require players to have 14 heroes owned and ranked up to at level 5 for each hero.
- There is no minimum hero rank for Team League mode, but players must own 14 heroes.
Personal Thoughts: I don’t see Overwatch ever being changed to require players to purchase or earn heroes to even play. It is not the nature of how this game works (especially with mid-match hero switching). However, I could see players earning individual hero experience points. Right now we have clocked play time which is kind of the same. However, I could see the system being changed to require players to have some level of experience on at least 9 heroes in Overwatch instead of a straight-up level 25 requirement in the game.
Players serving a Silenced account action cannot play Ranked
- Heroes prohibits players from serving a Silenced Account Action from playing Ranked modes since it is encouraged to communicate in matches. Note this is not the same as choosing not to participate in team communication by not joining the Team Voice or Text Chat Channels.
Personal Thoughts: This would provide extra incentive to all players to behave appropriately. Right now I have been reporting a lot of players for Abusive Chat, and I have been getting at least one report feedback notification every day (which is a good thing). However, if getting silenced has a little more impact to playing Overwatch and can keep Competitive free of those players, then I am all for it.
All in all, I am anticipating some changes coming that Principal Designer Scott Mercer mentioned, that may be related to how Heroes runs their ranked modes. Would you think any of these features be welcomed in Overwatch? Let me know! Cheers!
