Adjustments to OW2 matchmaking in season 3

Aaron Keller, director of Overwatch 2, informed players last week of the changes that will be introduced in the third season. The start of the season is February 7. Its developer update mentions that the competitive mode had been problematic. In the second season, the one-sided confrontations overwhelm the players and the development team. On the other hand, the competitive experience is unsatisfactory.

In the January 30 developer blog, the team is expanding on Keller’s hints about planned improvements. The developers noted specific improvements to the competitive experience; These will arrive in the coming weeks; and the team is aware of how dissatisfied the community is with the sorting experience lately.

Improvements in OW2 season 3

The requirement to change rank in competitive mode in the third season will drop from seven to five. In addition, changing rank will take only 15 defeats (previously 20). The third season also includes an updated user interface, allowing you to review the information regarding your progress toward competitive improvement at any time.

One of the main issues for players this season has been matchmaking in ranked. To avoid significant gaps in MMR or unbalanced matches, the developers are working to combine; players with a similar MMR in each role on any of the teams for the upcoming season. So, for example, instead of Diamond-ranked support facing Gold-ranked support, the support players on both sides will be matched.

Matchmaking will undergo a “major change,” the team warns. They will also be looking for any “unwanted side effects.”

The mid-season patch will also include improvements for players on the Top 500 leaderboard, where the most well-known Overwatch streamers and pros are included. Instead of every five wins or every fifteen losses, their Top 500 ranking will change after every match, giving them additional motivation to keep improving.

Overwatch League players and other elite competitors are some of the biggest detractors of the competitive experience. So this tiny tweak may encourage them to return to the competitive arena.

Plans for the fourth season

By mid-April, the fourth season will be released, which includes competitive improvements. In addition, the development team has announced that they will be removing “all current and past seasonal rank decay,” as well as seasonal competitive rank resets, which often demote players to a lower rank to encourage advancement.

Overall, the team admitted that matchmaking is an area of constant focus for them and reiterated that all community feedback had improved the competitive environment.

Header: Blizzard Entertainment