Overwatch 2’s Season 3 has seen many players asking that the skewed matchmaking, which Blizzard itself confirmed, goes through several adjustments.
For the duration of Season 3, fans of the hero-based shooter Overwatch 2 have been experiencing severe matchmaking issues during ranked games. A blog post from Blizzard confirmed Overwatch 2‘s matchmaking problems with players being pitted against opponents “12 divisions apart or greater.” These issues have seen some in the Overwatch community sharing profiles of lower-ranked players in their matches on social media, with a few blaming them for losses and lower-performing stats despite the skill-based matchmaking.
While competitive games have consistently been controversial, this particular subject has been brought up directly by the head Overwatch 2 game developer, Aaron Keller. He promised that adjustments have been made and are in the process of coming to matchmaking, though many players are still reporting problems within the system. The controversy at hand continues to see players of wildly different ranks upset with being matched against, or paired together, in their games.
Blizzard Accused of Hiding a Broken System in Overwatch 2
While the developers have been adamant about their desire to revamp Overwatch 2’s competitive matches and improve the overall player experience, this has not stopped competitive players from accusing Blizzard of attempting to hide a broken SR system. The aforementioned developer blog post from February 24 proves that a Top 500 player could see someone at a Diamond 4 rank in their lobby, or even Platinum, with a disparity of more than 12 divisions.
Working hard on reducing matches that have players with wide skill ranges. We made a change this morning and will make one tomorrow that should reduce these occurrences. Reports have been very helpful. If you continue to see these, let us know, so we can track down their causes.
— Aaron Keller (@aaronkellerOW) February 28, 2023
The first iteration of Overwatch previously displayed individual classes (ex. bronze, silver, gold) along with the team’s total SR. In order to prevent toxicity in Overwatch 2 matches, Blizzard decided to hide classes which means that no one can say for certain what rank another player is without a public career profile. Private profiles, however, have become normalized as most players prefer to keep their stats to themselves, along with their most-played characters, which is information that could potentially be used against them in a game.
Still, Overwatch 2‘s competitive matchmaking doesn’t allow friend groups to stack outside a certain range of SR. For example, typically a Gold 1 player cannot duo with their Bronze 2 friend as there is a difference of more than 1000 SR. Once a player hits Master, they cannot play with anyone more than 500 SR below them. As a general rule, the community has come forward to ask why a Diamond player can be in a Grandmaster game via Blizzard’s recent matchmaking issues.
Some believe that if Blizzard made changes to Overwatch 2‘s matchmaking to bring the old one back, the competitive spirit and game quality would both greatly improve. Several high-ranked players and Twitch streamers have discussed that they miss the old ranked system and believe seeing exact SR or Top 500 numbers associated with a player inspired them to try harder. Without being able to see others progress in the game, some theorize that even ranked gameplay feels too casual.
Why Overwatch 2’s Matchmaking Issues Are Dividing the Community
While Aaron Keller stated that Blizzard has reduced Overwatch 2‘s skill-based matchmaking to range between 9 divisions rather than 12, many are still unhappy with the adjustment. The overall consensus seems to be that people would prefer to play within 4 or 5 divisions of their rank. This is meant to come with the Season 3 mid-season patch, sometime this week.
In the meantime, well-known Overwatch 2 content creators and streamers have taken to their platforms to express their discontent with the current matchmaking system. Twitch Streamer and YouTuber Frogger recently tweeted out his own take, writing “the Overwatch matchmaking system [is] putting me in a 4-second queue only to give me the worst game ever experienced…” It looks like most would prefer to wait in a longer queue time than join a scuffed match immediately, as similar polls across social media have seen the majority siding with Frogger’s perspective.
Another aspect of the recent controversy has seen higher-ranked players, typically Diamond or above, screenshotting usernames of lower-ranked people in their games and writing unkind comments about them on social media. For example, Diamond players have noticed Silver-ranked teammates in their matches which appears to be a fault of the matchmaking system. Still, it’s unfair to accuse the lower ranks of not performing as well as high-ranked players since the gameplay may be more difficult than what they are used to.
Some lower-ranked players have gone so far as to apologize for the matchmaking and promised that they are not throwing but are genuinely trying their best. Others believe that complaining about the low-elo players in their games is valid but including a screenshot of their profile and username is going a step too far. After all, when people queue for a competitive Overwatch match they expect to be placed against those of similar skill.
On the other hand, Overwatch 2 players claim it’s easier to rank up in Season 3, as many have noticed consistently Bronze or Silver players in previous seasons rising up to Platinum or Diamond in just a few weeks. There is an argument to be made that these players are grinding and improving on their playstyle, but with previously lower-ranked players now being treated as higher-ranked, matchmaking is continuing to frustrate many on the competitive scene.
Hopefully, the newest patch to Overwatch 2 will see changes that appease the ranked playerbase. With the consistent blog updates from Aaron Keller, it looks like Blizzard is actively listening to the community and working to make adjustments as needed. The game’s future looks bright if Blizzard continues to take constructive criticism while releasing unique content and collaborations, such as the highly anticipated One Punch Man crossover in Overwatch 2.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
