Posted Sun Jun 19, 2016 at 09:02 AM PDT by Connor Sears
Including changes to season length and Assault maps.
Early beta players for 'Overwatch' might remember the game's ranked competitive play, the one that developer Blizzard decided to pull from launch for some mechanical tweaking. Now, it seems those tweaks have been mapped out, and ranked competitive play is planned to return to Blizzard's team shooter by the end of the month. To catch everyone up on the changes, game director Jeff Kaplan laid out the tweaks to 'Overwatch' competitive play in a new video.
The changes to competitive play include those made to gameplay and those made to the structure of the system in general. In terms of structural changes, the new ranking system will sort players on a sliding skill level of 1–100, instead of the tier-based system found in the beta. After being ranked on the number scale at the beginning of each season, players will slide up and down the number line as they win and lose matches. This matchmaking rating will appear beside each player as matches begin, with the average skill rating for each team displayed as well. Teams that start a match with a numerical disadvantage in ratings will increase their ratings more by winning, with a lighter rating penalty if they lose.
Also changing structurally is the length of competitive seasons. The game is moving from the monthly seasons of the beta to a quarterly system, with Summer 2016 kicking off first. This allows players more time to advance (or fall) through the ranking system before everything is reset for a new season.
Kaplan mentions two major changes to actual in-match gameplay for the new and improved competitive play. One is that Assault maps will be better balanced so that they no longer hinge solely on a couple of impactful team fights. Blizzard will also tweak the mechanics behind Sudden Deaths, making them less of a common occurrence to emphasize their impact.
You can hear all of the changes for yourself in the video below.
Source: Blizzard
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