Summary
TheOverwatch 2team has had a rollercoaster year, but it doesn’t seem to have fazed them, as they consistently provide big updates to the game’s content and overall gameplay. Much of the recent changes have been focused on ranked play. Season 9 made sweeping changes toOverwatch 2’s Competitive mode, which affects everything from matchmaking to rank progression, and it seems like Season 10 is following the same trajectory.
Overwatch 2and its predecessor are no strangers to significant changes to their competitive formats. The franchise started with a dive-heavy meta until hero additions and balance patches led to slower, hyper-defensive play with double shield and triple tank comps. This was mitigated by role queue in the tail end of the firstOverwatchandOverwatch 2’s switch to 5v5. The competitive ranking system also sees consistent changes, with Seasons 9 and 10 overhauling the mode for better transparency and wider overlap between rank divisions.
Overwatch 2 Season 10’s Late May 2024 Patch Updates Groups, Ranks, and Matchmaking
The latest update comes off the heels of the recentWide Groups release, which let players queue up with friends several divisions apart from them. While it was well-received, the developers found some issues and addressed them in this late May patch, together with big updates to rank progression and matchmaking.
Grouping Restrictions Update
Grand Master and Champion players who played with their friends were put into the Wide Groups queue, even if they were in the same division.
Wide Groups can only be matched with other Wide Groups of similar skill rating. Meanwhile, the system puts solo players and groups with similar ranks are placed in “Narrow Group” queues.
The developers noticed this led to significantly longer queue times in the upper echelons of ranked play. Therefore, Grand Master groups within three divisions and Champion groups within one division are now considered Narrow. This way, solo queue players and duo groups within these divisions can find matches much faster.
Loss Streak Mitigation
Losing is an inevitable part of competitive play. While even the best players go through them, it doesn’t change the fact that tanking multiple losses can demotivate some players.Overwatch 2’s matchmaking system will now actively try to place players with losing streaks in teams with higher chances of getting a much-needed victory. However, it’s still up to the player if they’ll have the winning attitude to break their streak with their statistically better team.
Competitive Modifier Changes and Additions
As a push to make competitive progress more visible,theOverwatch 2team made its modifiers more transparentto players. Updates to this feature include:
These latest modifier and loss streak updates seem to reduce the pains of losing, while also reminding higher-ranked players of the mountain they have to continuously climb to stay at the top. Plus, the groupings update ensures better queue times without leading to huge rank imbalances in matches. If there’s a time to get intoOverwatch 2’s competitive mode, it’s now.
Overwatch 2
WHERE TO PLAY
Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. Power up your railgun and disrupt the battlefield as Sojourn, or yield your axe and command attention as Junker Queen. Battle to take control of a robot and move it toward the enemy base in the new Push Mode. Bring the fight to new destinations across the globe in iconic locations like New York, Rome, Monte Carlo and Rio. Daily challenges and frequent updates mean there is always something new to play.
