Developer Update | Competitive, Defense Matrix, & more

Senior Systems Designer Gavin Winter and Senior Research Scientist Natasha Miller are here to discuss changes coming to Competitive and the Defense Matrix Initiative.
Starting in Season 10, all Competitive ranks can group up with each other! Wide Groups will be formed when there’s a wider gap between the different ranks, while Narrow Groups will be formed when playing solo or with others close to your own rank.
Also coming in Season 10 are new leaver penalty changes, improved anonymity and streamer protection features, restricted chat features for reported players, and much more.
In addition to those changes, chat functionality will be removed for spectators in Season 11, in-game player surveys will also be arriving in Season 11, and we’ll be adding a faster way to report players mid-match starting in Season 12.
Overwatch 2 is free to play for everyone on console & PC!
_
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Facebook: / playoverwatch

[@TheHassassin]

Can't wait for avoided player tier lists

[@radical757]

Same

[@Bread_Baron]

@JoulieRodgerbrother Stfu stop view begging, you look pathetic

[@alice.the.adder.960]

​@JoulieRodger don't beg do the work...

[@alice.the.adder.960]

​@JoulieRodger also if it's a music channel why are you advertising on an OW2 update?!??

[@xenora6283]

"Yeaaaah, this guy was just throwing my game and feeding with Winton the entire game without using his bubble. He's on S tier." "And that guy was a Junkrat main and the map was Numbani, but at least he tried, he's on B tier"

[@elfiena]

10 AVOID SPOTS IS A BIG W

[@Antonio-ys5zd]

Not enough. Tac on another 0

[@zkilla2924]

@@Antonio-ys5zd would destroy matchmaking especially at high level

[@maramba32]

@@Antonio-ys5zd idk about the middle ranks. But gm/top 500 already has a long que time

[@Antonio-ys5zd]

@@zkilla2924 that was already mentioned in the video. Unless you are in the highest ranks then it doesn't matter. Would be better for the ranks of bronze to diamond where it's more relevant

[@CleafKnowsVLOGS_nl]

We need like 30

[@Foxesm84life]

Why can a Doom spam "and dey say..." endlessly, but I can only say "group up" 3 times until I'm told I'm spamming?

[@TangleHamain]

Cus Group Up shows up on the side of the screen, its annoying and it distracts players more than a funny voiceline who make other smile or even laugh like "And dey say-"

[@UnderWhereVPL]

Wow such a terrible silver 3 take, but alright I guess​@@TangleHamain

[@F1R3EMBLEM]

I love that though it's like the only point of a doomfist. It's his mating call

[@vekze]

and dey say

[@comicsansisagoodfont2634]

@@vekzeand Dey say

[@omarasfari4974]

A timeout for leaving 2 quick play matches is ridiculous.

[@julianpompa7312]

Js don’t leave then

[@siorai1]

@@julianpompa7312ppl play quick play because they might not have the time for comp but still want to play. It almost always adds someone else quickly anyways, getting punished for that it bullshit

[@finn6821]

@@julianpompa7312 play ranked if you dont like leaving in the least serious game mode

[@AndoughPanda]

@@julianpompa7312 tbh my problem with the 2 leaves = 5 minute timeout is that sometimes 2 times is what it takes for you to realize you're having a connection issue and not just a one-off. but by then you'll be timed out. if it was 3 minimum, then you can figure out you're having connection issues and avoid queueing again.

[@bodacious12]

1:03 shoutout to goonwatch420

[@IBakePotato]

LMAO

[@TU7OV]

LOL

[@abracara]

shoutout Haram09 also

[@bigdikdaddy12]

@JoulieRodger sure bud

[@Deboned_butter]

Can’t forget JPowell on the next screen. Didn’t know the federal reserve plays OW XD

[@NoobHunter]

Metro won't be able to find a match anymore

[@eagerinspirit]

LOL

[@sonicplays4974]

F for Metro, hooray for other Top 500 players

[@unban]

I know this is a joke, but this is kind of the point. This system allows for broader control of avoiding those random people you find that are trolling, while also super punishing the insanely toxic members of overwatch like metro into either changing their behavior, continuing to have worse experiences, or finding a new game. Either way, the rest of us win.

[@TheNerd]

It's a miracle this guy has not been banned from thegame.

[@hyperj0nas153]

Chazm as well 🫥

[@williamdw987]

Can we start calling McDonalds workers, Senior executive beef scientists?

[@yyosted]

Sure when they have a decade of experience and specific education in behavioral research like the woman in the video

[@sebastiancox7398]

@@yyosted She's not going to pick you

[@yyosted]

@@sebastiancox7398 no woman will pick you

[@MoodyHam]

Sorry the quick play leaver penalties are waaaaay too harsh at the start. I’m for it but really just harms the casual player base over the more regular player base. Some people leave games early to join with friends, not to mention connection issues or other things. Really worried this cause an increase in AFK’s and throwers

[@kylekeller1333]

If you're just playing a match while you wait for your friends to get on then just play a round in Arcade? No Limits is always a good fun time.

[@HammerHead-yx5dy]

I feel like the 4 out of 20 games and you get a penalty is fine but 2 out of 20 and you get 5 minutes? Sure 5 minutes isn’t that long but why? I’ve had several times where i’ve gotten randomly disconnected then tried to get back on and just disconnected again. It seems unnecessary for quick-play

[@toastfy]

They only care for your money, they don’t care about anything else.

[@diablotry5154]

​@@kylekeller1333dang so quick play isn't really quick after all

[@BigJambu]

if you leave a game to join your friends you only get a warning. It's only an issue if you leave a game to join your friends and that game was your second game you left... just stop leaving :D Edit - on second thought, I forgot its based on your last 20 games... maybe I am wrong actually hmmmmm

[@Ontopofthings]

Quality of life UI suggestion: add voice chat indicators to scoreboard. Please consider displaying whether players are in teamvoice or the groupvoice you are currently in on the scoreboard overlay in game. This will provide instant feedback without disrupting gameplay. Current steps required to determine who is in voice: 1. Open the social menu; disengaging from game 2. Memorize names of players in voice 3. Leave the social menu and return to game 4. Bring up the scoreboard overlay 5. Cross reference player names with the hero they're playing By adding this information to the scoreboard overlay you could greatly simplify the process of determining who we can communicate with in voice from five steps to one. Thank you for your time and consideration!

[@edwardkubo9549]

This would make checking who is in voice SO much easier!

[@actionmarco8556]

ABSOLUTELY! the divide of info between social menu and in game TAB is ridiculous! Also, why don't you see what hero people are on when checking social menu? That would make reporting much easier too

[@caleb_dume]

@@actionmarco8556this is often my biggest reason why I don’t report some people. I forget the name of the player, and when I go back to check, I may not always feel obligated to go through with the report. (Obviously if someone is being severely cruel/blatantly cheating, you would lower tier toxicity probably not.

[@wi.llowvevo]

@@caleb_dume for me, when i report someone, i go to the social tab and look at who i recently played with. it lists their name and the character they mainly played, or ended with. it would definitely be better with what the OP said though, since i hate having to see who was and wasn't in voice :")

[@rkakoma]

🎉 thiw would rock

[@aacmbirdzilla2343]

8:16 The fact that Torb's beard glitches in an official dev update is hilarious

[@TheRealBatabii]

I had to replay that like three times to figure out what was going on because it just showed up in my peripheral vision and I thought maybe he switched weapons or something

[@OrchardFilm]

Or that Tracer is completely motionless like a rock, lol

[@RamenTuber]

mauga is missing too

[@ThiagoSouza-iu6mm]

And rammatra's knee

[@adapt293]

@@RamenTuberillari's gone as well

[@jtx6104]

Concern about report system: Is there something in place to prevent false reports? Ex. A team wants to bully one specific player and all report them. With the expected increase in using the report system, this is a legitimate concern. I hope it gets addressed publicly.

[@nickve777]

the current system including customer support is so bad and inconsistent. i got perma banned for calling someone a weirdo (not even sure about that because they refuse to tell me what i got banned for), having received NO warning, even though my friend has gotten two warnings before he got a penalty once. i tried contacting costumer support, but after having sent 10 tickets they always just reply with the same automated messages.

[@kenpls]

Also better not defend yourself or your friends, or you will get reported, was already happening before, now it will happen more

[@ctcpcp]

Got reported for battletag and got an email notice where they forced a new name, only thing was the original battletag was chosen by Blizzard and when contacting them I got an email saying I was responsible. Only shows how u can easily falsely report people and Blizzard doesn’t look into it when contacting them. I imagine there’s a loot of false bans in this game.

[@SubwayCake]

@@nickve777 Me right now. Im at reply 6.

[@garrelus]

The system doesn’t consider mass reports as having any weight. It only looks at each report as its own case, never in groups.

[@Zesty__]

I know a bunch of players are afraid of the leaver penalties due to connection issues. Ive seen several comments asking for a way to identify if its a disconnection. Im here to tell you, sadly, that wont happen. There is no way for the game to know if its a genuine disconnection or a bad actor intentionally disconnecting to avoid the match.

[@NekSva]

I sat here the whole time wondering what they were changing about D.VA's defense matrix enough that it was in the video title

[@Kevowz]

bro 😭

[@crisman300]

they need to change a lot for the reporting system, so many people just get banned with zero explanation

[@actionmarco8556]

Hehe

[@HopeIsADrug11037]

me too 😭

[@dizzyfist7129]

Came here JUST for defense matrix. I’m so glad they weren’t referring to Dva

[@WavyKiing]

10 avoid slots. I can now avoid an entire lobby just cus. LETS GOOO

[@gmanz5]

You’re gonna avoid yourself 😂😂

[@copiagueeagle]

​@@gmanz5 pinned as most likely to be avoided lmfao

[@gummostump4217]

​@gmanz5 if only I could, I might win more.

[@TheRealBatabii]

I can now avoid my entire team if they're all just throwing

[@_Dipstick_]

@@gmanz5 nah the 10th one is bob

[@Ezcendant]

TLDR We're adding in several terrible ranked mode group changes that most players will hate, but don't worry, reporting them when they bad mouth you for throwing the match is now easier. Also, we'll be asking you for suggestions on gameplay changes, but will continue ignoring people who want 6v6 back, or want us to make tank an enjoyable role.

[@Digitaldreamer7]

"we're making several changes to further keep players from playing meaningful matches so that you'll stop playing and finally release us to go work on some woke game somewhere that we actually like:

[@Lolthegameyoulostit]

Suddenly makes a lot sense why the disruptive chat filter is as horrible as it is when you see the senior lead for it…

[@user-cm3mv9di5i]

All is great, but there's one thing that bothers me: let spectators be able to say stuff in match chat in custom games please

[@lucas411_]

i agree, it would cause so much disruption to scrims

[@SynNine7One]

100% agree. It just blow up most of organizations in custom games/tournaments.

[@joshp3446]

Ha! No get rekt

[@OctolinkG]

that is not a priority wtf

[@Alanhslc]

Agreed, having someone I don't know telling me BS for no reason in the chat is one thing, a custom game with friends is another. This must be allowed in custom games or at least be optional.

[@User-gj9pb]

On the note of battle tag visibility, can we please restore career profile visibility? It's so frustrating seeing players with GM or even top 500 nameplates get into my plat QP lobbies and knowing that most of the time there's no way of even knowing when it happens. Feels more toxic getting rolled by someone you had no chance of winning against and not knowing otherwise than having that visibility and additional information to give you some perspective.

[@Iloosion]

Womp womp get better

[@sweethistortea]

I don't get why the profiles were made private to start with. If people are being mean, that's what the mute buttons are for.

[@jasona2007]

no. its not neccessary. Literally just play. its quickplay.

[@ianyeo1719]

THEY Implemented private profiles for PMA purposes and then gave us a scoreboard...like LUL

[@jasona2007]

@@sweethistortea why do you care so much about someone else's profile? focus on the match.

[@willwunsche6940]

Minorly sad no more spectator chat. But if it's being used by toxic players increasingly fair enough. It's not really the biggest deal to lose. I hope it still works in custom games for scrims though or at least in private games

[@eldiandevil]

Idk why, but this gives me hope for the future. Not just the changes they’re making, but the atmosphere of this video. Here’s hoping that we embrace the love this community is capable of. ❤

[@sgtsplatter4489]

I totally agree with this, I almost gave up on Overwatch, but the new competitive season changes, plus these last couple videos have made me continue to play

[@kuma477]

Yeah nice try Blizzard employee

[@Tudorgeable]

@@kuma477 Blizzard is completely dead, only the name is still there, they're so corporate 'nice' innoffensive and stale and cringy. Nothing good will come of this, no creativity

[@yutro213]

You are just being played, but you will wake up by August 2024.

[@davidgoldstein729]

Heroes of the Storm has a social feature in its friends list that shows which friends are grouped with each other and what group their sizes are, which allows players looking to group up to get a better view of who's with who. This is a feature I've missed in Overwatch. It would also be nice to be able to merge two groups that total 5 players or less without having to disband one of them...

[@Thoomy]

Overwatch used to have this feature, but they removed it for some reason

[@davidgoldstein729]

@@Thoomy Odd, I don't remember it. I remember expecting to find it on day one and being disappointed it wasn't there. We used to be able to see who was grouped with who within a *match*; that was removed when lineup positioning was forced to a specific order as part of Role Queue. But not in our Friends List.

[@Thoomy]

​@@davidgoldstein729Oh my bad, you're right. I misread your comment I didn't see the friends list part. Yeah a lot of games have this, it'd be nice in OW

[@davidgoldstein729]

@@Thoomy I'd love to have grouping visibility back in matches as well. It feels better when you see no one in voice comms with you if you can see that your teammates are at least theoretically in comms with each other.

[@igorf243]

10 avoid slots, hurray, thank you

[@hogroad]

avoid slots seem good until you realize everyone is gonna use them on you

[@Omar_05]

@@hogroadspeak for yourself man 😂

[@hogroad]

@@Omar_05 yep currently in masters where avoid slots will affect my que times which is annoying

[@Dr.Mango24]

Instead of worrying about “abusive chat” how about working on getting us OW1 back.

[@Flapjck]

The bans for left games is good, but i’m kinda worried about the 10 in a season ban. I see lots of people get disconnected from games and join back later. Sometimes it happens to me and i have to close overwatch, sign back in etc and it takes too long to reconnect because it was near the end if the match. I don’t wanna get banned for the season because the servers randomly disconnect some people.

[@asaltedpudding4041]

try running overwatch through steam instead of battlenet, with steam overwatch opens way quicker

[@daltonabbott997]

Before being banned from my account chat or anything, a person should review the offenses. It should not be an automatic ban because you got reported 3 times.

[@robdenhartog13]

This, i sometimes stand up for myself or give some advice. Boom, its abusive. No one bats an eye and just looks at the number of reports.

[@Baby_tea]

you can ask tech support. When I was banned I asked ( for what ? ) I was given some chat logs.

[@funbun420]

@@Baby_tea and you gonna get nothing

[@copiagueeagle]

I'm hopeful they have some safeguards in place, like if you've gone 15 months without a single report to your account and all of a sudden you get 4 in one game, they can probably tell its a false report barrage by a 4 man group. I think the fear of false reports, though, in general, is always worse than the reality of it unless you're a streamer or something.

[@angel__king]

@@Baby_teayou must be the one then bec I got chat banned for 13 days no warning and no prior chat bans ever and when I put in a ticket they wouldn’t tell me what I did to deserve it

[@Flowerboy_1]

Can y’all fix the suspension tickets? I’m pretty sure it’s just a bot answering them and would know what I did wrong or if I even did anything wrong

[@rxchardm6676]

i agree, sent an appeal and got the same reply twice. I just wanted to know what I said bc I'm just as confused as you are...

[@taruneswar]

same here, got suspended for no proper reason!!

[@rxchardm6676]

just got off my shackles today@@taruneswar

[@siorai1]

@@rxchardm6676same here, and it’s happened multiple times now

[@siorai1]

Ppl weaponize reporting, groups will send multiple reports on people to get them banned and asking for support doesn’t help at all. It’s insane

[@micasa8421]

Literally 1984

[@random2wins570]

10 avoid slots? That’s the whole playerbase 😂

[@nonkd._.]

Find a group feature

[@eetdotcom]

I don't think I ever saw that get used here in OCE

[@abd-animation-22]

Agreed it was really a good feature

[@YayaPecZ]

IT WAS NEVER USED LOL

[@MrFlan1723]

I think it would be good to bring back. I only used it because my friends stopped playing the game

[@NikitaOsito]

@@YayaPecZ I used it literally every time I played. I think it would be even more useful in OW2 since nobody is in voice anymore.

[@lolozetroll1476]

How does the report system work with bad faith reports?

[@Cianwilson49]

Bans them without any human looking at the report, same as now

[@lukasg4807]

They have no system for it. Their "toxicity" prevention just means no one ever types or talks in chat.

[@chococrispchunks1194]

@@lukasg4807these dudes just really made it easier to snitch

[@kaorimiyazono9226]

You solo ulted an E-girl Mercy with a fragile Ego? She's reporting you. She'll pick whatever criteria she wants, submit it, and boom. Once that happens enough times, you get whatever penalty.

[@verguco6051]

doesnt work, you will get banned for no reason

[@oVisionaire]

THANK YOU for the avoid slots. PLEASE add in 'Prefer' slots as well. Sometimes, we want play with folks in the future - but don't know them well enough to add them to a friends list.

[@Ra99y]

Just send them a friend request

[@oVisionaire]

@@Ra99y I have friends on my list. But imaging being able to influence the algorithm that matches the same way you influence your social feed. Prefer some people. Thumbs down others.

[@oVisionaire]

Actually think it would also viable to just prefer to match you with people you have endorsed.

[@EagleZtoTheGrave]

I like that idea, but they probably want random rolls for matchmaking & team balance.

[@segamegadrive9177]

No thanks just send them a friend request if U like having them or stay in group option.

[@fiibry90]

I remember when reporting brought nothing.. people would even say reporting did nothing unless it was mass reporting. Now I get an action notification every time I launch the game at least one time I got 2. Thanks for working on that!

[@m7.m.h]

​tru, i just lost my main account i playing on since 2016 cuz of cheaters reporting me (ximmers and aimbotters) after revealing them on match chat, and i got many thanking messages from the support team, yet that wasn't enough to ignore the cheaters abusing reports ​@jorgecadalzo1201

[@chosenpc2685]

Can we bring back profile visibility and hover profiles? It was such an amazing feature and quality of life increase.

[@Dreoni_]

I wish you brought back the group find feature too

[@ButtonsTheMonkey]

For real. I don't get why remove a feature that worked well. At least with it I could get people that have VC on and want to work as a team. Sure there were trolls that would join to be "funny" but I'd rather that than join a game and be stuck with some troll the whole game or total silence from my team more often than not.

[@Walt_Xander94]

Not like that feature was good. You could be very specific on the type of group you want, yet the result was more matches lost.

[@Giants_OW]

Player surveys are something I have always wanted just to make us feel that much more involved :)

[@yutro213]

Blizzard already did that a handful of times by e-mail. But know it will be official and in-game.

[@faris_tash3414]

In my 8 years of playing overwatch I have never knew that there’s something called endorsement level 0💀

[@zaky842]

These videos do a subtly good job of humanizing the dev team, showing mistakes, small "behind the scenes" moments, which I think is very well done and underrated. Great work!

[@krebgurfson5732]

blizzard plant? wtf

[@johndoe455]

indie game devs

[@HandlesAreStupid11]

Cornball

[@Dr.Mango24]

They are a bunch of babies.

[@HandlesAreStupid11]

@@krebgurfson5732 actually seems like it, my comment calling him a cornball got deleted 💀

[@adriend.751]

Hate how they renforced the penalties more and more in QP. Remember that some ppl have low internet issue and can be kick from the game for just 1 sec of no-wifi detected by the console. Having "only" 2 match before having penalties in QP is quit hard in my opinion when a comp mode exist.

[@thegreatslayer7685]

The worst part is when you leave the match due to internet problems someone in matching replace you immediately so you shouldn't get a penalties

[@jonathanabramo1485]

and it would be easy to implement a solution to this too. The server knows when a player has bad connection so just let someone with a poor connection with a strong enough intensity or for long enough off with another warning and no penalty. Yes people can use something like a lag switch to get around this system but that will not be a wide-spread issue.

[@pineyapples4925]

Other modes WITHOUT leaver penalties exist too, where you can emulate the quick play experience. Your teammates also get penalized because they now have one less player in a gamemode meant to emulate competitive without the impact on your ranking. If you want to emulate a casual quick play game, than play one of the countless arcade, game browser, and play vs AI games available

[@austinkeiser7484]

@@pineyapples4925dumbass comment that’s what quick play is for. i’m sure you’d report me in game for that cope.

[@Soft_Ghost]

Bro if you got disconnected for 2 matches, you probably need time to figure out your internet problem anyway. Why would you want to jump into the game again, if your problem is not solved.

[@justinhorror1765]

Some good updates, only concern with wide groups is queue times being affected since it will be splitting the player base between narrow and wide queues

[@DeffQ]

How many screens in menu I need to bypass to access "Avoided teammates" list after update?

[@JcrafterGames]

The surverys seems really nice to get more direct feedback on potential issues in the new penalty and report systems

[@Casperr]

"our solo players will never play aginst wide groups" Literally the best thing I've ever heard in a OW dev log 🙏

[@dreadful8481]

Who else thought they were talking about dva defense matrix?

[@darharharhar1484]

I still hate the quickplay bullshit leaver penalty. Honestly it's bright ideas like this that earned you guys a bonus. A bit mean but quick play is quick play I play at work now instead of leaving so my team can get a player I just go afk and touch the mouse every 30 seconds. Great system

[@blue_tetris]

I feel bad for the people worrying about their "connection issues" getting them temporarily banned. Of course, anyone who has played the game knows 99.999999% of connection issues occur right after a player dies or loses a team fight. That's just good timing on Xfinity's part, really.

[@knyt0]

they also don't conveniently stand still for 5 seconds as they don't await the timer for leaving

[@pineyapples4925]

If their connection is that bad then they aren't fit for comp anyways and should emulate the experience in the multiple arcade modes, countless game browser modes, and Play vs AI

[@knyt0]

@@Mysterious-Fox-01 blizzard should pay for your internet honestly

[@user-mv9ec5cq3y]

@@Mysterious-Fox-01If the game is an ONLINE MULTIPLAYER game, then I think you can. WTF are you talking about LOL

[@pineyapples4925]

@@Mysterious-Fox-01 Your 4 teammates who practiced and warmed up, played really well in the match, and then lost because you left and turned it into a 4v5 don't deserve to have that bad experience. Elitist of you to say that one person with a bad connection deserves no penalties for actually ruining the match for 4 others. I am looking out for the 4 players who suffer. You can still have that same experience in TONS of other gamemodes, Arcade, Game Browser, Play vs AI, WITHOUT ANY LEAVER PENALTIES.

[@Revanxbone]

IT'S GAVIN!!! you're awesome

[@SSADO-]

GAVIN?! WHERE ARE YOU

[@MoizTheRelaxer]

@@SSADO-Gavinnnnn

[@roa.3714]

unranked penalty time is criminal

[@jamescastle7704]

QP Leaver penalties are actually insane

[@aldiyaralmassov3378]

Such a weird decision bro

[@jonharveytorres8055]

Gavin should do most of the Developer Updates 😀

[@floraazul7622]

Gavin was laid off in PVE team cuts :( he landed a new job tho! Blizz sucks lol

[@mikeockslong4795]

@@floraazul7622 no that’s a different Gavin

[@oedalis]

​@@floraazul7622 I was also sad to learn the story team got cut. They were the best part of OW2.

[@jackeaton4393]

I think a way to help people who are rude in VC and match chat would be to let them know why they were reported. It would help bad behavior.

[@friezeray]

yes! i got suspended and after i reviewed the chat; all i said was: "you guys need to stop feeding" "wait for your team, STOP trickling" "ROADHOG DONT YOU DARE WALK ON POINT WE'RE ALL STILL RESPAWNING" ... who wouldve guessed thats 'abusive' ???

[@Thehammm_]

@@friezeray I feel attacked, I'm reporting you for this comment.

[@RegBinary]

@@friezeray It could be something you said a few matches earlier. Maybe even from a few days ago.

[@bigtuna4010]

Why don’t they just use AI bro that would be so much more accurate

[@sonicplays4974]

​@@bigtuna4010A lot of false positives might come up, robots might not sometimes understand the point of the message.

[@captain4930]

To the entire dev team: You all have an extra chromosome

[@Lottow]

8:16 shoutout to Torbjörns beard

[@bennettnez4711]

Man its nice to see that actual humans work on this game. Reminds me of the magic of the Jeff days

[@kylelogan8375]

It's all PR lol don't be fooled by "positivity" when they've gouged the game the last 5 years

[@bennettnez4711]

@kylelogan8375 it wasn't positivity I was marveling at, just seeing a person.

[@bobrulz]

​@@kylelogan8375Bobby Kotick is gone, I guarantee that has a lot to do with it.

[@kylelogan8375]

@bobrulz nah it's not. It's damage control to the backlash on socials. Player counts are dropping and shop isn't meeting goals. It's all about money at the end of the day, with or without Bobby. This patch is designed to look good to entice players to play again. Most won't last half the season and move on again.

[@tosutosu_]

@@bobrulz Bobby is gone, so is half the team after the acquisition lol

[@shuqilin320]

rank and reporting system modifications sound decent 👌

[@derricksfitlife1225]

You sound like a baby, reporting someone for talking trash shows you guys have never played a sport a day in your life and can’t handle some trash talk

[@siorai1]

Need less reporting, ppl report for no reason and blizzard doesn’t look into it Just suspend

[@LotusViridis]

I am curious about the midmatch reporting. By making it easier to report, I would also presume that also makes it easier for hot-tempered people to just report people willy nilly for unjustified reasons. Are there already things in place to combat that?

[@nickve777]

they dont care enough to look into that lol. i believe they currently are letting bots handle most if not all reports

[@kaorimiyazono9226]

Yes. Petty and salty people have more incentive and accessibility to report you. No there are no real systems to combat unjustified reports. It's all handled automatically by bots. Once you gain a certain amount of reports, the system automatically takes action. The overwatch report system is among the worst. Extremely volatile and exploitable.

[@Keetherz]

@@kaorimiyazono9226 you aint seen nothing yet

[@kaorimiyazono9226]

@@Keetherz For real lmao. Season 10 will ban like half the player base xD

[@siorai1]

@@kaorimiyazono9226yep, teams will literally say they are going to mass report you just cause they don’t like you. It happened to me and I sent support tickets to blizzard saying to check the chat log and see if didn’t say anything to get banned for Just a stupid automated bot response in return.

[@iamautismprime]

i play OW since the beginning of Season 1. I made a long breake and came back a few weeks ago. I think the changes are done very well, and i belive this 2 people from Blizz (Mr. Winter and Mrs. Miller), that they are interested in making the game and its experience for players, better. I m glad looking forward to play season 10, and wanna say thank you (Winter/Miller) for the Video and good explanation.

[@copiagueeagle]

Gavin is an excellent speaker, he explained those details so well and addressed concerns I didnt even know I had yet. You guys are doing great at communicating, keep it up!

[@nike_toki7ify]

Dont take away spectator chat. its a vital function when playing pugs and scrims.

[@knyt0]

i doubt it'll be changed in customs

[@fuwameanssoft]

This

[@cat8506]

they could make it toggled in customs

[@roland8357]

Fr I get why they did it. But I only publicly shame my friends when I spectate

[@liberta1154]

i dont support back seat gaming

[@talarzwyzimy9963]

By some extent i was dissapointed by some changes in second installment of this game. But since mauga its only up hill. And u guys even communicate! I wish the hate and bad reviews didnt get too anyone from developer team. Thanks. I will have fun.

[@DukeFavre]

**But How about MINIMAP** or **Adding Overwatch 1 Endoursement system after the match ends to choose the best player in the match** that was something fun to do.

[@MarvelousButter]

I like it all, especially the increased communication with the player-base, except for spectators not being able to chat, I think that will be sad for the majority of people who are just hanging out spectating watching their friends & I don't think the few bad apples should result in everyone else being punished

[@NickybobGames]

I agree with this! I love it when players on my friend list will chat as they spectate my matches ❤

[@VallornDeathblade]

I came here to comment this as well. A better solution would probably be making "see spectator chat" an opt-in or something.

[@swift0294]

Nah. I never did like to see spectators talk in chat especially when they got something annoying to say to me.

[@nusaerratul]

If a player get disconnected mid match and reconnects after a while will it count as "leaver"?

[@The_Mercymain03]

I hope not. I've got awful connection where I live.

[@moonie2119]

I believe so

[@siorai1]

@@The_Mercymain03me too, I’ve dropped out of maybe 4-5 this season I’ve never left on purpose.

[@charliekinsey1041]

With battle tag visibility, if you get potg will it come up with your actual battle tag on your end? Or throughout the game on your end (For content purposes)

[@F1R3EMBLEM]

Please, please, please consider changing competitive open queue to competitive open queue 6v6. Give us the choice to play some classic overwatch with tank synergy

[@PizzaForeverAndEver]

An absolute fantastic update. Much needed. All are super healthy for the game. Thank you!

[@Briggn94]

Season 10, Let's go! 😁

[@W4RM4T]

What about those of us who are the ones actually impacted the leavers? Should a losing team with a leaver be impacted fully when it comes to deranking/points loss?

[@swift0294]

In a way, what can they do? Someone on a losing team can just leave so the team won't lose much rank

[@jumbojordan3387]

make it so u can go onto scoreboard and click on a player and see more personal stats like objective time kd saves accuracy etc

[@12345kaizer]

I get the need for leaver penalties on comp - but is it really just 5 disconnects will get me banned for the whole season?

[@Randoman590]

Why are you leaving that frequently? Don't queue for comp unless you know you're not going to be interrupted. One-offs will happen, maybe an emergency comes up and you have to leave, but 5 times is more than chance.

[@tired9494]

it's 5 out of last 20, not 5 total

[@dinkleberg1974]

Within the span of 20 24 hrs

[@zacharycoon5574]

5 disconnects out of your most recent games. 10 disconnects is the only one that applies for the whole season.

[@12345kaizer]

Thanks for the clarifying responses. I might play 60-70 comp games in a season. I don’t disconnect too often but 5 per season felt in reach of possibility. I never leave intentionally

[@tonythunder6048]

I’m excited that Hanamura is back, hopefully the other old 2CP maps get a new design for clash. And I know Flats is gonna be happy about streamer mode

[@MK-mm7ui]

Its Hanamuras neighbour. You’ll be able to see Hanamura from Hanaoka

[@inlandthempire.6932]

Don't get your hopes up flats will go back to the complainguy grift soon enough

[@Camenye]

From what i’ve seen we only need a Paris and horizon map to have them all back, really hope clash is fun

[@mr.weaboo1368]

​@@inlandthempire.6932You clearly don't watch him or don't care to find out his opinion if you think that

[@french_toast223]

​@@MK-mm7ui 2cp is basicslly flashpoint. Was it really that hard to change the first chokepoint? Hannamura was way better.

[@Quisshy]

“Does this mean overwatch is back?” *in winton voice* yes

[@LoonarLiz]

A nice quality of life change would to be able to see stats in replays.

[@junkerpug]

Hopefully this works having a wide skill group of 4 it would suck being the solo forced to fill that group unless they stop groups of 4 from queing.

[@dominiclavell1844]

Wide groups of 4 aren't allowed, it says in the graphic at 1:34

[@junkerpug]

​@dominiclavell1844 It definitely does, and I completely missed it, thank you.

[@Briggn94]

More avoid slots and better reporting are some much needed updated features, can't wait for them 👍

[@siorai1]

Reporting will prob end up being a bigger problem

[@naevis_ow2]

The sad part is that if you unintentionally leave the game, for example a power outage or a wifi problem, you'd still get a penalty. Which literally happened to me. A storm happened at my area, and there was 2 short power outages. Since then, my computer kept turning off randomly.

[@ThatOneIrishFurry]

the best chat disruption reduction measure is when someone posts something toxic and defense matrix replaces it with like "excellent gamings today gentlemen i must go now my mom is telling me it's my bedtime"

[@stag1528]

i hope their is a toggle setting for spectators using chat

[@mrhumpty]

There is the ability to mute/block. Toggle button's don't matter. OW spends the majority of it's time and effort doing it for the "community" there's a reason text & voice chat are dead. Shittalking is a feature, not a bug in online gameplay.

[@ogriptide6578]

The southern accent made me feel at home, thank you gavin

[@TheRealBatabii]

That's a southern accent?

[@ogriptide6578]

@@TheRealBatabii not a heavy one but a very slight undertone but honestly I’d rather a small southern accent than a heavy one imo they are annoying (I live in the rural south)

[@pspspspspspspspspspspspspspss]

These are amazing features Hope for ximming detectors for console and switch pools

[@KoukiMorikawa]

I was waiting for this more avoid player slots since years ago. That competitive leaver penalty is kinda crazy, sometimes i often playing a normal competitive match, my internet was fine but suddently got disconnected, need to enter email and such, waiting for long time, and the one i hate most is when i already wait for long then "We're unable to log you in", then ends up with penalty. I suggest you guys add a special "competitive report feature", their teammates should be know mostly if he's leaving whether rage quit or because other problems. No one would intentionally leaving a match when they're currently winning. Compared to they're losing, or after doing hate speech in team chat or something. One more feature i need is a player counter for arcade game and other game mode to see how many players are playing them right now, and how many players is currently in game. Back then i often queue almost 1 hour with no match, and it sucks.

[@xhynk]

Keep Spectator Chat and allow people to hide it, have it as friends only, friends of players only, or allow anyone. It can be useful and fun in some circumstances

[@reinerbraun1685]

no

[@01011010110]

nah

[@TheHellsingHQ]

How about 'no'.

[@swift0294]

I don't mind if they keep the spectator chat if they have it hidden by default. That's one setting I won't be changing

[@ManOlantern12]

Can you do something about the massive false reporting problem? I got suspended for the final two weeks of the season for absolutely nothing. And I am nowhere near alone I even asked blizz for evidence as to why I was suspended and was never presented with any information of any kind.

[@everythingdk]

same, i even got banned without proof of what i did. had a bot reply to my appeal 3 times with the same message. all that money and time i spent on that account just makes start playing other games... Snowflakewatch is real

[@untapped8776]

​@@everythingdkThe fact that you just said "Snowflakewatch" convinces me fully that your ban was most definitely deserved.

[@ManOlantern12]

@@untapped8776 : I was suspended for two weeks for beating a four stack that reported me for beating them. I did nothing else. They even said they were going to do it. They did it. I woke up to a two week suspension without any recourse, justification, or information of any kind. And the appeal process is a joke. I received an automated response and never once got to speak to an actual human

[@zeldacereza]

@@untapped8776yup. But fake ones do happen. It’s not hard to get banned or falsely accused of cheating. Solely cause they don’t have a real person reviewing anything.

[@SuperScraper123]

@@everythingdkenjoy your ban “snowflake” 😂

[@nycempirestate4689]

Between the leaver penalties and the avoid lists, some people are going to be waiting forever to play lol!

[@acafecat]

Wide groups honestly are such a good idea! I know some people won't trust it but I had to learn to play damage because my support role was too far ahead of my friends who were new to the game. It sucked because I'm not very good at damage so it was less fun, this should make it a lot more fun.

[@imeunbae]

How about Solo players never meet Group players? I hope they separate group and solo/duo.

[@flynnfarron]

Agreed. Literally played multiple comp matches against a 5 stack the other day while soloing and was super confused because, iirc in OW1 you couldn't match against a 5 stack unless you were ALSO in a 5 stack (or I guess a 6 stack back then)

[@artmanrom]

They said that stacked teams of friends will be playing only against other stacked teams.

[@imeunbae]

@@artmanrom ? I make you understand. As a solo player, I don't want to meet the narrow group players.

[@Zathren]

Disruptive chat? I'm the only one who just Hides Chat the second my game starts?

[@TheRealBatabii]

Imagine being antisocial on a team-based game. I hope you still use voice chat at least but most people don't seem to have a mic

[@flynnfarron]

​@TheRealBatabii nah bro that's why callouts exist, I am NOT getting called slurs just because someone needs healing and I'm busy healing someone else at crit health, spam "I need healing" or shut up lol

[@sagephrog1314]

yes, get bettter

[@krebgurfson5732]

yes you're the only one

[@laundromatjones4337]

Naw, we do the same. We play this game for fun, 99% of people in voice chat are children blasting music.

[@l.3349]

Please keep spectator chat in custom/workshop games.

[@TarhosTheKnight]

3:48 I’m more excited about this. Sick of both my console and battle tag shown together. Just want only my battle tag up.

[@MrDonkeySaurus]

Maybe balance quick play matchmaking so if you’re getting rolled you can leave and not get banned for two days??? But a two day ban is easier then fixing your game fs fs

[@GayLuigi333]

The point of punishing you is for rage quit leaving, just play out the rest of the match, it’s not torture. Personally idc how bad we’re getting beat, I don’t leave

[@amonggus1]

​@GayLuigi333 Dude, it IS torture. You play a game with a win condition trying to win, not just to get spawn camped by the enemy because people keep leaving. People have better things to do with those 10-15 minutes of queue plus stalling. Like playing a fair match. There needs to be a maximum number of leavers or a team voting to end a thrown game.

[@GayLuigi333]

@@amonggus1 you’re literally just sitting and playing a video game 😭 that is NOT torture. Really says a lot about your privilege in life that you think wasting 15 minutes is literally “torture” 🤣🤣

[@markwelanderjackson4026]

@@GayLuigi333 I disagree even though there still ppl will leave during QP match and yet you will eventually get ppl hop in your team anyways

[@Digitaldreamer7]

@@GayLuigi333 Name checks out

[@MaCardo]

I am concerned how the wide group and quick reporting will impact each other. Players at high ranks may think teammate is throwing when they are actually a bronze, but they have a private profile so their rank can’t be checked.

[@bellsgg]

I thought about this too but then I thought, you’ll only be paired with another wide group. It would be safe to assume you will get mirrored as far as ranked goes and safely deduct that the player “throwing” is probably bronze because our support is bronze sort of thinking

[@Zesty__]

The high ranked player in your hypothetical scenario knows that they are in wide group. Before the comp match starts it shows the range of ranks. So they will know its bronze 1 to diamond 3 lobby for example. I doubt many people will experience said scenario. As they said, the wider the group is in ranks, the less sr you earn. Wide groups play against other wide groups so these matches will likely be a shitshow for everyone.

[@Jessespresso]

I'm pretty sure (I may be wrong) that they spoke about how reports from players who are grouped up count as a single report to prevent players from abusing the system and reporting the same person twice also doesn't count towards their total reports

[@ReluanOctavian]

The bloopers at the end make this more personal, and I love it.

[@kevintbush]

Thank you for the updates and the transparency!! I would love to see an in game looking for group option. This game is even better playing with others so why not make it easy for people to connect. Just for future thought 😀

[@allivans6681]

They did so well in improving their defense matrix system that half of the players quit the game.

[@xxxnkayce]

or got perma banned for no reason :)

[@allivans6681]

@@xxxnkayce yup, that too

[@joeyalbert_]

I feel like an underrated way to tell if you have a toxic teammate is to look at their endorsement level. Most of the time for me, whenever there is a nuisance on my team I find out that they are level 2 or below. I love these changes you are making!

[@vape42069]

true and i can usually tell when my teammates are dead weight when theyre endorsement 4 or 5.

[@angelcake7077]

@@vape42069 wdym? I would assume a higher endorsement means a good player lolll If we follow both of these rules, does this mean the best players are endorsement level 3 ?

[@samzamzow8314]

Love the updates that are coming. I think that the endorsement level feature is an excellent way to handle disruptive chat/bad actors. It's really frustrating trying to play a tank in a competitive to have your team flame you unnecessarily. I don't mind constructive feedback or switch suggestions, but having your team instantly blame you is one of the quickest ways to bring out a loss. Also, I REALLY love this new format of the development update. The outtakes make me chuckle!

[@stroopgamer5463]

Will there ever be cross-platform rank?

[@Eurobeat_fan]

"Please keep sharing your thoughts with us" then they proceed to not listen to players about how to fix tank

[@th3_projekt]

Loving the sillier nature of these new Dev updates! It makes things so much more lighthearted

[@loveagain8390]

The ranked changes are fun and all, but can we please make wide group ranked matches also include groups made with console and pc players?

[@eivenevie]

As someone who were banned once for talking back to ggez people, I wont ever use the chat ever again once this rolls. Heavily policing internet interaction is dumb, its not like people can throw punches off the monitor.

[@kaorimiyazono9226]

You don't need to use the chat. Petty people will report you for killing them, solo ulting them, T-bagging, winning etc and you'll still get suspensions. The report system as a whole is broken.