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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Follow #Overwatch2 for the latest news:

[TheHassassin]

Can't wait for avoided player tier lists

[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!

[Foxesmlife]

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?

[MoodyHam]

Sorry the quick play leaver penalties are 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

[NoobHunter]

Metro won't be able to find a match anymore

[aacmbirdzilla]

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

[JTX_]

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.

[jamescastle]

QP Leaver penalties are actually insane

[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

[User-gjpb]

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.

[WavyKiing]

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

[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.

[williamdw]

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

[davidgoldstein]

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...

[Aleksandr_Tararin]

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

[daltonabbott]

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.

[allivans]

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

[willwunsche]

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

[adriend.]

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.

[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. ❤