A Perspective on Overwatch Competitive Season 2

Hey guys, I wanted to share my experiences with Overwatch Competitive Season 2. I absolutely love the game, and I find the competitive modes to be the most satisfying way to play it. Even still, I had plenty of grumbles about Season 1 and the notorious coin-flip sudden death. Overall, I think Season 2 has made a lot of wonderful changes, though it still seems to be a work in progress.

Placements

I won 7 out of the 10 games, with three losses and no draws (if memory serves me well). This put me at about the mid 2700’s playing Mercy and Zenyatta in all my games. For most of these games, I played in a group of 4 or more experienced players that I party with on a regular basis. All of the games I played solo, I ended up losing. In fact, the only games I lost were those that I had solo queued for, go figure.

My experience with placement matches was about the same as Season 1. I found them to be a pretty even spread of hybrid, escort, assault, and control game modes. There were usually a few people who already received a rank in my games, and they were almost always platinum, with the exception of a few diamonds.

I had no drops in any of my placements, and found team members to be relatively decent human beings. Not too much toxicity. There were some less than ideal picks, of course, but that was easy enough to build around or compensate for, at least for the most part.

The Importance of Partying

I am of the opinion that playing in a group is the best way to succeed at Overwatch Competitive. This is simply because a team that is used to playing together and can communicate well without it degrading into the blame game will have a huge advantage. Everyone will play better just by knowing their teammates. The issue of trying to make a decent team comp and getting everyone to group up on the objective becomes a little less crippling. I find that it was incredibly easy to go on winning streaks with a well-balanced group of players all using their best characters.

Which brings me to an important point about groups: be careful what kind of group you make! If all of you only play DPS, then of course it will be difficult to win. If there is conflict over characters, and some people just have to fill with any old tank or support, it will harm you more than playing with people who actually know how to fulfill those roles well. Not to say they can’t learn, but the players within the team are just as important as having a team in the first place, otherwise, what is the point?

Grievances

I don’t have much to complain about, and I don’t have too much to offer in terms of potential changes.

I think Mercy probably gets Play of the Game a little too often. I’m not complaining per se, especially because I play a lot of Mercy. Like a lot. But it is a bit tiresome to see the same 3 man resurrections every game, when there are exciting Mei freezings and Reaper devastations happening elsewhere. I’m quite happy to Mercy getting the love, but perhaps it is a little too easy for her to get PotG now.

The most annoying part of competitive is the lack of control one has over the outcome of their matches in a solo or duo queue. You can’t make your team communicate. You can’t make anyone play a healer or a tank. The only thing you can do is your best for the team, and often times that won’t be enough to sway the game in your favor. It is, after all, a team game. Even if sometimes it doesn’t seem that way. Sometimes, these games feel less like challenging matches and fun games, and more like dice throws predetermined by matchmaking. “Whoever gets the better random collection of players wins!”

Things to Consider

I don’t have much to propose as advice, and there’s a good chance I’m not even qualified! However, based from my experiences, I can make a few claims I think might be helpful for a lot of people

Don’t solo queue, unless you do it well. Now that’s pretty vague, I know. But what I mean is, if you are going to sq, be prepared to fill. Don’t be toxic. Try to be a team player but don’t get too bossy. And most of all, be incredibly patient. It isn’t impossible to climb in sq, but it takes a while. There will be a great amount of flux and that is okay.

Play more than one hero. Obviously this isn’t a command or anything, and there are people who do just fine with only one playable character. But for most of us, being flexible and adaptive will help us, rather than hurt us, and is probably a better idea than being a “main.”

Be humble. By definition, most people are average. It is okay to be average, it’s definitely not a bad thing. If you aren’t the best DPS or maybe just an okay Tank, it is alright to switch off and let someone else play for a while, in hopes to get a win. Sometimes it just won’t be your night, and maybe you miss your headshots. It’s okay, but maybe we could all better contribute towards the win if we showed a little humility and let someone else pick up where we couldn’t quite make it.

Verdict

I feel like Season 2 is a definite improvement. Matches have felt less unfair and more balanced, and I’ve found it much easier to place and rank than ever before. Perhaps that is just my good luck though, and this all is simply my experience and opinion. I’d like to know how you feel about this season, so let me know your thoughts!