As promised, in the last days of June, Blizzard rolled out an update that adds to the highly anticipated competitive mode. And the players who had already managed to pump their skills immediately found something to occupy this hot summer.

Overwatch

Genre network shooter
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Developer Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher Blizzard Entertainment
Websites playoverwatch.com

Formally, this mode opens only for experienced players who have managed to pump up to level 25. In fact, over the past month, all active players who may be interested in the competitive mode have already managed to reach 40, 50, 80, or even 100+ levels, thoroughly study the characters, game modes, all the nooks and crannies of maps, etc. So there seems to be no newcomers here, at least it seems so at first glance.

In any case, to begin with, all applicants will have to go through 10 trial matches, during which the system will determine your approximate level, with which you will start the current season. These test brawls are no different from regular competitive games, and in the last test battles, not only beginners will participate in them, but also players who have already received a rating (one or three per battle). Next season you will have to re-qualify.

How are Competitive Mode games different from regular quick play? First, the duration. Now these are no longer quick contractions for 10 minutes. In Capture Points, Escort, and Capture / Escort, the battle will have to play at least two rounds: one in attack, another in defense, plus, possibly, another short two-minute round of Sudden Death. The result is a full 25 minutes of play. In Object Control mode, with equal strengths, teams will have to play five rounds, up to three wins, which again takes about 25 minutes. Naturally, if one team plays much better, everything will end much faster, in 15 minutes. Blizzard is pondering how to shorten match times simply by reducing the time limit for each task.

The second difference, and at the same time the moment most criticized by the players, is that "Sudden Death". If in the Object Control mode there can be no draw by definition, then in Capturing Points, Escort and Capture / Escort, a situation is possible when both teams either did not capture any of the points, or captured all of them, did not move the load at all or brought it to the goal mission. In this case, the opponents will have to play a short additional round lasting, as a rule, 2-3 minutes (this is the remainder of the time after completing the task in the previous round). And here there is one big problem - who will attack and who will defend in this decisive battle is determined by the toss of a coin. Naturally, the defenders have a much higher chance of winning, especially in the time pressure of the attackers. In my personal experience, defenders win 80% of the time in Sudden Death. However, sometimes the confidence in their own victory plays a cruel joke with them, the defenders relax.

On the one hand, this final round of Sudden Death is the most eventful and aggressive. Often, the attackers choose three heroes like Winston for him and rush forward, in a pan-or-go style. On the other hand, a certain injustice is still felt. The attackers are clearly in a losing position, so the most serious criticism towards Blizzard comes precisely because of this mode.

I must say that Blizzard is well aware of the problem. So, thanks to the changes made since the beta test, the "Sudden Death" mode began to appear much less often than before. According to statistics, in the Capture points mode (maps "Temple of Anubis", "Hanamura" and "KB Volskaya"), the need for Sudden Death mode arises in 9% of games. In Escort mode (Dorado, Observation Post: Gibraltar and Route 66), 16-18% of battles end in Sudden Death. And in Mixed mode ("Numbani", "Kings Row" and "Hollywood"), 20-29% of battles end in the same way. Nevertheless, criticism remains, and Blizzard is thinking in the future to revise the rules of Sudden Death again and, possibly, completely exclude it from the game. Therefore, the current summer season can be considered a transitional one - the rules will probably change in the fall.

The second problem with Competitive Mode is players leaving the match. Blizzard has increased the punishment for such gamers, which, if repeated, could lead to a complete ban on competitive play for the current season. However, the problem remains. If a player leaves the match or is inactive for the first two minutes, then the game ends automatically, no one gets penalties or losses. After two minutes, the players of the remaining minority team will have a choice - to end the match or continue the game. In the event of an exit, they again do not receive a penalty, but they are credited with a defeat. Everything seems to be fair, but the players leaving the match are still very much disliked here.

Since already experienced players come into the competitive mode, playing most of the cards in the Capture points, Escort and Capture / Escort modes is more like playing chess standards. The defenders know very well where to place Torbjorn's turret, where to place Symmetra's defense turrets, where the sniper should land. Likewise, attackers have a great idea of \u200b\u200bwhich heroes should be taken for a given situation. Now no one ignores the medic class, refuses to play as a tank, etc.

At the same time, a set of heroes has already been formed, almost mandatory for each of the modes. They are chosen most often. For defense, these are Torbjorn or Bastion, Widow or Hanzo, Reinhardt or Zarya, Mei, Junkrat, necessarily Angel or Lucio. To attack - Soldier-76, Farah, Reaper, D.Va, Reinhardt / Roadhog or Winston, and again the obligatory Angel or Lucio. It is much less common to choose complex characters who can show themselves only with the impeccable skill of the player and teamwork. Zenyatta, Symmetra, Tracer, "repaired" in one of McCree's patches, fell out of favor. Much less often in competitive mode I play Genji and Bastion. But the people tried Zarya, who turned out not only to be an excellent fighter, but could also become the main striking force of the team. Winston, as already noted, is simply irreplaceable in Sudden Death mode for attackers.

In any case, you should choose the character you know how to play, remember to change him after each round in order to catch opponents by surprise, plus do not hesitate to replace the character right during the battle if your tactics for some reason does not work. For example, I prefer to play defensively with Symmetra, which on many maps can turn the life of an opponent into a real hell, but not all players in the team agree with this choice. Insist on your own, if you are confident in your abilities.

The pumped-up players have finally learned how to wait for partners and carry out massive attacks, synchronize their super skills and generally interact better on the battlefield. As a result, the battles in the Competitive mode turned out to be fiercer and more intense than in the regular Quick Play. There are more beautiful moments both with the use of special skills and simply with the demonstration of individual skill. Emotions, both positive and not very, such battles bring the sea. So, if for some reason you still haven't switched to Competitive mode, we strongly recommend it.

Blizzard divides each year into 4 seasons, corresponding to the seasons in the northern hemisphere. At the same time, 2.5 months are allocated for the games themselves and the selection of the best ones, the remaining 2 weeks are an off-season break. Each season will reward you with unique profile badges and graffiti. Plus, with the special points earned in battles and at the end of the season, it will be possible to purchase golden weapons for each of the characters. One such weapon costs 300 points, for winning the match you can only get 1 special point. The reward at the end of the season will probably correspond to the level with which you finish it, and its size is not yet known. If you focus only on victory points, you will have to work even on one golden weapon to the fullest. 300 won battles is almost a month of tight play.

With the introduction of Competitive Mode, Overwatch's esports potential has become even more evident. It is even more interesting to follow such battles, with the score, with the struggle at every meter, with overwhelming emotions than the battles in Counter-Strike or Dota 2. Overwatch, it seems, claims to be an esports football, spectacular and understandable to everyone. Professional teams have already appeared, we are waiting for the announcement of large tournaments with a solid prize pool. Something tells me that Overwatch is serious and long-term.

Site evaluation

Pros: High level of players; more intense and intense matches; a lot of emotions

Minuses: "Sudden death"; increased match time; players leaving the fight

Conclusion: Competitive Mode takes Overwatch to the next level

We've released an overview of Overwatch's new competitive mode, where players can compete against each other, rank up, and move to new divisions during the monthly seasons.

Blizzard Official Quote ()

"I play for the sake of victory!" - D.Va

Are you no longer new to the battlefield and looking to level up your game? Show yourself in competitive mode!

Competitive mode is intended mainly for those who are interested in playing at the highest level. In it, players will be able to compete with each other, increase their rank and move to new divisions during the monthly seasons. We have been working on and developing this mode for quite some time now, and now we are happy to give our Closed Beta members the opportunity to try it out.

HOW IT WORKS:

To join a Competitive match, select Play from the Main Menu and then Competitive. You can queue up for a match in Competitive Mode either alone or as part of a group of any size. If you play alone, the system will try to find the most suitable opponent for you among other lone players, and if you queue up in a group, then the search will be carried out primarily among groups of the same size.

We know that players interested in competitive play mostly want to see experienced players as their opponents rather than newcomers. In this regard, only players who have reached level 25 can take part in a competitive game (unlike other game modes). It doesn't take long to develop to this level, but we believe that by this point players will be able to get enough familiar with the game and familiarize themselves with the cards, heroes and basic elements of the gameplay in order to be ready to compete with other players.

MATCH FORMAT:

After queuing up in Competitive Mode, the game will begin matching you with a variety of factors, such as your division and rank (see below for more on this). When both teams of the match are complete, the system will randomly select a specific map.

If a card of the "Assault" or "Escort" type is selected, the match will consist of two full games so that each team can play for both the attacking and defending sides. If a team wins both of these games, it wins the match. If each team wins one game, the match is extended in Sudden Death mode. At this stage, both teams play one round, fighting for a randomly selected object on a map of the "Object control" type. The team that captures this object wins the match!

If a map of the Object Control type is selected, only one full match will be played. However, in order to win a game on such a map in Competitive Mode, a team would have to capture three of five randomly selected objects, rather than two of three as in Quick Play. This is done so that competitive matches on Object Control maps do not differ too much in duration from matches on Assault or Escort maps.

At the end of a Competitive Match, competing teams will not be automatically queued and automatically prompted to play each other again as in Quick Play. You will need to queue separately for each match in Competitive Mode.

DIVISIONS AND RANKS:

A balanced progression system is an important and integral part of any competitive game. Overwatch has a division and rank system for this.

At the moment, there are four ranks: "Applicant", "Experienced", "Expert" and "Master". Five divisions correspond to each rank - from 1st to 5th. Accordingly, “Challenger 1” is the lowest rank and division, and “Master 5” is the highest. To progress in competitive mode, you will need to collect points. Points are awarded for winning competitive matches, but can be deducted if defeated (depending on the rank). The number of points awarded or deducted depends on your rank and certain conditions that determine victory or defeat.

After earning the required number of points, you will increase your rank or move to the next division. Having earned a new rank, it is no longer possible to return to the previous one in the current season: losing points, you can move to a lower division, but you will still remain at your rank.

Additional Information:

• The initial rank of any player is Challenger 1 with 0 points.
• For a victory, 20 points are awarded.
• 20 points are deducted for defeat.
• To move to the next division, you need to score 100 points.
• To move to the next rank, you need to score 100 points while already in the top division.
• Players can queue up as part of a group only if the gap between them is less than 10 divisions.
• If your rank is "Challenger", then points are not deducted for defeat.
• If you are Experienced, Expert or Master, 40 points are awarded for consecutive victories instead of 20.
• In the case of Experienced and Expert ranks, 10 points are deducted instead of 20 for losing a match at the Sudden Death stage.

Players of the "Master 5" division can earn a special fifth rank: "Hero"! He is not divided into divisions: instead, each “Hero” will be assigned a position that determines his place in relation to other players of the same rank. In the future, we also plan to introduce in-game leaderboards so that players in each season have the opportunity to follow the best players who managed to reach the "Hero" rank. We will discuss more about the seasons below.

* Please note that this feature will not be available during the pre-season testing phase.

SEASONS AND REWARDS:

Competitive Overwatch will be seasonal. All player progress, including division, rank, position, and likely leaderboard, will reset on the first of every month. We plan to open the first season of competitive play shortly after the official launch of the game in May, after which we are going to move to a monthly rotation of seasons. It is also planned to reward players for participating in the seasonal game with cosmetic rewards such as graffiti, portrait frames, etc. These awards are still in development, and more details on them will be available at a later date.

Prior to Season 1, Competitive Mode will be in a pre-season phase during which certain aspects of the game, such as Hero Rank information, leaderboards, and seasonal rewards, may not be available. The preseason will run for the entire closed beta and possibly for some time after the official launch of the game. During this time, we will analyze your comments in order to optimize and debug the competitive mode as much as possible, so do not hesitate to share your impressions and suggestions with us!

Competitive Mode is one of the features that our audience would like to see in the game in the first place, and we are very pleased that players will be able to evaluate its current implementation during the closed beta stage. We'll keep you updated as we go further and look forward to receiving many constructive comments from you.

Good luck to everyone and enjoy the game!

Competitive game (Ranked Play) is a mode in Overwatch designed for fans of the competitive aspect and implying a more serious level of play. During the rating game, the player's skill level is determined. For participating in the Competitive game, players receive Victory Points, which can be spent on purchasing golden weapons for heroes.

How to start playing

• Competitive play is only available to players who have reached level 25.
• To start playing competitive mode, select Competitive Play from the Play menu.
• You can participate in the Competitive Game both alone and in a group (up to 6 people).

Mastery rating and ranks

Ranks

Bronze (500-1499)



Silver (1500-1999)



Gold (2000-2499)



Platinum (2500-2999)



Diamond (3000-3499)



Master (3500-3999)



Elite (4000-5000)



Top 500 players in your region (regardless of rank)

• If you are at the Master or Elite ranks and your skill rating has dropped below the corresponding minimum, then you are dropped to the previous rank.
• At the Elite rank, to play as part of the same group, the difference in rating between you and your ally should not be more than 250.
• At Master ranks, in order to play as part of the same group, the difference in rating between you and your allies should not be more than 500.
• At ranks from Diamond and below, in order to play as part of the same group, the difference in rating between you and your allies should not be more than 1000.

Decreased skill rating

• If players of ranks Diamond, Master and Elite have not played at least 5 matches within 7 days (168 hours). After playing one match, the time of the next skill rating downgrade is shifted by 36 hours. You do not have to play all 5 matches in one day, you can play 1 match every day during the week.
• If a player of these ranks remains inactive, he will lose 25 rating points every 24 hours, but his rating cannot drop below 3000.

Competitive seasons

List of top 500 players

• Each season, a list of the top 500 players is determined.
• The lists are divided by the gaming platform and the regions within each platform.
• Players must win at least 50 competitive matches to qualify for a spot in the top 500 in a region.
• To receive the rewards for making the top 500 list, you must stay on the list at the end of the season.
• Players who do not participate in competitive matches for 7 days are immediately removed from the top 500 players in the region.
• Once you are on the Top 500, you will see a special badge next to your BattleTag, Gamer Tag or PSN ID.
• The reward is an animated graffiti and a game profile badge.

Awards

How many Victory Points are awarded at the end of the season

• At the end of the season, you receive an additional number of Victory Points, depending on the maximum rank you have achieved throughout the season. Points are not reset at the end of the season.

Match format

• In Competitive Play, there is a ban on the use of duplicate heroes.
• For completing tasks on maps, teams receive points. The team with the most points wins.
• The Competitive Game has a time bank system. Its rules differ depending on the type of card.
• There is a delay in the respawn of the defending team in Capture Points, Escort and Hybrid maps. If during the capture of a point in these modes the number of attackers exceeds the number of defenders, the respawn time of the defending team is gradually increased until it reaches the maximum value or the defenders manage to gain the upper hand. Prior to this change, the players on the defending team often rushed endlessly from respawn to the point, even if the enemy's advantage was obvious. Usually, such tactics did not change the outcome of the fight, but simply delayed the process of capturing the point.

Object Control Maps

• On maps of this type, matches go to two wins, as in Quick Play. The winner is the team that managed to score two points first.

Escort Mode Maps

• If one of the teams (or both) has less than 60 seconds left, then they are entitled to an additional amount of time to add up to 60 seconds of time. The second team also receives a similar increase in time. Both teams must then play an attacking round for the remaining time.
• During the second and additional map rotations, no bonus time is allocated if the cargo reaches the checkpoint.

Capture Maps

• The teams take turns playing one round in the attack.
• If the players of the first team failed to capture the first point, then the second round will end as soon as their opponents capture the first point.
• If both teams played a round in attack and defense with an equal score, the remaining time is calculated:
• If both Team A and Team B have at least 60 seconds left before the end of the match, then both teams must one round in attack in the remaining time.
• The team with the least time left starts the attack round first.
• For capturing the first point, the attacking team is given 4 minutes of extra time if these are the first rounds of the game. If this is a subsequent rotation, then the capture of the first point is given 30 seconds.

Hybrid cards

• Teams receive one point each time they succeed in capturing a point or bringing a tracked object to a checkpoint.
• Teams must play two rounds: in the first one, one team attacks, and the second defends, in the second round, the teams switch roles.
• If both teams played in attack and defense and neither team managed to capture the first point on the map, a draw is counted.
• If both teams played in attack and defense and both teams managed to bring the load to the end point, the remaining time is calculated:
• If team A and team B have 0 time left, a draw is declared.
• If both Team A and Team B have at least 60 seconds left before the end of the match, then both teams must one round in attack in the remaining time.
• If Team A has less than 60 seconds, but more than 0 seconds, and Team B has at least 60 seconds left, a new rotation begins. Team A's remaining time is increased to 60 seconds, and this amount of added time is also given to team B.
• If Team A has 0 seconds remaining and Team B has at least 60 seconds, then Team B must play the final attacking round in the remaining time. If Team B is able to capture the first point on the map in the remaining time, then it wins. If team B fails to do so, a draw is awarded.
• If both teams have less than 60 seconds left, a new round rotation begins. But sometimes a rare situation can occur when one of the teams can capture both points in less than a minute. The team with the least amount of time remaining will receive an increase to increase this time to 60 seconds. This amount of added time is also given to team B.
• The team with the least time left starts the attack round first.
• In the second and additional rotations, no additional time is given for capturing the first point and bringing the load to the control point.

Penalties for desertion

• If you exit a Ranked Match before it ends, you will not be able to start a new Ranked Match for the next 10 minutes.
• If you are idle or leave a match during the first two minutes of a ranked play, the match will automatically end.
• If a player left the match 2 minutes after it started, then the player has 1 minute to return to the battle. If he does not return, the remaining players will be able to leave the match - they will be credited with a defeat, but their rating will remain unchanged.
• In case of frequent violation of the rules, the player is deprived of the right to participate in ranked matches throughout the season and he will not receive any awards.
• To remove the penalty for desertion (-75% to the experience gained and the ban on participation in the Competitive game), you will need to play several matches in other modes without violations.

Kaplan-raiting

Blizzard has posted a new update from the developers on the official Overwatch YouTube channel. In this video, Jeff Kaplan talks about competitive play. We are publishing a translation of his speech, as well as a short excerpt of interesting points.

• The Competitive game mode has appeared, access to which is open from the 25th account level.
• You can queue up for ranked games either alone or in a group.
• The competing teams must play one round offensively and one round defensively. In case of a tie, the third rand is played - on a random point in the Object Control mode.
• In a competitive game on Object Control maps, you will have to play up to three wins in five matches.
• Progression system: there are 5 tiers, within which there are 5 "divisions". For victories, you will receive rating points, and move from 1 unit to 5, after which you move to a new shooting range. Everyone starts with the Challenger shooting range.
• High Tier Hero is a lot like the Legend rank in Hearthstone.
• Ranked Seasons will last one month.
• Ranking rewards will be cosmetic.

Message from L28555oaDI4 Jeff Kaplan

Competitive Mode

The gaming community most of all asked to add a rating mode to the game. Many have asked if it will appear for the Overwatch release or not. We are thrilled to be able to introduce competitive play already in beta and have a good look and feel for this mode, as well as collect valuable feedback. Today I want to give you a general overview of what competitive play is, and also set your expectations in the right direction. At the end of the day, we are just developing this mode and we have many plans for the future on how to make it even cooler.

So what can you see in beta right now? Firstly, now in the "Play" section there is an item "Competitive play" next to "Quick play". This item appears in the menu as soon as you reach the 25th level. Many will ask why exactly the 25th level. This level can be earned quite easily and quickly, but it is still quite high for beginners. We know that ranked players take Competitive Mode very seriously and don't want to play with those who don't know what certain heroes can do or are new to the cards. Therefore, we felt that the level 25 requirement would be a good compromise.

The next question that, as I know, worries many - is it possible to queue up in a competitive game only alone or only in a group? We discussed it earlier and came to a decision. Our system allows you to queue up in groups of any size - from 1 to 6 players. If you are looking for a solo match, then she will match you opponents of a suitable level of play, who also queued up solo. If you want to play in a group of 2, 3, 4, 5 or even 6 people, the system will take everything into account. We will try to make sure that a group of approximately the same size plays against you. We think this system will appeal to every player.

Competitive Mode will work slightly differently than Quick Play. Once in the game in the new mode, you will need to play one match in attack and one in defense. If you won the first match, but lost the second, the third, decisive match will take place, which will take place at one of the points in the object control mode.

Many suggested holding the third round in Stopwatch mode, where victory is awarded to the team that captured the point faster than the enemy. But the fact is that we like it when the matches are played to the very end. We love the thrilling moments that happen in matches, such as when there is an escort battle at the end of the map in Watch Post: Gibraltar. In Stopwatch mode, players fight in a specific place on the map, which makes no sense. The mechanics themselves are somehow a little broken. Moreover, such a game is quite difficult to observe. We would still like the matches to be played from start to finish, so we chose this format.

You may ask, what will happen to the maps of the Object Control mode then? We plan to experiment with them some more. For them, we will use the system of 3 wins in 5 matches, rather than two wins in three. This means that on cards of this type you will have to play the same points several times.

Progress system

Now let's move on to the more important thing - progress. Our competitive progression system is similar to many others already found in other games. We've spent a lot of time researching ranked progression systems, including those suggested by players and those that already exist in other Blizzard games. We ended up with a system with five tiers: Challenger, Experienced, Expert, Master, and Hero. Within these shooting galleries (except for the Hero) there are "divisions" - from the first to the fifth (the most prestigious). All players start out as the Challengers of the first division and gradually move from the first division to the fifth, and then to the next tier (in this case, it will be Experienced). For losses in the Challenger's tier, you do not lose rating points. Starting with Experienced, your rating points will be deducted from you, and you can fall back to the Challenger tier. This will make it more difficult for players to advance in the ladder. There are no units in the Hero dash, in essence he is closest to the Legend in "Hearthstone". Upon reaching the Hero's shooting range, you will see your place among other Heroes from around the world.

Now in beta, you won't see any spots in the Hero's dash, because we still need to improve it. We want to make sure that everything is working fine, the matches are playing well, the waiting time for the match is acceptable and so on. Closer to the launch of the game or even after its release, we will introduce a full-fledged system of ranks in the Tier of Heroes. Since the game is now in beta testing, it does not yet have full-fledged rating seasons, but only the so-called off-season. This offseason could extend into the release of the game for several months. The offseason will not affect the game in any way, it was created so that we can check if the current rating system is working correctly.

Ranked seasons

In the future, in the finished version of the game, we plan that rating seasons will begin on the first day of each month and will last until its end. This will help players understand when each season starts and ends. Everything will be slightly different on the beta, because we need the beta to test the game's performance. There we will experiment with time frames, so be prepared for that.

Awards

Finally, I want to tell you about the rewards that await you, because competitive play requires some kind of motivation. It is very important for me to convey this to the players as early as possible. Competitive play should not initially be solely about getting rewards. Fans of the rating mode tend to go there for the sake of full-fledged competition with other players. Therefore, rewards should be small and cosmetic only. We're not planning on giving any rewards in the early offseason in Beta, we just want players to test it out. We do not want to drag those who are not interested in competitive mode for the sake of rewards. Of course, there will be no rewards that will enhance the player.

A wonderful designer named Scott is working on our system, together with him we will answer your questions on the official Overwatch forum and read your feedback. We'll be keeping a close eye on how Competitive Mode performs in beta so that we can further refine it for the game's release. Thanks to you and your perseverance, we were able to make this mode before launching the game, because you showed us how important it is to you. Please share your impressions. Thanks for attention.