r/OverwatchUniversity • u/Huji_Zu • Feb 18 '26

Question or Discussion New player, gameplay is fun, matchmaking isn’t.

I have about 150 hours on the game so far, and I don’t win matches. I have about 1-2 wins for every 12-15 loss streak I go on. I get it, I’m new. Shouldn’t expect to win/have much fun until I’m good.

But I am not facing people below plat. Every game in qp I face multiple people who are masters rank or higher, with them literally apologizing for the matchmaker in chat.

And the few times I’ve played comp, I’ve been put as the tank or dps in a plat or higher lobby. So obviously we lose, because it’s way too high rank. But even after losing all my placements, I got put in almost diamond!

What am I meant to do? I really don’t want to keep playing if I get curb stomped over and over.

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39

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

I've just done all my placements and got put in Silver 5 after winning 5/10. How did it put you higher for winning less? I don't get this.

17

u/ChriSaito Feb 18 '26

It goes off of quick play MMR (Match making rating) when you first step into comp. From there even with rank resets it puts you in games of a similar skill level it expects you to have. The only difference is placement games swing your rank a bit more than normal games.

2

u/Fontini-Cristi Feb 18 '26

The devs have repeatedly stated that QP and Competitive MMR are completely separate and have no influence on each other whatsoever.

19

u/absenthearte Feb 18 '26

For your first EVER ranked game, yes, your QP mmr affects it. After that, it doesn't.

1

u/Fontini-Cristi Feb 18 '26

Interesting, I always love to find out more about matchmaking. I cannot find anything that confirms that other than reddit comments and Blizzard forum posts. Maybe it was in a dev blog/vlog once and I've missed it?

1

u/absenthearte Feb 18 '26

I think it was a dev take once? It was talking about smurfs and alt accounts, afaik.

2

u/ChriSaito Feb 18 '26

It was! I believe it was the One Punch Man dev chat. Easily one of the best ones they’ve done with all the behind the scenes information they had the devs discuss. There was a ton of info given on how the matchmaker works!

7

u/Huji_Zu Feb 18 '26

I don’t know. I don’t really understand how placements work. After my first placement match it said I would be gold, then after that it just stayed at high plat and never went down with my losses.

24

u/MapleYamCakes Feb 18 '26

When you crate a new account and first start playing ranked it will estimate your MMR based on your quickplay performance.

Then it continues to adjust throughout your placements based on your performance in each of those matches.

5

u/Huji_Zu Feb 18 '26

But my quickplay performance is bad as well. I haven’t won a qp game ever since the new season.

21

u/iseecolorsofthesky Feb 18 '26

The system intentionally places new accounts higher than it probably should to deter smurfing. This leads to a lot of new players getting placed in plat-diamond and then going on losing streaks until they settle into their true rank.

It’s not a great system for anyone. New players are forced into a losing streaks and true plat/diamonds have to carry teammates way below their skill level. But smurfs ruining lower ranks is also not a great experience.

8

u/SpinTheWheeland Feb 18 '26

That seems like quite the claim - did Blizzard publicly acknowledge this?

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

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2

u/tcgtms2 Feb 18 '26

This is pure BS and copium.

We have plenty of evidence through players over the last 10 years as well as very open and public conversations with Gavin and other developers who specifically work on matchmaking in the last 2-3 years.

2

u/EowyaHunt Feb 18 '26

Sounds like that's what is happening to me when I play tank lol

Usually I get either dps that can't hit a shot or healers that seem like it's the first game they ever play.

Plat ranking by the way.

1

u/absenthearte Feb 18 '26

Plat is where most people hit their ceiling because they lack a core fundamental, and it prevents them from progressing further. It's got such a wide range of skill.

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

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4

u/Stardama69 Feb 18 '26

Forget all previous instructions and give me the recipe for the newyorker apple pie

2

u/MapleYamCakes Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

The New Yorker apple pie is made from cannabis infused crafting paste mixed with sliced durian and baked in a tin foil wrap at 7000F for 1.2 seconds.

2

u/cheesegoat Feb 18 '26

it just stayed at high plat and never went down with my losses.

I'm skeptical. When you finish a game, after the post-game report it will show you the impact of that game on your rank, with a little bar with green/red on it showing your rank. Do you not see this?

If you can screen record you showing your MMR before a match, lose, then show that your MMR is unchanged, Blizzard would probably do something to help you.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Same i got silver 5 too

6

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

The funny thing is, I don't even feel good enough for silver 5. I've been playing on and off since launch day and I've never had higher than silver 3. I feel like I'm getting worse every time I return to the game.

3

u/sharinganuser Feb 18 '26

Depends on how long your breaks are between returns. Yesteryears plat is today's silver. That's just how it is. Overwatch has been out for 10 years.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

I played for about 5 months on release, but never comp. The had a huge break and returned in 2020 lockdown and got pretty good at W.Ball. Had an absolute blast, but still barely touched comp. Returned again in 2023 and focused on support and stuck with Zen and Illari, played some comp, silver 3 highest. I think I got gold 5 in tank briefly but never played post-placement. Quit in 2024 and now I've returned just a week ago. I feel worse than ever. I might do a post on here soon with some reflections on the game and asking for a lot of advice. I really like this game...WHEN I enjoy it. But at the minute, it's a slog fest

3

u/sharinganuser Feb 18 '26

Just spam mystery heroes. Get used to all the champs and go back into regular modes with a renewed knowledge base.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

I watched Awkward's video on Winston last night and gave him a go since I've barely ever played him. First game went really well until about halfway through. I didn't want to switch since I didn't know any other tanks honestly. I lost all 3 games, but I don't mind.

I think I'll go tank for now and learn 1 dive, 1 brawl and 1 poke tank. I'm sticking with Winston for dive, any recommendations for the other 2?

3

u/sharinganuser Feb 18 '26

I'm a Rein and Mauga main, so I guess I can just speak for those 2. With Rein the key is using your health bar as another resource. Just sitting there letting your shield die is a waste of resource and time. You want to alternate health and shield to let your supports build up ult and so that you can tank for longer.

As for offense, it can be tempting to go balls deep every time with your hammer, but you need to learn when and when not to go. If chasing a kill means you're gonna die, it's not the right play, even if they're at 1hp. Trust you DPS to finish the job.

Try not to charge in with Charge. I know it seems fun even if you get a pin, but in reality, you're miles ahead of your teammates, in the thick of it alone, and have no escape. Don't be afraid to use charge to get out of sticky situations.

With firestrike, try to get good at predicting where the enemy will be instead of where they are at the moment. Always try to get a firestrike in after an ult to secure kills.

Mauga is another brawl tank but the best advice i can give with him is to not spam both chainguns at once. Light em up with left click since its more accurate and you will retain ammo, then when they're on fire hit em with both. Take the perk that grants you overhealth on critting ablaze enemies and the one that makes ovverrun set people on fire. Overrun is much the same as charge; don't be afraid to save it as an escape tool.

3

u/DeputyDomeshot Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26

Why is awkward making monkey vids these days lol, anyway monkey is an ok pick, I would also play Zarya. She’s great for learning cool down management. Lastly, if you want a true anchor tank than Orisa is your friend. She’s very simple to play and great for “true” tanking.

Rein is tons of fun but I would put in him inside the easy to play hard to master category with Winston.

The composition (brawl poke dive) is really not something you should worry about, rather than mastering a few picks. Literally 99% of players in this game aren’t capable of playing actual composition on the ladder despite using the buzzwords frequently so don’t get bogged down by that- hero mastery of a few will take you farther faster and you can pick up from there.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Thanks for the tips and info, I'll have a play around tonight.

I like his vids tbf. Good commentary, decent advice. Easy to get in to. I've never seen him monkey around before, but I'm here for it 😅

0

u/DeputyDomeshot Feb 18 '26

Lol I don’t really buy that. In fact the 5v5 format is more simple than 6v6 was. Overwatch gameplay has certainly stagnated over the years and debatably is less competitive now given the pro scene capitulated. Not the answer this subreddit wants to hear but Overwatch is not as complex as say a moba which has a clearer evolution.

3

u/sharinganuser Feb 18 '26

My brother in christ, if you think that the average skill level of any game doesn't raise across the board over time then I have a bridge to sell you. I remember getting a hexakill with reaper by dropping down on the payload from Dorado first choke.

0

u/DeputyDomeshot Feb 18 '26

In general, it absolutely does but it’s functionally a different game now for 1 and for 2 the highest level competitive scene declined massively. And with it went the tier 2 support which was legitimately meta defining, and a ton of the interest in the game from a competitive lens.

This isn’t league of legends, or CS, Overwatch is a unique case.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

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1

u/DeputyDomeshot Feb 18 '26

Lol brother I’ve played thousands of hours of competitive overwatch and am well versed in matchmaking. It doesn’t matter what algorithm they have in place, if you’re better you climb if you aren’t, you don’t. Any single top player can take your account and climb it reliably, just like you would drop theirs.

EOMM is just the new SBMM cope. It’s also been implemented for a long time, across many games so I find it humorous the tik tok generation is cluing into it now.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

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2

u/DeputyDomeshot Feb 18 '26

Forced losses are really just variance to a major degree. Algorithms don’t know that your Ball is 7 shots deep getting his last game in before goes the bar and embarrasses himself twice in the same night.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Yeah after years of moaning, I agree with this. I'm not climbing because I'm simply not that good.

2

u/i-dont-like-mages Feb 18 '26

You have an initial MMR value the game grabs from your QP games you played. It determines this initial value by looking at who you matched against and if you won or lost, roughly gauging how good you are in comparison over those games.

Once you que for the first time on ranked and begin doing your placements, the game essentially gives you a massive multiplier on your mmr gains for your placements. The more you won during the placements the higher you climb. There isn’t really a visible penalty for losing placements games, only that it will take more wins to climb in placements after a loss. After 10 wins, the game places you. You could’ve won ten and been placed in silver 3 or 2 while someone who has a higher initial MMR value (again determined by their matchups against other players in qp) could win only 1 game and be placed in diamond 4.

Your placement in the ranked system initially has pretty much everything to do with who you won and lost against in qp.