‘Overwatch 2’ Competitive Mode Explained, Including How To Unlock It
We have heard many details about it surveillance 2 in advance of the game launching next week. Blizzard has now outlined a more complete picture of one of the core components of surveillance 2: Competitive 2.0. Team 4 has already revealed some details, including changes to skill levels and how new players will unlock Competitive, but we’ll go through it all for clarity.
Blizzard restructured Competitive around a few key pillars: making each season different (with things like new heroes, maps, modes, and balance changes); making sure that losing games isn’t necessarily negative and you still feel like you’re making progress; and improving the mode for people returning from the original game. Each season lasts nine weeks.
Kiriko is the first new Overwatch 2 hero that won’t be available to everyone right away.
How to unlock Overwatch 2 competitive mode
Anyone who has unlocked Competitive in over watch already have access to it in surveillance 2 New players (those who created an account on or after the surveillance 2on release day October 4th) will have to go through the First-Time User Experience, which will help them get acquainted with the game. You’ll initially have access to a limited number of heroes and gradually unlock the rest of the original 32 over watch heroes at play.
To unlock Competitive, new players must win 50 Quick Play games. Only Role Queue and Open Queue games count – not Mystery Heroes or Deathmatch. “This gives new players time to prepare for the higher expectations that come with Competitive, while veteran players don’t get discouraged by teammates who have less experience,” Blizzard wrote in the blog post. “As we unlock Competitive, we analyze new player skills to optimize matchmaking so that it feels good for everyone.”
Overwatch 2 skill levels
Numerical skill ratings will no longer exist in surveillance 2 Blizzard made this call “to alleviate the feeling of being stuck at a certain rank. Watching your SR go up and down after each game almost felt like taking a test where the teacher would have passed or failed you based on each individual question, rather than your overall work. It was a lot of pressure and it doesn’t really give the players an idea of how they’re doing in the competition as a whole.”
While Overwatch tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, and Grandmaster) remain, they now have five tiers each. Five is the lowest and one is the highest. So Grand Master 1 is the Tippy tip. Each division equates to roughly 100 SR, but instead of losing or gaining SR after every game, you get a competitive update after every seven wins or 20 losses. This will show your progress and move you to a different department. The idea is to show your progress over time, rather than focusing too much on each individual game.
However, on the pre-match screen, you will not see other players’ competitive skill levels. This is to mitigate bias about another player’s skill level before the game even begins. If a player’s profile is public, you can see their skill levels there.
The top 500 leaderboards will not change significantly. They are further split by input pool (controller vs. mouse and keyboard). You only have one chance to appear on the leaderboard after completing 25 games for a specific role in the role queue or 50 games in the open queue. The leaderboards open two weeks after the start of each season.
Junker Queen is the 34th hero of Overwatch and the first new tank announced for Overwatch 2.
placement games
Instead of playing five competitive matches in each queue to determine your rank, you remain unranked until you achieve seven wins or 20 losses. Blizzard says players will likely be moved to lower leagues after their placement matches to give everyone a chance to climb the ladder, perhaps to where their true prowess lies.
While it’s unclear if there will be a full match-making rating (MMR) reset, all players who were ranked in the original Overwatch will be reranked in the sequel. “surveillance 2 is a whole different game, so we applied a formula that gives returning players the ability to redefine their rank as they dive into the updated Competitive,” Blizzard said. “Most players will find that their rank is a bit lower when they start out as they will learn new concepts and metas. Players who have learned more about the game in our betas or who follow the Overwatch League may be ranked higher than ever.”
match reports
In your career profile, under the “History” tab, you’ll find a new section called “Match Reports” (you may have heard this called “After-Action Report” in the past). You can view your stats and other details about all games in your current gaming session. Open any of these reports and you’ll see information about which heroes you’ve used, how well you’ve played, and so on.
You can dig deeper by clicking on a hero to get specific stats for each of them. Finally, the Match Reports section keeps track of recently played matches between sessions. Blizzard also plans to introduce a replay timeline that will highlight key moments and provide a way to view the final results of the scoreboard.
Sojourn is the first new DPS hero in Overwatch 2
decline in competitiveness
when you don’t play surveillance 2 Blizzard can lower your MMR for a while. This is to help Team 4 reassess your skill level when you jump back in. These players will quickly adjust their MMR as they play more games, with the idea of helping them get back into the appropriate skill level division quickly.
Overwatch 2 Competitive Rewards
You’ll still get Contest Points, which you can use to buy Golden Guns for all heroes (each costs 3,000 points). You get 10 CP for a win and three for a tie. You will also get bonus CP at the end of each Season, but only for the highest skill level you’ve achieved in Role Queue and Open Queue.
The rewards will also be different for those who crack the top 500 leaderboards. Instead of special sprays and icons, you get a name card to use on your profile. You can use it to indicate what level you have achieved in a given season.
Since this is a live service game, Blizzard will of course optimize that surveillance 2 Competitive mode over time and add more features.