If you've been experiencing issues with competitive matchmaking in Overwatch 2 lately, you're not alone. Blizzard has taken dramatic steps to try to salvage the matchmaking narrative for its hero-driven multiplayer game, admitting that "we're at risk of sounding like a broken record." Instead, game director Aaron Keller posted some Overwatch 2 stats and graphs to detail exactly where the system is failing and what the current plans are for the future.
Keller acknowledges that matchmaking is a big issue for many players and admits that "'We're working on it and it's getting better' is not the best message, especially when players are faced with bad matches." So instead of just waving his hands and making promises, he provides us with some statistics as part of the team's ongoing effort to better communicate with the community.
Keller notes that the changes made the week before "significantly reduced the skill gap between players in a match for high and low MMR matches." To show this, he points to three charts (see below) and highlights two recent spikes that have resulted in significant gaps between players, with the worst 1% of cases seeing the gap between players reaching ten rank divisions.
He notes that some skill gap is almost inevitable due to the grouping of players, which allows even Masters-level players to team up with other players five divisions away from their current skill ranking. However, in Season 2 of Overwatch XNUMX, a bizarre change the developers made to all queue types—competitive, unranked, and arcade—had a decidedly negative effect.
Whether intentional or not, Keller says these modes will now be treated separately from each other - meaning the team may prioritize reducing queue times for casual game modes, but increase the focus on getting a carefully balanced match in competitive mode. Exactly what they plan to do with the new competitive Hidden Heroes mode is anyone's guess, but I guess chaos is the name of the game.
Keller says the team now intends to "tweak these values to close the skill gap in competitive mode as much as possible while keeping an eye on queue times in that mode." He adds that the new system introduced in the latest patch allows the Overwatch 2 matchmaker to sort games that have the same rating difference between participants.
All this data is good, but ultimately it's the results that matter. Nothing will turn players away from a competitive multiplayer game like Overwatch 2 faster than wildly unbalanced matchmaking. Personally, I'd be happy if players were given the option to prioritize closer games over faster matchmaking - I'm willing to spend a few more minutes fiddling with my phone every time if it means I get more close and quality matches when they come.
Finally, Keller added that the team is willing to listen to player feedback. Regardless of the topic, it's safe to say that the Overwatch 2 team has become more open and candid about the development process in 2023, which will likely lead to warmer sentiment among the community in the long run.
Keller is already responding to feedback on Twitter and thrown outwhether the unrated game is too loose with its lack of grouping restrictions, or the ability to play with friends of all skill levels in casual mods is too important to lose. It's certainly a tricky balance, but it looks like the Overwatch 2 team is looking at all options for now.
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