Blizzard launches Competitive Mode in Overwatch

Spread the love

Blizzard has released the patch that introduces Competitive Mode to Overwatch. The patch also kicks off the game’s first Season, which runs through August 18. The patch is currently only available for Windows. The console version will follow in a week.

Now that Overwatch has a Competitive Mode, players will be able to compare their results and rank based on their performance in the matches played in the new mode. Chief designer Jeffrey Kaplan admitted in May, shortly after the game’s release, that such a competitive game format was the game’s biggest flaw and promised that Blizzard would add it within a month.

Because Competitive Mode is all about comparing the power relations between players, Blizzard does not allow all players into the game mode. Only players who have reached level 25 in the game are allowed to participate. In this way, Blizzard hopes to ensure that only players who have sufficient knowledge of maps and playable Heroes participate. Anyone who wants to participate in Competitive Mode must also first play ten ‘placement matches’, in which Blizzard determines the level of the player. That level, expressed as a number between 1 and 100, is visible at the start of each match and is adjusted by Blizzard after each match based on the performance during the match. During each Season, Blizzard also maintains a leaderboard, which shows the top 500 players of the season.

The first season will last until August 18. After that, Competitive Mode will be offline for two weeks and a new season will start on September 1, lasting 2.5 months. There are four seasons a year. Players who participate in a season can win exterior embellishments for their Heroes as a reward. The highest attainable is a gold colored weapon.

Blizzard has made some changes to the game for Competitive Mode. For example, in the new game format, the counting works slightly differently. Teams play a best-of-five on Control maps in Competitive Mode instead of the best-of-three from the existing Quick Play. Furthermore, rules have been added that determine how matches end if teams are tied at the end of a match.

The patch is currently only available for the Windows version of the game. Those who play the game on Xbox One or PlayStation 4 will have to be patient for another week. Both console variants of the patch are now being certified by Microsoft and Sony. Blizzard says it wants to try to release patches simultaneously on all three platforms.

You might also like