'Overwatch 2' new tiered ranking system; game director defends suspension policy

New skill tiers for "Overwatch" season 2Youtube/YourOverwatch

Blizzard's online competitive multiplayer shooting game "Overwatch 2" was released just a few weeks ago along with new patches, maps, and most importantly, a better skill ranking. Several changes are present in the second version of Blizzard's "Overwatch." One change that has been widely celebrated by fans is Blizzard's decision to change the character skill ranking.

In the previous version of "Overwatch," skill rankings ranged from 1–100, which made gamers feel hopeless in reaching high-level ranks because they can only go up in small increments, making falling in ranks faster than rising up. In "Overwatch 2", seven tiers, where skill rankings now vary from 1–5000+, were created for a better ranking of skill levels.

The seven tiers include Bronze 1–1499, Silver 1500–1499, Gold 2000–2499, Platinum 2500–2499, Diamond 3000–3499, Master 3500–3999, and Grand Master 4000 and above. This new system allows players to rise in ranks in much larger increments, and even hold on to their ranks once they reach the Grand Master tier, making the game feel more fair.

Moreover, "Overwatch 2" has become stricter with player disconnections, suspending players who disconnect when in-game. Even though this move is intended to increase fair play amongst gamers and to ward off rage-quitters in the middle of the game, some players who got suspended due to accidental disconnections find the new suspension law unfair.

In response to suspension complaints, "Overwatch" director Jeff Kaplan expressed his concern in an official "Overwatch" forum, saying that "There is no reliable way that we can discern if you disconnected because of a connection issue, or you forced a disconnect. Because of that, we need to treat anyone who leaves a match in the same way."

Other changes present in "Overwatch 2" include the removal of the coin-flip when it comes to sudden-death to reduce the occurrence of draws, the top 500 system, the competitive point system, and the new Eichenwalde castle map, an assault map for a mountain village with a nearby castle.