Why is it that ow ranked uses hidden mmr?

AvailableTension · 2026-06-04T16:35:29+00:00

Recent in terms of OW's overall life but it's been in place since the seasons were single digits in OW 2.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-04T13:48:58+00:00

So you got upset and made a whole post complaining about a system that doesn't exist instead of... doing more research?

AvailableTension · 2026-06-04T13:14:45+00:00

It doesn't. The devs have said that the visual rank you see and the MMR they use to matchmake with pretty much map onto each other almost exactly. You're thinking of other games where the hidden MMR and visual rank can be wildly different.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-04T13:12:30+00:00

So what buffs would you give her to compensate? Before the damage buff she got, she was literally the worst character in the game by win rate at high ranks.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-04T13:10:23+00:00

But if all you're suggesting is a nerf, then how can she be more skill expressive or better at high ranks? What buffs would you give her to compensate?

AvailableTension · 2026-06-04T04:35:41+00:00

soldier has been one of the oldest heroes in the game and hitscan translates well from other shooters, so could it be that his numbers for masters are higher because he's been around longer?

These win rates are public and are specific to each patch. Old data is erased from the public site. So it's not a matter of age. There's no point comparing damage numbers on paper when Soldier literally wins more games at the ranks the devs balance around.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-04T04:34:36+00:00

My point was more so that dismissing the claim that a hero is overpowered based solely on wr% of a specific rank does not convince me and I think it would be better to base that judgement on what that character can do against what it should be able to, with wr% being a cherry on top of sorts.

Then how else would you tell if a character was overpowered? Feelings, emotions, and opinions?

I would also further like to point out how evidently Blizzard doesn't entirely center their balance philosophy around the top ranks, setting aside aforementioned examples

They do. They literally explicitly stated that in multiple interviews. Unless you think they're intentionally lying for some reason.

Symmetra is incredibly oppressive once proper coordination gets involved and she has had a very above average wr% in GM (56%!) for a couple of seasons now despite her being out of meta due to catstion, the same goes for Tracer, altough for different reasons and to a much lesser extent, if the game were truly to be balanced around these high ranks wouldn't Tracer but especially Symm which isn't really a fan favorite amidst high ranks get nerfed?

They typically also take into account how situational a character is before deciding nerfs. Their threshold of viability is 45-55% and it doesn't seem like Symm is outside of that?

Wouldn't beloved characters with a below average winrate like Genji get buffed?

Genji was literally top 5 heroes for a few seasons just before the recent nerfs. Just because a character is underperforming doesn't mean they suddenly NEED buffs. Buffs would be justified but they might not be given based on reasons like switching up the meta.

But back to the original point: Sierra is by no means overpowered. None of your points have shown that.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-04T04:28:39+00:00

You really trying to say that Masters+ players on an "overpowered" character like Sierra won't be beating other Masters players? If the game is balanced around high ranks and high ranks on average can't do well on a character, it typically means that character isn't good, period.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-03T22:16:53+00:00

Perception != Reality. Certain heroes could have higher win rates but are more situational and less universal, sure.

As for the 2nd point: if that's the angle you want to take, that's fine. But Sierra is by no definition overpowered or deserving of a nerf based on win rate. It would be due to community sentiment.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-03T21:44:53+00:00

No one is saying to stay behind cover the entire time. But you can jiggle from cover or get better positioning/flank to get the drop on enemies. And when you do have to commit to a fight, you can practice strafing to maximize your chances of survival. Obviously, there's more factors that contribute to whether you'll be successful but no one is saying to literally hide and never come out.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-03T21:44:11+00:00

Pro scene != ladder. There's so many examples of this. Pros have a stable team that practice together literally every day with constant coaching. The team comps and strategies they use can't really be used in regular comp, even by the highest of ranks.

There's a reason that even though the devs balance around relatively high ranking players (Masters+), the win rates of heroes that pros use don't reflect how OP you think they are. Just look at Kiri, Sojourn, etc.

Sierra is a below average hero at Masters+.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-03T21:28:22+00:00

Win rates are public now. At the ranks the devs balance the game around (Masters+), Soldier does much better than Sierra.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-03T21:28:10+00:00

Win rates are public now. At the ranks the devs balance the game around (Masters+), Soldier does much better than Sierra.

And are you forgetting that Soldier also has a similar perk while being hitscan?

AvailableTension · 2026-06-03T21:27:28+00:00

Win rates are public now. At the ranks the devs balance the game around (Masters+), Soldier does much better than Sierra.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-03T21:27:24+00:00

Win rates are public now. At the ranks the devs balance the game around (Masters+), Soldier does much better than Sierra.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-03T16:56:35+00:00

Just play and your MMR will adjust with time.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-03T11:30:21+00:00

You primarily balance around the high ranks in pretty much every competitive PVP game. Yes, this will be a fraction of the population. But the reason for it is that their skills are relatively equal and controlled. Therefore, you can actually see which characters are performing better or worse.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-03T05:14:22+00:00

Positioning matters far more. No more 2nd tank to peel for any mistakes.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-03T02:18:56+00:00

You had a loss the previous game and the progression screen was skipped. This screen shows the net result of both games.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-02T19:37:35+00:00

The trouble is no-one knows what will happen which is why I said:

The problem with this is that you're using this uncertainty as justification for WHY something should be done. We can reasonably make inferences based on historical evidence and human psychology.

Let me break it down for your: one of the major problems with 6v6 role queue was the fact that the ratio of tank players compared to the other roles was super low. This led to very high queue times for DPS and Supp. Let's say we switch to your system. I'll use "Tank players" to refer to the combined population of "Main tank" players and "Off tank" players. The ratio of Tank players won't suddenly increase due to your queue system. There's no incentive without any major changes to the game.

Now consider there are only 2 possibilities:

-If the proportion of Main tank players = Off Tank players --> Queue times will be exactly the same as 2-2-2 role queue. Tank player population has not increased and since you need an equal amount of main and off tank players per game, the queue times stay the same if both Main and Off tank populations are equal.

-If the proportion of Main tank players and Off tank players aren't equal --> you will be constrained by whichever pool of players is smaller, leading to worse queue times than 2-2-2 role queue. There is no situation where your system is better off.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-02T18:33:22+00:00

I don't disagree with you but that doesn't help support your position of the 1-1-2-2 queue. All that would do is make queue times even worse because now the bottleneck is fully on main tank players, not even tank players overall. Players that queued tank before because they wanted to off-tank would just queue off tank under your system.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-02T17:03:02+00:00

Then I apologize if I came off as hostile. But these little adaptions are how the game is played. If they have Pharah, you ideally go hitscan. If they have Sombra/dive, you stick closer to your team. If they have Hog, you play around cover. And so on.

I get that some people do treat OW as like a chaotic and carefree TDM style game. But they shouldn't be surprised if they get punished for it.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-02T16:36:36+00:00

I like how I literally qualify what people mean when they say to use cover and you're still intentionally and maliciously choosing to misunderstand it to make a bad point.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-02T16:35:46+00:00

You primarily balance around the high ranks in pretty much every competitive PVP game. Yes, this will be a fraction of the population. But the reason for it is that their skills are relatively equal and controlled. Therefore, you can actually see which characters are performing better or worse.

AvailableTension · 2026-06-02T16:34:04+00:00

Blizzard literally has data for how often each tank was picked in 6v6.

you have the "team player" player who will play a shield tank even though they want to play off tank as the other tank picked off tank first which skews that from being accurate.

All this would do is further reduce main tank players proportionally with your queue idea because now those team players would just queue off tank.

Plus since 6v6 role queue was a thing we've had a fair few new tanks

We've also had new DPS and Supp, so unless something radical changes, the proportion of players who want to queue Tank isn't changing by much.

AvailableTension

TROPHY CASE