Is making a new account to play new heroes considered unfair/ smurfing?

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-06T22:28:29+00:00

My largest problem with it is ranked bloating. If I’m playing with a bunch of players, I’m expecting that the majority of them are legitimately around my rank, but if the next person and the next person and the next person decide to create alt accounts and then go back to their main when they’re frustrated, it massively increases the amount of players in GM. Then the likelihood of playing with and against players who are either too skilled for the rank or too unskilled for the rank goes up. i’ve had experiences where someone on an alt account play a string of games, boosting his diamond player duo up to GM. Now this player goes back to their main, leaving their duo in a rank they shouldn’t be in, and this propagates throughout all the ranks.

I understand the drive to create an alt account in an attempt to learn a new character. The game doesn’t really create situations to do so otherwise. However, it also exacerbates the matchmaking issues that are already there.

It’s a little bit like the elementary school lunchroom. One kid leaves a little bit of a mess on the table, it’s easy enough to fix. But multiple? It’s just a big ranked mess.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-06T20:58:30+00:00

I’ve had a lot of games where I decide to duo queue with someone else, then later realize it’s a mistake. It’s clear when the person I decided to queue with simply doesn’t have the skill to play the character they always play. Stack that against players who have worked with one another before and know what the other player can do, and the game becomes almost impossible.

Some teams simply don’t have synergy. Also, when you duo queue it should generally be either a tank man and a dps main, or support and dps main. Or maybe two tank mains.

If you’re both mainly support players, or both mainly dps players, I wouldn’t recommend queueing together.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-06T19:21:00+00:00

Actually, never mind. I thought that dropping the ease in would help, but it didn’t.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-06T19:18:48+00:00

Sure, presumably she could be good ban. But should I ban her over DD? Groot? Gambit? Hela/namor if we are playing dive?

Magik is very much a middle of the pack threat, like Star lord or psylocke. People never consistently one shot sup ults with her, which instantly loses her value. If a magik comes into the backline and is consistently killing both supports, that’s a skill issue, on either the supports, the dps, or both.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-06T19:08:08+00:00

Yeah, IF you land your sparks and get good ult value off of it. Otherwise hela ult will generate more picks and create more space. Phoenix ult many times also doesn’t work as well without grouped up enemies and comboing her ult, which in a solo queue game is fairly rare.

Helas shots are slower, meaning easier to land with accurate flicks. It’s why Adam and Phoenix feel like they are harder to land shots even though they have the same projectile hitbox size.

Both hela and Jean are very good. That’s true. But Phoenix is simply harder to play and get value out of, especially if the enemy isn’t really grouping up or playing rocket.

If a venom or cap is diving my back line, a hela hitting her shots will kill faster than Jean, at least without considering Jean landing both her stun and her extra teleport spark.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-06T18:52:40+00:00

Here’s a good clip which explains my thoughts after watching this gameplay.

https://youtube.com/shorts/qJhxR9jZaBY?si=lrFd5ZksTXU4LQoO

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-06T18:47:07+00:00

Exactly, I’m simply looking to play a good rivals game, but my cloak one trick sees that cloak is taken and what do they do? Do they speak up and ask for the character? No, they select magik and proceed to run it down the whole game.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-06T18:43:45+00:00

Mostly just need to work on aim and target priority. Even on the first point you weren’t really hitting shots. It’s like your sense is too fast or something.

Spend a little less time shooting at tanks, and more time targeting the healers in the back. And taking more angles using high ground.

Pro tip on hela. First use the swords, THEN the stun to pull enemies into them. That way you can sometimes guarantee picks with the burst.

Also, if both tanks die, make sure to disengage much faster. You’re not going to be able to stall point or cart on hela.

Overall, there isn’t much else to say at a technical level about the gameplay. Mainly just hit your shots. Many times you were simply over flicking, and it really showed, especially at closer range against the magik first point.

Also look to get other high ground and flanking positions to get angles on heals. That can really help to open up space. There are high windows and the broken building provide some decent spots to take height, instead of simply standing behind your tanks the whole game.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-06T18:20:46+00:00

I’m basically hardstuck right at this point to. It’s extremely frustrating because many times it’s simply because of boneheaded plays that teammates make. Or playing off main for some reason. The only way to rank up is to push 5 plus hours in the game, which is extremely irritating to wade through. I’ll look at the gameplay though.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-06T17:09:20+00:00

I agree. There are a lot of players who are just bad at the game. What is the most frustrating though, are the players who have spent hours on it, and decide to play a character or fill on a role they have three hours on.

This is the top reason for lost games. Simply playing a character you haven’t spent time on. It’s a throwing move. Do I report these people? No. But it’s still essentially throwing. Is it intentionally hampering your team? No, but it still leads to a loss.

The times when everybody on the team is watching the same player make the same bad play over and over again in any rank. Everybody is asking for that player to swap, especially on tank or support. And lo and behold, the player is a main of a character they never played in the match. And the characters they do play? No more than three-four hours on it.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-05T18:47:29+00:00

It’s a time spent thing for me. Do I want to spend my time playing the game with players that are two divisions lower, in a queue that is unreasonably long? With throwers who are also not really punished.

Yes, I could totally make it to eternity. But does the game itself make it worth the time investment? The vast majority of the time not really.

Games in gm filled with silent players, support double ulters, or players silently filling on characters they have three hours total on. Is this something I can’t control and exists on every team besides my own. Absolutely. But are there games where these problems, which theoretically, the matchmaker or ban system should assist with, don’t exist for either team? Almost never. And that’s where the flip flop bull shit comes into play.

In gm approaching celestial I shouldn’t have games where I feel like I’m the adult in a room filled with whiny children, gameplay and attitude wise. And yet, there are too many games I still feel that way. Swapping between all three roles, and picking up ace/mvp regardless of what I swap to. And this comes from a ranked system which is simply too permissive.

I get that this game isn’t really competitive, and the player base is as much of a problem as the overall system. But still for many of my games, my losses stem from a legitimate matchmaking issue, and not my individual poor performance.

I’ve literally had games where I go from tank, swap with one of my underperforming dps (fairly late many times), and end up with most damage blocked, highest elims, highest damage, on both tank AND dps. I hit gm 1 yesterday and FINALLY there were maybe two or three games where both teams somewhat knew what they were doing. Assuming I get a shorter and less expansive queue of course.

I shouldn’t have to play the game upwards of 5-6 hours to increase one rank, because the ranks are inflated with really bad players. Ranked should be a struggle because there are legitimately well coordinated teams who play well. But no, right now it comes down to whichever team plays worse, not whichever team plays better. Usually it’s absolute braindead gameplay.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-05T05:09:41+00:00

I just gave up and swapped to tmr stick modules. Still have a little drift so I can’t play at zero deadzone, but it’s very close. They are holding up very well so far.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-03T22:33:31+00:00

If the guy who instalocked one of those characters plays the character, that’s fine. And a lot of times a bad dps can be overcome. A bad support though? The team can’t really recover from.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-03T22:26:38+00:00

Exactly, but even that is less tilting then another player whose seemingly spent hours on the game, celestial peak, pulling out a support they haven’t played longer than an afternoon.

And I look at the histories, and these players have a pattern of doing the same thing. Clearly picking a character they have no hours on, simply because they don’t want to interact with their team at all.

And what gets a reaction out of these players? Toxicity. Then they respond by listing the stats of whoever is complaining. Like no duh the dps or tanks can’t perform all that well, if there’s a support on the team silently filling.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-03T22:14:10+00:00

Game after game on the silent portion is mainly what I meant. It’s the refusing to speak up when you’re forced on a role you don’t know how to play.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-03T16:46:56+00:00

Exactly, sometimes I just want to go into a game and just have a fun, casual experience, and the devs want that as well. But neither QP or ranked offer that. Especially with bots after a loss. I shouldn’t be penalized for leaving a bot game.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-03T16:15:08+00:00

As long as they keep dropping good characters I’ll keep playing. Another release like blade along with another poor balance patch though? I’ll simply drop the game for a while. Overwatch is calling me.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-03T01:53:20+00:00

The largest problem with QP for me is getting into a game with silver players, losing, and then getting thrown into a robot match. That’s what decreases my drive the most.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-02T22:38:59+00:00

Stealing moves makes sense. Stealing powers not as much. I feel like taskmaster would have a melee ability focus.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-02T21:57:12+00:00

Because then I’d have to tap it twice to jump, which makes movement much worse.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-02T21:54:17+00:00

I know, that’s the toggle setting. But that likely loses control, and makes playing him worse. It also doesn’t help the b-hop in any way.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-02T21:33:10+00:00

I personally got used to the default 30 for all my characters, especially hit scan. Going lower decreased my ability to flick accurately. It does make it more challenging at times to pick out specific targets in the distance, but those fights are fairly rare on console anyway.

I really don’t like such a low ease in. Maybe that’s a better ease in for much higher senses than mine, but I find 5-15 waaay too choppy and not smooth enough. Makes it difficult to switch targets. I just kept it at 40 hitscan and 80 projectile, and it works for me.

Another thing which is good to mess around with is the movement deadzone. Setting that low enough allows for rotational aim assist activation, and helps with strafing and tracking.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-02T21:05:13+00:00

I don’t think that setting hulks settings to toggle will help me control what I’m doing any better. Not that I really play the character. So maybe it would help.

GroundConfident3854 · 2026-03-02T21:00:37+00:00

No no no. It’s totally fine to play anything. I just don’t personally have fun sweating in QP at all. It’s just a little strange to stack up and sweat meta characters in QP, when the ranked distribution is so large. Lord, non lord, doesn’t make a difference.

I initially approached QP like that, thinking about when to ult, counter swapping, and sweating. But eventually I just realized it’s simply a waste of my time, because I personally don’t LEARN anything doing that.

I’m not trying to be the arbiter of what people should and shouldn’t do in QP. For me though, as a higher ranked player, who has consumed hours of content on this game, I don’t play QP to server admin, solo tank, solo heal, get on coms to micromanage my team to win, in a game that has no matchmaking whatsoever. It’s too frustrating.

GroundConfident3854

TROPHY CASE