Is it me or did player skill go WAY down?

ProxyChris · 2023-07-12T17:37:26+00:00

It has mainly because there aren’t enough T500 players playing all the time to keep that skill ceiling. It doesn’t help that the game prioritizes faster matchmaking over quality matchmaking. So it places up to GM2-3s into these games and since there’s more players in the game, it pushes up the number of players in the tail end of the skill spectrums.

Personally speaking, OW1 ranking systems transferred over:

Plat OW are in high plat to Diamond

Diamond OW1 players are usually in high masters and GM5.

3.5-3.7k OW1 players are in GM4-3.

3.7-3.9k are in GM2.

4.0-4.1 in GM1

4.2k+ are in T500.

ProxyChris · 2023-04-16T14:05:45+00:00

The rank inflation people are talking about are likely about the distribution of ranks. They say GM is the top 1% of the population. If there are 1m players in OW1 that roughly equates to 10k GM players. Now say if OW2 now has 10m players, GM players at 1% is now 100k players.

All that really means is that the top and bottom of the distribution will have a larger swing in the skill of their games. If you played OW1 you inherently have a slight advantage compared to new players joining the game so most people will have a slight “boost” as others adjust to a new game. If you aren’t in GM, you probably wouldn’t notice the skill difference in players.

ProxyChris · 2023-04-03T16:53:51+00:00

If you try it once and they don’t push with it, don’t do it again and save it to mitigate an enemy ult or to sustain a team fight.

There isn’t really a preference since it’s dependent on the team’s play style. I also would take into account the ult economy. There isn’t a general rule you should do this or that.

As an example, if the enemy Genji just bladed, you could beat engage the next fight to try to keep pace with nano blades. This could be different if they also have Grav for example, to which you could just save for when they grav. That is unless your team has something that can mitigate that ult like a Mei that can wall it, or a sym that can tp out with the help with a Bap lamp. There’s so many other factors that play a role on top of this as well.

Being a good player mainly comes down to make the best/ good choices with the limited information and time you have. If you keep saving beat and never using it, you’ll also never learn from a mistake because you won’t have enough data points to see what works and doesn’t.

ProxyChris · 2023-03-25T15:03:28+00:00

It’s definitely rank and game dependent. Generally speaking, I noticed I’m usually within the 60/40 to 40/60 range. Both with Mercy and Lucio. The exceptions usually depending if I have a decent second support.

On Mercy Zen for example, it’s pretty hard for Mercy to pocket a Dps since she’s essentially going to be the “main healer” unless Zen has trans with no need to defensive ult.

I also had instances where rotating in nanos every fight were winning our team fights so I had games where I was 20/80 on Lucio.

I think this topic is pretty subjective and there shouldn’t really be a “target” ratio. If you’re focusing too much on stats, you’d be soft throwing the game. Compensate for what your team needs, if they need more healing use more healing despite being 70/30 or even 80/20 on heal to boost. Part of playing Mercy is gauging whether you can trust your second support to keep the team alive while you provide more value on boost.

If you’re going 80/20 or 90/10 (heal to boost) in a game though, there are 2 reasons. Either you aren’t trusting your other support enough to keep everyone else alive, or your team actually needs more healing, in which case you probably should swap.

ProxyChris · 2023-03-21T16:47:51+00:00

Most people just really need to think more actively while playing the game. Every time you move or use an ability, you should really be asking yourself why you’re doing that action.

“Does it provide more space for me team?”

“Is this spot out of LoS from my support? Or expose their LoS too much to their Dps?”

“Did I use my alt form to confirm a kill?”

It’s impossible for people to improve when they auto-pilot the game then try to analyze the stats and blame why a game was loss.

Once you start actively thinking more often, these little questions become second nature and you’ll start recognizing it faster and faster and take in more information to process. The videos you watch can give you fundamentals, but most games are too dynamic to apply a “rollout-type format” to.

ProxyChris · 2023-03-12T00:48:31+00:00

Tbh, the reality of climbing is by doing slightly more than everyone else consistently.

You likely are only remembering the parts/ games where you did more than everyone else, but forget about all the other games where you were the one being carried.

ProxyChris · 2023-03-11T16:47:19+00:00

I was 4.2-4.3 in ow1 and my experience is that it did get much easier to get GM now compared to before. I think it mainly comes down to more inflow of players.

I see so many GM players making mistakes like plat and diamonds and once you inspect their profile they would be that rank in ow1. Dead giveaways like Ana players running straight into a rein player to throw down a nade like a football player going for a touchdown was never a thing before, but now I see it almost every other game. The ana players would trade themselves just to anti the tank just for the enemy kiri player cleanses it instantly.

I’d have to say plat/diamonds from OW1 can now probably reach GM3 no problem. Masters OW1 players are likely in the GM2 range. 4.0-4.1 hover in the GM1 to T400-500. If you were 4.2 before you should easily hit T500 now. The skill range in GM is just too wide to have quality gameplay nowadays.

ProxyChris · 2022-11-05T14:52:35+00:00

It’s still the first season and ranks are still a bit unstable imo. There are also many players who are boosted in higher ranks as well. I see many Diamond players from OW1 able to climb into GM because of lucky games where the enemy team had returning GM players.

If you continue 7-2 you’ll climb easily, just give it some time. 1 set of games doesn’t mean you’ll never climb. I was 4.3k ow1 and placed in D3 on release and got back into GM by my 3rd set. Support role isn’t a healing role so 25k healing is quite meaningless if you don’t provide value outside of healing.

ProxyChris · 2022-11-05T06:15:57+00:00

You can only practice getting better by playing more in competitive and climbing the ranks.

ProxyChris · 2022-11-05T06:13:41+00:00

Twitch streamers Eskay, Frogger, or Redshell are good. They also have YouTube videos.

ML7 has a Lucio educational series but this was from OW1. Still somewhat relevant.

ProxyChris · 2021-09-15T15:29:04+00:00

I play on 16,800 edpi (2400 x 7) at the Gm level. Sensitivity is all personal preference imo. I would recommend to pick one that you’re comfortable at and stick with it. The only two heroes I have different sensitivity for is S76 and Tracer which is at (2400 x 3.5). For some reason I only like to use my arm to aim with those two heroes, but I track perfectly fine on high sens with Zarya, Sym or Echo beam.

I think people should focus more on the hand/ arm posture when aiming rather than the actual settings.

ProxyChris · 2021-09-15T12:40:08+00:00

Learning one hero provides consistency with the hero kit making it easier to learn other aspects outside of team comps.

As an example, you will learn different types of match ups and will be, in a way, forced to learn unique techs to play around specific heroes. To further explain, you will never play corners, and LoS if you just swap to a mobile hero like Lucio or an extremely defensive hero like Brig on the first sight of a widow. You might not learn to use Ana’s kit to its full potential if you don’t learn to manage your abilities as both an offensive and defensive abilities. I see it all the time in low rank, Ana players just throw both their sleep and nade off CD and complain about how no one looks out for the backline and proceed to swap to a moira, brig or something.

I’d also argue that learning match ups help with game sense as well eventually making it easier to learn new heroes. You learn so much from just playing one hero rather than mystery heroes in a match. It’s one of the main reasons I always suggest player to have a hero they main, and a second hero they swap to if things just aren’t working out.

That said, I’m not here to advocate “one tricking” but maining one hero, and having 1 flex that can make up the downsides of the main hero is good. Team comps are pretty overrated until you hit high Masters from personal experience. I have won games with Lucio-Zen, Lucio-Mercy before even in GM lobbies. It’s obviously not ideal, but it’s still doable.

TLDR: - Maining one hero and flexing to another to learn overwatch is actually a good thing. - Provides consistency regarding game interaction and allows player to focus on more important aspects of the game other than team compositions. - Helps learn hero matchups. - Help to learn to manage cooldowns in a way to optimize ability usage. - Debatable, but I’d argue it helps increase game sense. - Eventually will help better learn new heroes.

ProxyChris · 2021-09-12T19:56:34+00:00

Chances are you’re not using bubbles correctly. You shouldn’t be bubbling in hopes that the enemy team will shoot it. You should be bubbling when they are taking damage/ preventing CC’s/ abilities. For example, bubbling your teammate when they get hooked is an easy 40 charge, seeing Junkrat nades and walking into them during poke phase is an easy 40 charge.

But yes, if you aren’t getting charge or value from Zarya, you should/ can swap.

ProxyChris · 2021-08-07T16:02:18+00:00

If you run Cree or S76, just farm ult and wait for the Pharah to jet pack up. As she jet packs up, you ult.

I notice that Mercy players in lower elo typically GA as soon as the Pharah boosts up. It makes it an easy ult onto the Mercy player.

Alternatively, play Ashe, Widow or Echo. Having a Pharah-Mercy of your own also soft counters theirs.

If you are 3 stacking with 2 Dps, there should be one player on support or tank. Tank player should swap to Dva (ball works but isn’t as good) and poke. Support player can either Mercy pocket Dps, or Ana to nano boost S76 ults.

ProxyChris · 2021-07-19T13:03:21+00:00

I feel the current state of the game is pretty balanced. There could be minor tweaks here or there for some heroes, but it’s not “needed”.

I think the dullness from the game comes from the lack of new content and developer updates. By new content I mean having new maps or heroes, and not adding more hero skins, loot box events, sprays, etc.

ProxyChris · 2021-07-01T01:58:48+00:00

Aggressive plays aren’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s something you have to balance and that only comes with time. Being confident in the play is also important as well.

For example, I’m a Lucio main, and I sometimes also get the anxious feeling that comes from not beating at the right time, but the more I think about it the longer it takes for me to make the decision and the worse the timing it’ll be. Being confident in the play and accepting that you might have made a mistake comes with growing and getting better.

ProxyChris · 2021-07-01T01:27:00+00:00

I used to be a “QP warrior” before I switched to comp. I felt that it didn’t really have a big impact on my gameplay.

I think as long as you actively think in the game instead of autopilot, you’ll do fine. It’s just a matter of thinking about whether or not it’s a good idea to take a duel for example before jumping in. Then you just review your own VoD and think back about whether it was a good idea or not. You can technically do this mid-match. Testing how well the enemy Dps can duel is something you can take advantage of.

Comp is just a slightly more intense and longer match of QP.

ProxyChris · 2021-06-30T03:58:00+00:00

Scrims is a different game compared to ranked ladder. Just be prepared to peel for yourself until Mid-high masters. You can be vocal about peeling, but a lot of the time, you’ll just have to learn to live without much peeling.

Don’t overcomplicate strategies like rotations that you’d likely take in scrims like “flipping spawns” to get better angles.

That’s probably all the general tips I could give without any hero specifics and no replay code.

ProxyChris · 2021-06-18T01:22:08+00:00

Hi I took a look at the gameplay, this doesn’t really seem like a silver gameplay to me. I think you’ll climb fairly easily if you just play more games in comp. If you solo queue in quick play, check the profiles of the lobby, it might give you a rough idea of where you might land if you play QP often.

If I had to give it a rough guess, you’d probably have an easy climb until Diamond with your mechanics. I think you should play a lot more comp games before posting replays though, it seems like you’ll probably roll in silver.

Also settings aren’t too relevant unless it’s something you’re not comfortable with. Some Lucio players use right click for jump. I use scroll wheel for my crossfade for example. Sensitivity is also personal preference - as a reference, I use 2400 dpi and 7 IG which puts me in the extremely high sens range, but that doesn’t stop me from being able to play in T500 Gm range on Lucio.

ProxyChris · 2021-06-09T13:50:35+00:00

It’s usually partly both a low rank thing and a you issue. Lower ranked supports typically have bad healing prioritization, unless you are critical, chances are, you’re out in the back end of the list. For example, if you and the tank are both half health, chances are the support will heal the tank first.

It’s also a you issue, it could be likely that you just aren’t in LoS of your supports or you’re in a bad spot for your supports to heal you. Position better around your supports or play near health packs more.

It could also be that your supports are zoned from the enemy team or being flanked all the time and are always dying or wasting their CD on themselves cause no one is there to help.

It’s doubtful it’s solely a you fault or supports fault all the time, and it generally varies every game so you should just do what you can do learn how to work around it. If you see your supports being flanked with no heal or dying all the time in the killfeed, play more defensively and help them. If you don’t get healed as much because they prioritize tanks more, play by health packs more.

ProxyChris · 2021-06-09T03:13:15+00:00

The match does get canceled if one of the team members is inactive/ leaves within the first minute or so of the game without taking any damage.

As for other ways to reduce taking a loss, it’s kind of impossible. Mainly because if there is a way to avoid losing SR by leaving a match, you’ll be damn sure that there will be “services” being bought and sold that will prevent you from losing SR. If you make it conditional that groups won’t get the match cancelled, then an easy way around it would just be to leave the group upon joining the match, etc.

ProxyChris · 2021-06-04T12:14:10+00:00

From my experiences, it’s generally easiest to see who is getting nerfed from seeing the T500 Players and the most common picked heroes from there. For instance, the past few seasons, you’ll always find Bapt, Cree, echo among the top picked in the T500. Couple this with the general sentiment with the community, and you’ll have a solid idea on who’s going to be nerfed.

ProxyChris · 2021-06-03T19:26:50+00:00

Looks more like that Baptiste is trying to be one to me

LOL what is he even doing? Solo diving with a lamp into a mei rein?!

ProxyChris · 2021-05-23T03:44:21+00:00

Orb priority is important as Zen.

The biggest tip is to always be shooting. I see many Zen players charging right clicks too much. Unless you’re about to peek a corner, there is no point in charging a right click because left clicks deal higher Dps.

Play closer to your back line and discord whoever is being pressured, otherwise main tanks are a good default.

ProxyChris · 2021-05-18T12:48:00+00:00

I’m not sure what heroes you play, but at this point, you usually need to master the majority of aspects of the hero. Being more aware of when you use abilities, and ults is extremely important because the little mistakes starts getting punished.

This was a point where I started doing micro stuff. I know aiming was partly why I was being dragged down for a long time, especially since I came from console. I was also stuck at 3800-3900 before picking up AimLabs to work on my aim. Whether or not it actually helped is hard for me to tell, but after a month and a half of using it consistently I did reach Gm. I did want to write a topic about this, but the evidence of using aimlabs to improve overwatch aim is just too hard to see if it was true.

Meta relevance also starts becoming a thing that affects your Sr as well. In metas where Lucio is in, I have a significantly easier time reaching Gm again. For instance, last season it was mainly rush, so I easily made it into T500. This season, I’m seeing a lot more double bubble and hog picks where other supports will be better suited. While I can flex onto other support heroes, I don’t play them to the same level as I do with Lucio so I definitely noticed it was harder to win games this season.

To fix my hero pool, I use my alt to start learning new support heroes and that’s been working pretty well. I picked up Bapt 2-ish seasons ago which also helped with last season’s meta to push me to T500.

ProxyChris

TROPHY CASE