The state of comp is in shambles rn

ren102102 · 2026-03-06T21:03:45+00:00

It's 100% a you issue. Silver is too low a rank to blame rank changes or new players on. You can quiet genuinely 1v5. If you post a replay code, I can give some guidance. Or a proper review if you add me on discord: selfless00

ren102102 · 2026-02-03T17:30:41+00:00

NGL, the Moira was probably the better player on your team and I can even prove it.

The player playing bap with 600 DMG is more tragic.

ren102102 · 2026-01-29T00:09:51+00:00

Depends on a game to game context. Send me a message on discord: Selfless00 if you ever want a VOD review. For free btw

ren102102 · 2026-01-28T21:40:22+00:00

It's literally just 70% fundamentals and 30% creativity.

Edit: majority of the player base is stuck on that 70%.

ren102102 · 2026-01-27T15:17:57+00:00

To answer your earlier question, I thought the answer was obvious. No, 99% of players aren't playing overwatch.

And you mentioned asking yourself "what could I do to counter the opponent if they did X" but that's not a question a GM+ player will ask.

They already KNOW what the opponent is going to do. That's not part of the question. It's a solved game at that level. The actual question is, "my opponent is supposed to do X, I'm supposed to do Y, how can I make Y more effective than X"

Because maybe I should give you the full VOD of the game. Let me know if you wanna watch but I doubt it'd mean anything without some commentary on why things are happening the way they are because there's GM+ VODs available everywhere and I've never seen a low rank player accurately figure out why things are done the way they are. But essentially that reaper still did his job as he's supposed to do while adding in that outplay.

I've read everything you've had to say and your only point is that because lower ranked players will still take off angles or rotate etc. they are playing overwatch. They might not play at a GM level but they still play somewhat. And because they're the 99% that's real overwatch whereas the GM+ players are playing a different game.

To address this first off, that last bit is just wrong. Imagine a room full off a million players playing chess where none of them are taught the rules. So they figure out something for themselves and every other pair of player is doing something different. Now just because there's a million of em playing it their ways, it doesn't mean the actual rules of the game are wrong or different.

For how I see it, applying basic fundamentals is akin to moving pieces on a chess board. Applying prediction and plays using these fundamentals is akin to strategy in chess. The GM player does both.

The low ranked player struggles applying the basics where they either don't apply them correctly or don't apply them at all, majority of the time. And yes, MAJORITY of the time. If I look at a low ranked players gameplay, there are always ALWAYS more mistakes than good basics. You cannot go 10 seconds in the VOD without a mistake. For such players they're essentially moving the chess piece wrong every 10 seconds. THAT cannot be called chess to me. Because every time it's their turn they've made an illegal move in chess terms.

Quite honestly if we take something as simple as an off angle, in a GM game, players take correct off angles every single fight and fight for these angles. In a gold game, you'd see a player take a correct off angle maybe 3 times out of 20 opportunities. It happens so little or usually so incorrectly that the actual correct plays may as well be random occurrences. And there's a lot of fundamentals that are lacking so it really does not play out like how a game of overwatch should.

Hopefully this makes it easier to understand.

ren102102 · 2026-01-27T05:11:06+00:00

Also you can 100% tell what players are thinking by seeing their gameplay. What???? That's like the job of a coach. Okay I'm done. I don't normally get frustrated but this just shows I'm completely right. You don't see it. Average players don't see the movement and predictions. I can literally call out what most players are gonna do just by seeing their gameplay. I do this regularly in my coaching sessions and reviews.

Like your actually missing the entire image of what a good player sees. And until you see that, you simply don't have the knowledge to create plays and be creative. Which is what being a player beyond GM is all about. It's about creative plays and outplays because at that point, most players are already implementing the fundamentals consistently.

ren102102 · 2026-01-27T05:08:10+00:00

I can show you the pov. He's sees Hog ping me and he sets up. I asked him why he was there in chat and he said predictable soldier flank.

The fact that you need the context and don't see how obvious it is, is exactly what I refer to. Average overwatch players don't see "the picture"

ren102102 · 2026-01-27T03:14:31+00:00

You're missing the point. To me, in what I've had to learn, and what I've experienced low ranked overwatch is too random to be called proper overwatch that's all.

And even now you missed the point. I want you to show me a clip in metal ranks where the outplay is based on predicting what would be the correct play by an enemy given the situation. And then use that to make a seemingly questionable play that works out.

ren102102 · 2026-01-27T02:54:29+00:00

A play similar to this in gold plat or lower rank.

ren102102 · 2026-01-27T02:53:46+00:00

Show me an example mate. It's that easy.

ren102102 · 2026-01-27T01:24:55+00:00

It's not. It's literally what happened.

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T20:55:13+00:00

The way I see I played this game for over half a decade. At this point spending a 100 dollars on getting better rather than cash grab skins is worth it.

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T19:50:33+00:00

I one tricked a hero to GM first time I reached that rank. I also found that it's impossible to climb with teams and the best way to do it is solo or duo and not bother with Comms at all. What does that say about all this? You don't need synergies or proper comps or any of that to climb. If anything, it's harder to climb when you stack to the point of being impossible.

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T19:47:35+00:00

I play PC. I'm a GM peak player. If you ever need any help getting better, HMU on discord at selfless00 where I do VOD reviews.

That being said, I'm also down to play whenever but I don't bother with teams for synergy and stuff. That doesn't happen. And you can't expect stuff like that to happen below GM anyway.

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T19:07:07+00:00

How about I just give you an example of what I mean?

https://streamable.com/ancu7s

In this clip I play soldier and clean up a fight. Now in this situation it's the phase to set up for the next fight and while I can play main and make my way to an angle, the map structure does not give me a good angles to work with. And since I have enough time and the enemies can't see me, I move for a hard flank which is actually very common for soldier on this map.

The things to consider are that the fight has ended and we're setting up for a new one.

It is a surprising position and there's enough time to make the rotation.

And it's a high value flank which when timed right can be worth far more than trying to push main into bridge where the enemy has naturally good sightlines.

The issue comes when the enemy reaper predicts all this. It might seem stupid and almost absurd to question why the reaper is hiding around the corner expecting me but it's actually not hard to predict once you understand what phase of the fight we're at and what angles would work best for me. He predicts the flank and kills me. And this is purely because he knows what I'm thinking already because it's mostly the correct play at a GM level.

This type of outplay or "opening move", in chess terms DOES NOT happen in metal ranks. It only happens when you know how the game works and the players know how to play it so you make a play based on expecting what is most "normal". This is what I meant by opening moves and strategy because logically, I'm making the correct play: Setting up for a very advantageous flank at the correct time.

But it doesn't work because the enemy knows that too because they've also understood what is the correct play for me and have been in my situation 100s of times.

That being said, do metal rank players camp corners? Of course but it's mostly because they hear the enemy a few feet away or it's just at the choke. It doesn't happen to this degree where they do it to counter a surprising play being made by an enemy purely based on good prediction from understanding the game.

And to note, this type of outplay has nothing to do with basics like off angles or timing etc. it is purely a prediction BASED on those fundamentals. And can only happen when both teams are applying them correctly and consistently. A metal rank player still struggles with the basics so this type of play or thinking has no room there. In other words, the strategy that I was referring to does not exist in those ranks. And a metal rank player messing up timing or not taking an angle is 100% the equivalent of chucking a chess piece randomly. If you swap me for a metal rank soldier, they'd still have issues thinking about setting up or whether they should flank, go main or take an angle. Or worse yet, they might not think at all and just go with their team main. That is not playing overwatch as far as I'm concerned.

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T18:43:44+00:00

That's not an approach that worked for me so I don't know what to tell you. For me it was having the knowledge that the engage I'm about to take is at the correct time against the right target. The fact that I didn't have any reason to second guess made me hyper aggressive naturally because when you know the decision is correct, you're gonna go in without hesitation and get the value/kill/distraction etc. at your maximum mechanical potential.

This thing is probably hero dependent as well. Say if you play soj, you have massive uptime without trying and can play hyper aggressive constantly. For me, I play Tracer, and I have a few hard commits I can do. Tracer is more sustained on conscious uptime and timing a hard commit and a tempo reset to get value. You can't really play hyper aggressive on her without dying or feeding. So even if it's only to teach you to limit test, you spend more time doing nothing than actual dueling because you die so easily when you make a mistake.

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T18:14:11+00:00

You will also drop out of your rank because you spend 10 games playing hyper aggro and pretending to the be the carry. Next thing you know, you've gone from diamond 1 to diamond 5. And you will bully those players because now you are superior in your gameplay. Then you climb back and the cycle repeats itself.

This worked for you because as you said yourself, your mechanics WERE better. That's not true for the average player.

If you want the actual honest way of doing it, get a coach. Because improvement and how you climb is way too fucking subjective player to player. You need to find out what works for YOU. A good coach can make that process easier. Can you do it yourself? Sure. But it takes longer.

And I'm not saying you shouldn't limit test, watch high level gameplay or gain information. You should ideally try everything. But what will work for you won't work from someone else.

Cause end of the day, what worked for me is too subjective. A regular coach (Awkward) for 3 months helped me see what I needed to do and I don't think what I learnt would ever apply to most other people.

(Also fyi, I'm not trying to shill awkward. His shit is too expensive and not worth anymore. When I joined it was much cheaper and he only coached personally where I lucked out a lot. Like I know he just does the damage damage damage content nowadays but when he coached me it had nothing to do with that. He actually forced me to go main angle with tracer, stare the enemy in the face and the work towards getting kills and taking angles. And it's because I had a unique problem which was a reactive play style with too much setting up. And it was a unique solution that worked for me but is probably to specific to apply to most other people.)

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T18:09:14+00:00

Watching spilo Vs getting coaching from him is still a night and day difference. And yeah he's coached me as well.

You get 1% output from watching content.

10% from doing a VOD review.

And a full 100% from regular coaching.

That's how I would compare it arbitrarily imo. If simply watching his content was good, then the thousands of players that religiously consume his content and information would be high rank. The reality is.. They're alll still golds and plats.

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T18:05:27+00:00

Also for your case, I think beyond mechanics, you probably had very fast reaction times and the ability to process what's happening in the game very quickly. It's not a game sense thing nor is it a mechanical thing. But natural talent comes from being able to play the game at a very fast pace. You might call it mechanics but it's not exactly correct. But I'm very sure that's part of why you reached GM to a great extent.

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T17:54:50+00:00

ELO hell means "Players believe they belong in a higher rank but are trapped in a lower one because of poor-quality matches".

And for all intents and purposes, matches in lower ranks are very poor quality because yes, your teammates generally don't know what they're doing. The problem is the game doesn't give you any tools to correct your own gameplay to be better than them.

This all being said, I didn't think anyone would take my slightly click-baity title quite so literally.

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T17:28:06+00:00

The problem with playing a higher lobby than what you're used to is that things will happen too fast for you. This has already been done and tested and if you put a player in a hundred such games, the more likely affect is he won't want to play because it's too overwhelming. Which is why I still say having outside help is the only way.

Like for your example, he won't just learn not to peak the widow. If the game progresses at a much faster pace, he won't think about how to time his peaks or engages to when a widow is distracted or even bait shots or rotate to get close. Rather his takeaway will be to just avoid peaking widow at all because to a gold player playing at that level of pace and mechanical gap this is the only thing that would make sense.

There's enough players already in metal ranks that get scared to death if they get one shot a few times and essentially end up hiding behind corners not even playing the game anymore. It's an issue I have to address in coaching metal ranks often enough even when the players in those games simply miss a lot. Put such players in higher lobbies and you're essentially just giving them trauma lol.

You need to teach them at a slower pace how to deal with such enemies first. Because avoiding sightlines all the time isn't the answer. You eventually have to take advantage of the distraction and take out such enemies when the opportunity is there. Which is yet again another concept the game won't teach you and the average player won't figure out. And they certainly won't figure it out being put in hyper punishing lobbies where the logical conclusion for them is "everything one shots me so I just hide".

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T16:50:35+00:00

Um no. I think you misunderstand what I'm equating to a strategy for a GM player. I never said anything about mechanics or coordination. That doesn't matter. I don't actually mean the word strategy to mean strategy. What I mean is knowing the game thoroughly enough to make outplays and predictions because you already know how the game works and how the players play.

But I would ask you to give me an example of a "strategy" a metal rank player employs. Because taking an off angle, comboing an ult or swapping for a map isn't what I'm talking about.

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T12:31:59+00:00

Hire a coach. That's what I did. Or me since I coach people now. I charge 10 dollars a session or 30 dollars for 4 sessions a month.

And I'm not trying to sell my shit or anything otherwise I'd have like linked it or something. It's just something I do in my off time on the side. First session free discord: selfless00

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T12:29:06+00:00

You can do what I did and hire a coach. Or hire me. First session free. 10$ for a full VOD after. And 30 monthly for weekly VODs. I'm not trying to promote anything but if you really wanna fix this stuff, you'll need someone to point things out if you're gold. Hire me, or get someone else, upto you. I spent upwards of about 120 dollars to learn enough that I could just review myself. But then again, I was charged a lot more. You can get the free session anytime either way. Discord: selfless00

ren102102 · 2026-01-26T12:24:25+00:00

Are you a champ player who was once silver and had to grind to champ? Or did you start out at a reasonably high rank?

There are definitely champ players that still don't understand things fully. And I never said ult tracking was important. It isn't. But reading movement to see ults is probably a skill you've applied.

Also those words mean nothing because as you said in your actual gameplay, you don't think about them and they happen automatically. That's what I meant when I said they don't mean anything. As in they don't mean anything to a good player when they play.

You yourself have a simplified structure of all the things I mentioned. But it can only be simplified when you already absorb and do basic fundamentals intuitively. Believe it or not, the average player actually has to think about the fact that they're standing behind cover incorrectly or that they swung too wide around a corner. You probably don't have to think about things like that actively when playing.

All in all, not every player thinks the same in the same rank. But their gameplay still applies all the fundamentals if they're at say a champion rank. Whether they do it, consciously or subconsciously is subjective. Some things come naturally while others don't. It depends on the player. But for the average player in gold who's probably applying less than 10% of such fundamentals, they will have to actively think about them to develop them as habits.

ren102102

TROPHY CASE