All Overwatch 2 Season 9 Competitive changes: New rank, Jade weapons, group requirements, more
Blizzard EntertainmentBlizzard have shared the official patch notes for Season 9 which include some major changes to Competitive Play. This is everything we know about the upcoming Ranked update in OW2 Season 9, including new Jade weapons, rank, modifiers, and changes to how players can group.
Overwatch 2 Ranked is the Competitive version of the game, where you can play 5v5 against enemy teams to place in one of the seven ranks available, or the Top 500 in your region.
However, Competitive Play has been somewhat of a controversial discussion for Overwatch players for a long time. Not only have they expressed their disdain for the way Competitive works, but also that the placement system is not fair. The devs seem to have heard their complaints, and Season 9 is going to see an overhaul of the Ranked system.
Here is everything we know about the Overwatch 2 Season 9 Competitive changes.
- Overwatch 2 Season 9 brings Instant Rank feature
- Placement matches are coming to Overwatch 2
- Overwatch 2 Season 9 brings a new rank
- New Jade weapons in Overwatch 2 Competitive
Overwatch 2 Season 9 brings Instant Rank feature
Instant rank progression is coming to Overwatch 2 in place of the current five wins or 15 losses to progress system.
The old Skill Rating system was done away with on Overwatch 2’s launch in favor of the progression after five wins or 15 losses system.
In Season 9, Overwatch 2 will bring back an Instant rank progression bar that shows players their progress as they move closer to the next rank after each game. After each game, players will be able to see Modifiers that affected their match ranking.
Modifiers will look at things like whether you were not favored in a match and won anyway, or how your win/lose streak is looking. Your rank will show that it’s ‘calibrating’ if you go on a massive win or losing streak, which will indicate if you belong in a higher rank or not.
These changes are coming in as a way for the game to be more transparent with how the ranking system works, which is something players have been asking to see for a long time.
Blizzard EntertainmentPlacement matches are coming to Overwatch 2
With the implementation of an a rank reset and the way Competitive progression works, Overwatch 2 is bringing back placement matches.
Like in Overwatch 1, players will have to play 10 placement match games to place them in a certain rank. From there, you will be able to work on your progress to the next rank after each game. After each placement match, you will see an icon on screen that will display the predicted rank you will end up in.
While this season will see players getting a hard reset to start over completely, a soft reset will occur at the start of each new season so you can do your placement matches again.
Although the new system is very similar to how Overwatch 1 used to work, the dev team has promised that it will be a lot more transparent.
Blizzard EntertainmentOverwatch 2 Season 9 brings a new rank
Overwatch 2 Season 9 will see the introduction of a new rank called Champion.
Described as the most prestigious tier above Grandmaster by Blizzard, the Champion rank will represent the cream of the crop in Competitive ranks. No one will be able to place in this tier from placement matches, and it will take a lot of work to get there.
In Blizzard’s blog post that shared all the changes coming in Season 9, they said, “This is the most exclusive rank in the history of Overwatch, and we’re on the edge of our seats to see who will achieve such heights in Season 9 and beyond.”
Blizzard EntertainmentIn addition to the new rank, Overwatch 2 has also introduced changes to how many Divisions and Skill Tiers apart players can be to group up with each other:
- Bronze through Diamond players may group with other players within two Skill Tiers of their own Skill Rank.
- Master players may group with other players within one Skill Tier of their own Skill Rank.
- Grandmaster players may group with other players within three Skill Divisions of their own Skill Rank.
- Champion players may group with only one other player within three Skill Divisions of their own Skill Rank.
Skill Tiers refer to your overall rank of Gold, Diamond, etc, while Skill Divisions refer to the level you are in that Tier like Gold 2, Diamond 4, etc.
New Jade weapons in Overwatch 2 Competitive
Overwatch 2 Season 9 will bring new Competitive rewards to earn, including Jade weapons.
Season 9 will introduce a new kind of Competitive points that players can earn to get Jade weapon variants. Players will progress toward earning these Competitive points after each game.
At the end of Season 8, your old Competitive points will be converted to Legacy Competitive points. These Legacy Competitive points will still be able to purchase the Gold weapon variants. Then, at the end of the Competitive year, any leftover Competitive points you have earned will be converted to Legacy Competitive points.
Overwatch 2 Season 9 will begin on February 13 according to details in the Season 9 trailer. We will keep you updated with more information on Ranked changes, Hero updates, and more.
For more on Overwatch 2, you can check out our guides below.
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