Overwatch’s Competitive Play has been on a brief hiatus—but come 5pm PT today, it’ll return.
Season six of Competitive Play in Overwatch begins today, so prepare for your placement matches. Season five ended Aug. 28 at 5pm PT. When Competitive Play returns, there will be changes to the format. Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan went over the adjustments in a Developer Update posted earlier in August.
Related: Major changes coming to Overwatch’s sixth competitive season
One of the more notable changes is that the season will last two months instead of the regular three. That means that competitive rewards will roll in more frequently, though there will be a slight adjustment to compensate for shorter seasons. Totals won’t be as big as they used to be, Kaplan said, but the yearly average should be the same. More competitive points will be awarded per win throughout season five, however.
No players will be safe from dropping skill tiers, either. Silver, gold, platinum, and diamond players will now have to prove themselves worthy to stay in the skill tier. Previously, players held on to their highest ranking regardless of where they fell throughout the season, unless a player was above diamond.
Competitive Overwatch players should also notice that they’re placed closer to where they ended last season. Blizzard used to place its players a bit lower than their actual skill to give a feeling of skill progression throughout the season. Instead of being motivating, however, players found it to be demoralizing to be placed lower than they were in the previous season.
Skill rating decay is another area of competitive Overwatch that’ll be a bit different when season six begins. Players no longer have to play seven games a week to stave off decay. Instead, they’ve just got to play five. It’s not a major change, but it will put less pressure on players to play more games.
We hope you’ve been practicing—you’ve only got a few hours to go before season six opens.
