Recall: Overwatch 2 All Changes Coming to Competitive in Season 9

Overwatch 2 is currently still in the midst of Season 8 of its Competitive season. Having kicked off only on December 5th, Mauga will continue to terrorize even as the holiday season comes to a close. That said, this year’s Blizzcon has given players much to be excited about for the upcoming Season 9. Here is everything we know so far about the new season.

When Will Overwatch 2 Season 9 Release?

Overwatch 2’s Season 9 is expected to launch on the 20th of February, 2024. Currently, Season 8 is live, and has been since December 5th. This date has not been confirmed by Blizzard and could vary slightly. Season 9 is expected to launch with a fresh battlepass full of content for players.

Overwatch 2 Competitive Rank System Overhaul in Season 9

Reintroduction of Rank Progress Bar: Just like the First Game!

Senior system designer Gavin Winter unveiled the many changes in store. The 5 wins/15 losses system for rank updates will be scrapped. Blizzard will re-introduce a progress bar to show your rank status. It will display percentage-wise, how far off you are from the next rank-up. This page updates after every match. It’s not a return of the old Skill Rating system of Overwatch 1 per say, but it's a close approximation.

“Loss streaks guaranteed that you were going to rank down, so what’s the incentive to keep playing if you’re on one?” - Gavin Winter, Senior System Designer. 

Moreover, Season 9 will also introduce 3 new ranked modifiers - advantage, streak, and calibration. These modifiers will affect the percentage gain of rank per win/loss. Further information will be provided as they become available. An available information button in game when this page displays in Season 9 will also offer extra information on the modifiers.

Oooh shinyyyyy. Credit: Overwatch 2 // Blizzard Entertainment

Rank Reset, New Placement Matches, Shiny New Rank: Sleep is for the Weak!

All players’ ranks will experience a soft-reset in Season 9. This means that visual ranks will be wiped, MMR adjusted, and placements will have to be redone. There will be 10 placement games required in order to properly calibrate your rank, and it is possible to place in high MMR if you do well during placements. However, during placements, players will be able to see a rank prediction based on wins and losses so far.

No more anxious waiting. Credit: Overwatch 2 // Blizzard Entertainment

Furthermore, from Season 9 onwards, every season start will require the same 10 placement games to recalibrate ranks. Blizzard has stated the driving force behind this decision is to re-distribute the player base across the ranks. A new rank will also be added, above Grandmaster - called Ultimate.

“We want to give everyone a chance to earn a new rank because we’ll also be redistributing players at all ranks.” - Gavin Winter, Senior System Designer. 

Less Group Queue Restrictions: Anyone Got a Bigger Friend Group?

Credit: Overwatch 2 // Blizzard Entertainment

Lastly, Blizzard has opted to crack open Competitive queue restrictions, allowing for a bigger variance of ranks to queue together. To balance this, Blizzard has stated that ‘groups with a large disparity in skill level’ will be designated as a ‘wide group’ and will only be able to play with similar designated groups. Match screen starts will also now only display the range of ranks of players, rather than the average lobby rank.

“We’ll try to find groups with a similar shape as yours,” - Gavin Winter, Senior System Designer. 

Moreover, the direct opposite will also run true. Solo players will be designated as ‘narrow groups’ and therefore should only be matched against other solo players or ‘narrow groups’ - in theory. According to Winter, this change to restrictions is aimed at reducing the issue of smurfing, as players will be less likely to need a new account to play with their lower-ranked friends.

The majority of changes, most especially the rank progress bar, harkens back to Overwatch 1. Many current players have expressed their despair at Blizzard for eventually backtracking back to what worked for Overwatch 1 - but only after making a complete meal of the competitive game mode. Much like Tracer, Blizzard seems to be smacking that key pretty hard in an effort to retain the playerbase.

Overwatch 2 Competitive Rewards System Rehaul

Biggest news out the door, current Competitive Points will be turned into legacy currency in Season 9. This currency will then only be usable to purchase gold weapons. New gun skins, dubbed Emerald Weapons, will be introduced. They will be purchasable only with the new currency. This gives older players of the game something new to chase and newer players even more reason to not start playing grind the content harder!

Credit: Overwatch 2 // Blizzard Entertainment

Moreover, Blizzard has stated a desire to release new Competitive rewards every year, as further incentive for players. Competitive Challenges are also going away, and instead will be replaced with a new system of smaller payouts of Competitive Points given out through Wins and Losses.

Overwatch 2 New Hero Venture Trial

Upcoming new hero Venture is set to be the 2nd hero to partake in Blizzard trial run period. With Mauga being such a rousing success, this new hero’s test run in Season 9 will be sure to turn heads before their eventual predicted release in Season 10 later this year.

Credit: Overwatch 2 // Blizzard Entertainment

Read More:

A Complete Guide to Understanding How Overwatch 2 Competitive Works.

KOI and Movistar Riders to join MAD Lions under OverActive Media brand consolidation.