The Skill Ratings in Overwatch will be changing again, with the end result that competitive play should feel a whole lot more pleasant to most players. Basically, the way things will work now, Skill Ratings will tend lower at first, but your gains from individual victories will be higher at lower levels.
“When Season 2 started, we had WAY more players in Gold and Platinum than we initially intended, and way fewer in Bronze and Silver,” explains principal designer Scott Mercer. “This was the result of how we calculated your initial SR for Season 2. We tried to partially reset player SR at the start of Season 2, but the results were not as we expected. Instead, below-average players started Season 2 at a higher SR than they should have been given their performance in Season 1. This meant that as they played in Season 2, their SR would often drop to a lower value, which didn’t feel great. It also meant that there was a much wider variation of skill in the Gold and Platinum tiers than we wanted. This is something we want to avoid in Season 3.”
The end result of all this?
“We’re testing a different way of determining your starting SR for Season 3 on the [Public Test Realm]. We’re leaning more towards trying to keep things fair rather than giving everyone a fresh start. We’re also going to initially tune your SR to be slightly lower to start.
“This change will mean that some players will not start in the same tier for Season 3 that they were placed in for Season 2, and that your SR gains from winning will be a little higher at the beginning of the season. After you play enough matches, however, your SR gains and losses will go back to normal.”
