If you're familiar with grinding up tiers in Blizzard's Hearthstone every month, get ready for a change: Overwatch's upcoming competitive play mode is going to pit you with teammates and opponents around your actual skill level.
In a Developer Update video released Friday, Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan noted that players apparently felt competitive play "wasn't competitive enough." What Blizzard ended up doing was getting rid of the tier-based system that was seen in the beta and replacing it with a matchmaking system that closely tracked a player's skill ratings, which other players can now also view. Other players will also be able to view a team's average skill ratings.
"We really went back to the drawing board in a number of ways on competitive play from what we had in the beta, based on your feedback," said Kaplan. "We're hoping that this new version speaks more to our competitive players and what they're seeking."
Among other changes is the extension of the competitive season length from one month to three, mirroring real-world sports seasons. High-ranking players will receive "awesome cosmetic rewards" not obtainable in other modes. Another talked-about change is extending certain map formats, specifically assault maps in which teams have to fight for possession of a control point.
Blizzard hopes to launch competitive play mode at the end of June, but there isn't an exact date scheduled for it yet.
