Overwatch 2 has kicked out multiple dev blogs this week, and they touch on matters that are likely important to a vast swath of players, as they talk up the ongoing fight against cheating, making the game more inclusive, and refining the latest season’s matchmaking processes.
The first blog recounts Blizzard’s efforts to ban accounts that cheat directly and players who knowingly group up with cheaters, noting the thousands of bans that have been issued since launch. This portion of the post also talks up plans to help improve players’ skills with their favorite heroes in-game, which in turn means players get better through play and don’t feel the need to cheat to win.
The second half of that same blog also talks about tools and efforts to stop disruptive behavior, which is primarily driven by machine-learning algorithms that monitor voice chat to help the devs issue warnings to offending players. Blizzard also beseeches players to try to be more encouraging to their teammates and to continue to file reports.
Meanwhile, the blog post about matchmaking shares data that outline a shrinking skill gap among players who are being grouped together, discusses the impact of new or returning players, and talks about the challenges of narrowing MMR. The post also focuses on continued plans for matchmaking improvement, with a great deal of research being conducted on why lopsided matches occur, along with the promise of “significant” changes to MMR decay in the season four mid-cycle patch.
Finally, though Lifeweaver is only a few weeks live, he’s already getting a major update to make him more viable.
🌸 Updated controls
🌸 Reworked abilitiesRead our latest blog from Game Director @aaronkellerOW for info on the changes to Lifeweaver.
We're also extending the B.O.B. & Weave event thru May 8, so everyone can get a feel for the new gameplay!
✨ https://t.co/VASm5BsRLm pic.twitter.com/vs85rWUsjS
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) April 21, 2023
