Bugged Skill Rating Has Delayed the Competitive Season
To the dismay of competitive Overwatch players, they are going to have to wait a little while before they can play. The 18th competitive season for Overwatch has been delayed due to a bugged skill rating system. There has been no timeframe for when the season will be up and running. But it should take several days.
As frustrating as this can be, most competitive players should be able to understand. Most would much rather wait until the ranking system is fixed, rather than play with a broken one. The bug was supposedly placing players against opponents who they had no business playing. Low-level players were being matched up against semi-pros. This, of course, would not make for a good time for anyone. Especially the low-level newcomers to the game.
In the meantime, Overwatch is going to go back to what they did for Season 17. Called the “Roll Queue,” this format allowed players to queue as specific rolls on a team. For example, if you wanted to play support you could search for a game that needs a support. This way there would not be any dysfunctional teams that are running around with 5 tanks and a Genji. This tended to be a big problem back in the day. However, this Roll Queue system generally made things a little bit smoother.
The Roll Queue had the composition of 2-2-2. Two tanks, two supports, and two damage/ attack characters. This usually results in much more balanced games. So reverting back to this is not the end of the world.
The average Overwatch season lasts for about three months on average. But is not uncommon for it to be shorter. It will be interesting to see what happens to Season 18. If it ever happens at all.