Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan explained to fans plans and considerations for Ranked Play.
Ranked Play is still in the works and Blizzard has no solid plans as of yet, so Jeff shared what they observed from the active players right now.
Different players want to see different things from Ranked Play, and Blizzard narrowed down fans’ biggest expectations to three:
- Some fans just want a more serious mode to play in versus Casual play.
- Some fans want a mode at the highest levels of competitive play.
- Lastly, some fans are seeking out the feeling of progression from going up the ranks most of all.
Also a consideration for Blizzard is how the queue should look like. What Jeff means by this is that they are also trying to balance interests between players and how they want to play. So, for example, some want their friends in their team, while others want to enter the queue on their own and get teammates randomly. Blizzard is studying how to keep all of these players satisfied.
When Blizzard actually observed player behavior in the beta, they noticed whenever players got bad matches, they either had a negative reaction to the matchmaking system, or to other players, particularly when the team is made of strangers and they don’t come together. Blizzard really wants to encourage the latter and keep the community fun. Ideally, Blizzard thinks Overwatch is best experienced when played with friends. They want you to keep playing with your friends, even if they are low level. So, they’re thinking of ways to keep the experience fun even if your team of friends gets into a bad matchup.
Jeff shared a story when they received feedback on a lopsided matchup. The complainant wrote that the other team had an eSports player, and questioned why they got matched up. It turns out the other team had an eSports player too, but that player bailed before the match started. Again, Blizzard wants to find solutions to issues like these.
On a tangent, Blizzard has experienced staff working on their matchmaking systems. However, Overwatch has elements unique to it, like hero switching, so it’s not as simple as duplicating what has been done in other games.
Among the variables Blizzard is looking into for matchmaking now are the player skill level, how long players wait for matches, and server connections, which they are improving heavily now. North America, South America and Australia have improved ping times, and improvements are also coming to Asia, Europe, and Russia.
Overwatch is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One at the end of Spring 2016. Blizzard is already testing a progression system in the beta, and they talked about building their system. You can watch the developer interview below.
