Overwatch 2 has been slowly revamping some of its game mechanics over recent seasons, and it has proved to work out for the most part.
Competitive has been soaring as of late, and with the brand new season approaching, Blizzard will be making some notable changes to lever penalties.
Here’s what we know.
Overwatch 2 Season 10 Leaver Penalty Changes Explained
Blizzard has been moving along with the current season since it premiered at the beginning of February, and there’s a ton of content for players to check out.
Now, we’re getting ready to dive into Season 10, which will also bring a brand new DPS hero for players to check out in the form of Venture. But, if you intend to leave games for whatever reason, their new penalty system is something you’re going to want to get familiar with.
We’ve already made adjustments to discourage leaving Unranked games of Overwatch, and there are a few more changes coming in Season 10. We’ve also taken a firm stance on leavers in Competitive Play and have a new update for that game mode as well.
For Unranked games, players who leave four of their last 20 games played are put on cooldown for 20 minutes before they can queue again, with an increase to four hours if you leave at least six of their last 20 games. We’ll be adding two additional tiers: a five-minute penalty for leaving two of their last 20 games played, and a 48-hour suspension from queuing for any matchmaking mode for those who leave 10 (or more) out of their last 20 games played.
Very few players deliberately leave 50% or more games, but we think this step will help further reduce the impact leavers can have in unranked Overwatch 2 games. To work back into good standing, Competitive now counts toward a player’s 20 games played.
Competitive Play is also receiving a notable addition to its penalty system for leaving games. Players can be suspended from Competitive Play whenever they leave any Competitive Play match. Penalties start off small at 15 minutes, but quickly escalate if they repeatedly leave games, and can even trigger a Season Ban, which will disqualify them for the remainder of that Competitive Season. When players complete several Competitive Matches, they’ll work back into good standing.
Now we’re introducing a rule to Competitive Play that caps the total number of games you can leave in a season, regardless of how frequent it is. Players who leave 10 Competitive matches in a season will be immediately banned for the season. This should help curb those players who deliberately choose to leave a match, thinking they won’t have to deal with a lengthy suspension if they haven’t left their most recent games played.
