Wall of text incomming, got a lot on my mind, and probably could be a topic on its own:
You are lucky, it has got A LOT WORSE since the event.
Its really really bad at the moment!
Joining voice getting greeted by some kid, trying to be smart, making deliberatly annoying noises, and trying to troll people into angry outbursts. Normally i just mute the person, report and move on. But when you get 4 games in a row like these, the game stops being enjoyable. I have 1950 + levels worth of play, so naturally ive endured and seen quite a lot. Its not a strange thing to see a dip in quality during events and weekends since less passionate gamers fill up more of the online playerbase in these periods. Don’t get me wrong im not here to threaten to quit, but i have seriously considered quitting with intent to uninstall. Now I genuinely enjoy the game with friends, and good match ups, where the game feels like a real team effort, regardless of winning or losing, what kills the fun and game for me is wasting 10minutes + in the queue as dps, just to be shouted in the ear by some troll, who ultimately intentionally feeds or throws, nothing to do with my perception or telling them to come back, but people who litterally throws, as in throwing them selves off the cliff, walks straight into the enemy to get killed, blocking off team from safety so the entire team dies to an enemy ultimate… intentionally. Regardless if its on my team or the enemy’s its killing the fun. There is no reward in killing a feeding torbjörn who waves at you instead of shooting back. Its not a game then… its like trying to play chess but playing yourself. Getting games with 3 people leaving after the game has already played 2 rounds. Toxic morons who blame the dps or healers, regardless of their own mistakes and feeds, is no news either. Now here is what i don’t get: It had got to a point where i could play 50 maybe even 100 games before i met a leaver, 200 games before i got toxic teamates who shouts crap at you, (not to be confused with passive aggressive comments borderline toxic at the end of a match which happens 1 in 10 games or so), and litterally months between games with intentional throwers or derankers. Smurfs are a very common issue in gold and plat… for obvious reasons, but smurfs generally dont really destroy the fun, they may not even play to their best of their abilities anyway but just enough to play at the given rank. I seldomly feel like i never stand a chance against a smurf, but I ALWAYS feel like a thrower prevents the game from being played. It is like that one kid who always intentionally kick the ball into orbit perpetually to the football pitch, or picks up the ball and just run away, pick up the ball just to make home goals… Its not fun for the winning team either because they don’t really get to play either. If you belong in the rank you are in or the one just above… carrying the game with the thrower is nearly impossible. But given the competitive mind… you are never not going to kill the feeding thrower or capitalize on it, when its on the opposite team, but it doesnt mean its fun, or rewarding! It feels dirty, and undeserved, and you tell yourself its okay, because next game could be your turn to have a thrower on the team and you see it as compensation, just to make yourself feel better and justify the free win. Likewise its not really fun if a higher ranked player throws just to toy around with you and provoke you… its by definition not fun. Trolls are by definition trying to make you feel anything but positive things, as they are trolling for a reaction. But moreover, I also experience a significant reduction in messages that my reports have had consequences. The crazy part is it had got better after the endorsement system. People simply tried to behave, it had a nudging effect if you will. But im certain that the number of trolls and toxic behaviour is so frequent it is comparable to early competitive seasons. THAT IS REALLY REALLY BAD!
It has left me speculating that maybe this is a frustration with the META, the games stale state, making people restless to the point some people, however lousy they might be, pick up trolling and throwing as passtime activity, it is likely also linked with the queue times gone up. The point im trying to make here is, I believe the best way to fix the problem with bad behaviour, is to fix the games stale state. It also seems to me that its often higher ranked people on their smurfs who troll. Which is one of several reasons i think its meta-related, the higher rank you are the more meta matters, and thus this is where the game recieves the highest impact when it grows stale. Now bare with me and my prejudice, but i find that semi high ranked players are more arrogant than others, and i believe this arrogant attitude is good when it comes to competition, its a bi-product or maybe even a requirement for the competitive mindset, but it also is my belief that arrogant personality traits yield less consideration for others, which is what I believe is what is being turned into toxic snide comments, or outright bad behaviour in terms of gameplay sabotage. Now there is a lot of speculation in this, and I don’t really have any facts to back any of it up. But this is what my experience tells me. Its my clear impression that the stereotypical thrower is higher ranked on his/her main, then arrogance leads them to believe they somehow have the right bully lower ranked players. Kicking downwards so to speak. Yeah sure a lot has to do with proper parrenting gone down the drain somewhere, but that doesn’t mean the game can’t give less reason to act out, like a spoiled teenage kid going through a phase. I dont blame the lack of content, but it might be the gamedesigners’ choice in balance, and lack of content and player options, which might have the effect of removing the pacifier, which kept the kid from screaming for attention. Now im not saying i got this thing figured out, what I am saying is this is my conviction based on the observations and experiences. So Blizzard I EMPLORE YOU, please please please, don’t dissapoint at Blizzcon, and no I don’t want Overwatch 2, to be the “salvation” I don’t believe for a second that is what we need. Heck I don’t even want what the rumors claim it to be. No I’d rather like to give the seasons purpose, and add ladders for each tier, include TEAM ladders, Divisions based on region or Skill rank, to have a 1st place to fight for. I’d rather have balance to the META so its Rotational, having 1 meta beat a nother meta in a rock paper scissor approach, I’d like you to consider new heroes and maps in terms synergy as much as counters… more from a competitive playing against point of view rather than a playing as approach. I Completely understand that Hero Identity and “Core Toy” of a hero needs to feel fun… but i’d rather Blizzard turn it upside down, and focus on is this fun to play against, before considering if its fun to play as and with. I’d Also like to see Hero Bans in competitive, reaching into the new ladder system i requested, in terms of who gets to ban first, or who gets to ban at all. The problem is that the variety will always ad a numerical faculty combinatory team options for every hero added, which makes Meta’s nearly impossible to predict and harder to balance with each hero! Banning heroes will allow for players to prevent certain combinations. In fact you might even want to structure the ban system in terms of hero combinations, saying you can play this hero, if you do not also play this hero. etc. etc. I DO NOT want my level to affect the abilites of the heroes… in a call of duty style way. The first killer takes it all, is a steamball aproach and not very competitive of fair. And restricting access to abilities based on a players experience also makes the competition more obscure, i really dont care for a campaing experience in the current style, but a coop mode would be a lot more interesting if it yields a playstyle like that of The Lord of The Rings Return of the King released for the original XBOX. But I would much rather see a better competitive structure, which gives me a reason each season, provides a ladder reset, without resetting the skill rank per say, i doubt people will magically climb to Top500 as a result of a reset, and I dont really want Top500 playing versus 500SR players. But I see no harm in equal teams in a division of maybe 250 teams fight on equal terms, and get rewarded for their position at the end of each season. I dont care if it is an extra map ban for being top 10 or a cosmetic thing. Aight some people might want in on the rewards which we all know all to well when it comes to golden weapons, however, the problem lies in how the reward is applied and when. Bronze Players terms needs to be no different than top500, however, the Rewards might differ depending on rank, Each Season lets say top 10 swap with bottom 10 in the tier above, introduce decay in all ranks… listen im not saying this is how the game should be, im just saying there are a lot of ways to improve the game. And I think it should be a priority, because i think the current state of the game results in Throwers, Trolls and Toxic chat. And it makes even the most loyal players consider quitting for good.
