Frequent Overwatch Match-Quitters to Pay a Hefty Price

Lizzy Finnegan

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Frequent Overwatch Match-Quitters to Pay a Hefty Price

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Blizzard has detailed the penalty for frequent match-quitters in Overwatch.

Having someone leave in the middle of a match is frustrating. Getting dumped into a match that has already started - or worse, one that ends 20 seconds after you jump in - is also frustrating. Both of these are the result of match-quitters, and Blizzard is taking measures, via penalties, to try to combat how frequently this is happening in Overwatch.

On the Battle.net forums [http://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20745234477#post-6], Blizzard recently detailed the penalty for habitually quitting matches. There is an algorithm in place that evaluates your previous 20 matches, and how many of them were complete. Without saying what the magic number is, Blizzard says if the ratio of not completed to completed matches doesn't hit that number, players will receive a warning in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. If you keep quitting anyway, experience will be docked 75% in future matches, until you hit an appropriate 20-match ratio. Disconnecting, or being removed due to inactivity, counts just like if you left intentionally.

Blizzard also clarified some more specifics: If you leave a game while you're still on the screen to assemble your team (prior to entering the spawn room), it will not count as a game played, and therefore will not count as leaving. Leaving after you see the Victory/Defeat screen will count as a game played, but you will not count as a leaver (so you don't have to sit through the POTG or anything beyond the Victory/Defeat screen). You are only considered a leaver after the team assembly and prior to the end of the match.

"Leaving a couple games in a row won't cause you to be penalized in any way," an edit to the post assured players. "We understand that there are circumstances, either in or outside of your control, that may necessitate you needing to step away from a game before it ends. It's only if you repeatedly leave games in succession, to the point where it could be considered a habitual behavior, that you will be penalized."

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DeepComet5581

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Lizzy Finnegan said:
Disconnecting, or being removed due to inactivity, counts just like if you left intentionally.
Okay, THAT bit I have a big problem with. It shouldn't be that difficult for the servers to detect whether a connection was terminated manually or automatically (As having a high enough ping gets one booted from a lot of online play servers). Having a bad day with your internet could end up with you being punished through absolutely no fault of your own.

What about server maintenance downtime? If players are kicked because the servers have been taken offline, does that count as an intentional disconnect?
 

Aeshi

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Oh no, not an XP penalty! How will we cope with not getting as many Lootboxes that contain nothing but sprays nobody will ever look at for characters we never play as as we otherwise would?
 

Kungfu_Teddybear

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I think that it shouldn't count until the game actually starts, even if you've already chosen your character and are waiting in the spawn room, it shouldn't count if you leave before that 1 minute match countdown ends. The only time I ever leave games is when I get put on a team that has no idea how composition works and sometimes you have to wait to see who goes what. If I get put on an attacking team that consists of 2-3 Widowmakers, a Bastion and no support, I'm leaving, because there's just no point in staying. I shouldn't get penalized for the stupidity of others.

That said, that's not even that bad a penalty. Oh no, we won't level up and get lootboxes that contain nothing useful as quickly.
 

Xeorm

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DeepComet5581 said:
Lizzy Finnegan said:
Disconnecting, or being removed due to inactivity, counts just like if you left intentionally.
Okay, THAT bit I have a big problem with. It shouldn't be that difficult for the servers to detect whether a connection was terminated manually or automatically (As having a high enough ping gets one booted from a lot of online play servers). Having a bad day with your internet could end up with you being punished through absolutely no fault of your own.

What about server maintenance downtime? If players are kicked because the servers have been taken offline, does that count as an intentional disconnect?
On the other hand, if you're repeatably playing a multiplayer game with a shoddy internet, you're still making the experience of everyone else quite a bit worse. I understand it's not your fault that it happens, but it's still on you to not make things bad for everyone else.
 

STARSBarry

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this is good since I have already stopped playing overwatch so none of this will effect me at all :D
 
Jan 27, 2011
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This seems fair.

For one, it warns you, for two they say you can leave a few matches before you get warned, so I don't think it's a big deal, and for 3 there's no penalty for you going "welp, this team sucked this round, time to jet and find a new crew" after the round.

That and an EXP penalty is a mild annoyance, not this big tragic "oh noes, whatever shall I do!" situation.
 

Bobular

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There's very little they can actually do to punish people short of turning of the game completely, people aren't going to care about a drop in XP when all XP means is more loot boxes, it doesn't effect them playing the game.
 

gact

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My problem is that I have to quiit often because the matchmaking makes me join 200+ ping servers fairly frequently and I cant play the game like that.
so until a server browser exists I won t be able to avoid this problem.
 

Scy Anide

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Dec 7, 2013
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This seems completely fair. It's a slap on the wrist punishment for a slap on the wrist level crime. I'll admit, I've considered leaving quickplay matches during hero picks after seeing, say 3 defensive heroes and 3 offensive heroes (no tank, no healer) on a payload attack mission. I stick around because I've been wrong before and we've won because skill often wins over hero picks and people can switch heroes anyways. Eventually I just started playing a healer when we don't have one, turns out I really like healing (with Mercy and Lucio). I actually feel like I win a lot more matches when I play a healer and healers in Overwatch get way more respect than I've seen in other games (respect > 0).
 

Morti

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DeepComet5581 said:
Lizzy Finnegan said:
Disconnecting, or being removed due to inactivity, counts just like if you left intentionally.
Okay, THAT bit I have a big problem with. It shouldn't be that difficult for the servers to detect whether a connection was terminated manually or automatically (As having a high enough ping gets one booted from a lot of online play servers). Having a bad day with your internet could end up with you being punished through absolutely no fault of your own.

What about server maintenance downtime? If players are kicked because the servers have been taken offline, does that count as an intentional disconnect?
Meh, it sounds like you can quit two or three times before you get warned, let alone incuring any penalty, if your internet is that bad that frequently, maybe you should reconsider your choice of game.

A system to police this needs to include DC's otherwise those who want to cheat the system will just start quitting by unplugging their LAN.
 

VirOath

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gact said:
My problem is that I have to quiit often because the matchmaking makes me join 200+ ping servers fairly frequently and I cant play the game like that.
so until a server browser exists I won t be able to avoid this problem.
If you could check your ping on the "Assemble Your Team" screen then that wouldn't be a problem.

Either way, an XP penalty won't keep habitual leavers from leaving mid match. If in addition this put people into a Low Priority queue then that might be something to talk about- but Blizzard needs to give better region control to players, a NA-East player getting dropped on an NA-West server makes for a noticeable downgrade in the gaming experience, and better information on things like Ping and Packet Loss to the players to let them ensure that their connection isn't being sabotaged by the automated matchmaker.
 

josemlopes

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The hell? Isnt XP basicly worthless in this game? Just ban the player temporarly, like for a day or some shit
 

RedDeadFred

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May 13, 2009
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I didn't realize people actually left all that much in this game. I find that whether I'm winning or losing, I'm always having fun. Sure, stomps aren't great, but they're over quickly. The only time I left games was when I was first trying out all the heroes against bots. If my team had a Bastion, I left because I knew that the bots wouldn't live long enough for me to get decent practice with the hero.
 

Metalrocks

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i have seen few people leaving during a game. even when close to the end. but seriously, getting disconnected is a punishment? just yesterday i lost the server to battlenet 3 times wile playing. my ping was good, things were fine and suddenly i could not connect to the net anymore. i know its them because steam, origin, etc worked just fine. how is that my fault when its their problem?
 

008Zulu_v1legacy

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RedDeadFred said:
I find that whether I'm winning or losing, I'm always having fun.
If you're having fun, then you're not playing the game right :)

OT; It's nice that they are taking in to account that some people have unreliable Internet connections.
 

Balimaar

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Sep 26, 2010
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Kungfu_Teddybear said:
The only time I ever leave games is when I get put on a team that has no idea how composition works and sometimes you have to wait to see who goes what. If I get put on an attacking team that consists of 2-3 Widowmakers, a Bastion and no support, I'm leaving, because there's just no point in staying. I shouldn't get penalized for the stupidity of others.
Then be that support. Problem solved. No need to leave.

As Sky Williams says, "Sometimes you have to be the *****!"
 

MHR

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But I desperately want my spray-boxes! How will I ever live my fantasty of being Overwatch Banksy?! Join game, spray bitchin' sprays and then quit before the Fuzz arrives!
 

DudeistBelieve

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I really don't think it's fair how quickly the game boots you for being AFK.

Ya tab out to tell netflicks to that "Yes, I Am Still Watching" come back and booted from the game. Hell even a bathroom run is too long a time. Like c'mon man. Give me at least a minute, minute and a half.

Frankly I don't understand why anyone quits early though, unless it's real life shit popping up that demands attention. Even if you lose, you get an XP boost. At people that driven about winning a stupid online game?