For most of the 3rd and 4th seasons, I sat just bellow Silver (900 - 1300 SR). Of course I think I should be higher, but that's a fair place for me to be, and I enjoy playing at that level.

Over the last few nights I had a very long loss streak and am now around 700 SR. At this level I've had multiple games where Mercys refuse to heal and just shoot, you can win a game with 6 attack heros, and people are so toxic that I often remove myself from voice chat. I play tanks and healers, and so I enjoy the game most when my team is playing together. Right now, my enjoyment of the game is shot.

I'm worried that I now have a terribly low MMR and will continue to place at this level next season.

Question: Given the way the SR / MMR system works, what things can I do to increase my chances of placing higher next season?

Like, for example, would it help if I stuck to Quick Play for a while to up my MMR before doing the Season 5 Qualifying Matches? Should I create a new account to get a clean MMR?

I'm aware that long term, I should probably go to Looking-For-Group sites and find a community, but at the moment "700 SR healer/tank" won't get any clicks.

Note that I am not looking for gameplay tips, I'm specifically asking about "resetting" my SR / MMR.

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4 Answers

Ranked and quick play MMR is separate. The only way to truly reset your MMR is to buy the game again on a new account, which will set your MMR to be whatever the average rank is.

However, I strongly advise against doing this. If you dropped down to 700 SR, chances are you probably belong somewhere around that level, plus or minus a couple hundred SR. (Not trying to be rude, just stating how the system is supposed to work.) It might be tough, but if your actual skill level is higher than that, you should eventually climb out on your own. Buying a new account risks you paying extra money just to go through the exact same frustration when you drop lower again.

At the start of every new season, there is a soft-reset of all player's ranks (normalized to the average player rank, which I think is somewhere in silver or gold). I don't know if this also affects MMR, but it should give you a chance to place higher than you might have gotten in the previous season.

Loss streaks happen, and the matchmaking system realizes this. Chances are your MMR is probably not all that heavily affected. You're probably still playing with people of a similar skill level as before, but because your visible rank is lower, you focus more on how "bad" your teammates are now as opposed to how they played before the loss streak.

Even if your MMR is lower now... that's how it's supposed to work. The matchmaking system tries to even everyone out to an approximately 50% win/loss ratio. Trying to get around this system is just asking for frustration.

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Your best option is to find some players who are also stuck in the bottom ranks, and group up with them. Find people with mics so you can coordinate your attacks/defense over Discord or in-game voice chat. Even if they are not very good, having consistent teammates and even a small amount of coordination should easily get you all back into the 1000's.

Why is having a group so important? In Overwatch (and many other team-based games), the ranks at the bottom 1%(-ish) are known as MMR Hell - the skills of players varies so wildly, you're just as likely to get a troll teammate who's trying to lose, or a 5-year-old mashing on the controller, as you are a decent teammate.

People claim "over enough games it will even out", but they're forgetting that people often group up, which screws up the balance. Eg. if there's a group of 5 and you're solo-queueing, you have a 1/7 chance of being on their team, and 6/7 chance of being against them. And given that they're likely not deliberately grouping with trolls/5-year-olds, you have a much higher chance of losing.

Thus, getting out of the lowest ranks by yourself takes significantly more effort than at higher ranks, no matter how good you are (and unlike many other team-games, in Overwatch even the best players can't carry an entire team by themselves). Because of this, "playing a lot of games" is not a good option. You will eventually get out of MMR Hell, but depending on your luck it could take a long time.

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Placement matches are not a fresh start, they're based off your final placement in the previous season. There is no way to "reset MMR", your only chance is to win more games than you lose.

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Self-answer: In the year since posting, I've never been able to get above 900 SR again. Last week I bought a second copy of the game (aka new account), ground out 15 hours of quick play to level 25, went 3-7-0 on my Competitive Placement Matches, and ranked Silver with 1793 SR. Higher than the career high on my first account.

Extra context: I came from MMOs and Final Fantasy-type games and Overwatch was my first ever FPS. When I did my initial placement matches in July 2016, a Bronze rating was probably fair. In the 2 years since, I have watched / read a lot of guides, and become a big fan of Overwatch League pro play. There is no doubt that I am a much better player now.

Takeaways:

  • The Placement Matches between Competitive Seasons are total garbage since they doesn't actually reset your Skill Rating.
  • The game's rating system does not account for big jumps in player skill after their initial placement matches.
  • The "Bronze trap" is real. A strong DPS might be able to carry themself out, but the lack of teamwork in the bottom 1% of players makes it very hard for a Tank / Healer to have a consistent impact on the game.
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