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| 0s | -Yeah. Okay. -Good? Good to go, anytime? |
|---|---|
| 3s | Camera roll. |
| 4s | Hey, everyone. I'm Gavin Winter, |
| 6s | Senior Systems Designer |
| 7s | on the Overwatch team. |
| 8s | We're back with another Developer Update |
| 10s | to talk to you a little bit about some of the upcoming Competitive changes. |
| 14s | My teammate, |
| 15s | Senior Research Scientist Natasha Miller, |
| 16s | will tell us about updates |
| 18s | to Defense Matrix a little later. |
| 19s | A few weeks ago, we heard from Aaron |
| 21s | that heroes are coming out of the Battle Pass |
| 23s | and they'll be available for free the day they launch. |
| 26s | He also talked about the new Mythic Shop, as well as the upcoming Clash playtest. |
| 29s | He closed with a little sneak peek at what we're covering in this Developer Update. |
| 33s | Season 10 is just around the corner, |
| 36s | and we're excited to share these changes with you, |
| 38s | starting with how we're updating the way you can play with friends this season. |
| 42s | So, let's talk about exactly how that will work. |
| 45s | We think Overwatch is at its best when you're playing with friends, |
| 48s | so our new system in Season 10 let's any rank group with any other rank. |
| 52s | That means, for example, |
| 54s | if you're Plat and you've never been able to group with your friend in Bronze, |
| 57s | you will be able to do that now. |
| 59s | We'd refer to your group as a Wide Group, |
| 61s | because you and your friend are pretty far apart. |
| 63s | There are some trade-offs for Wide Groups, though. |
| 66s | They only play against other Wide Groups, the queue times could be longer, |
| 69s | and the matches will be sillier. |
| 73s | We'll still use our role delta tech |
| 74s | to try to match you against similarly shaped groups. |
| 77s | So, if you're a Plat tank and your friend is a Bronze support, |
| 80s | we'll try to find another Plat tank and Bronze support |
| 82s | to match you two against. |
| 83s | At the end of a Wide Match, you'll see a new modifier, |
| 86s | just for this system. |
| 87s | Avoiding boosting is really important to us, |
| 89s | so the wider your group is, |
| 91s | the less your rank will change after any match. |
| 93s | If you're Bronze and you're grouped with a Champion player, |
| 96s | you can expect almost no change to your rank, regardless of the outcome. |
| 99s | We expect all this to be a huge match-quality win for our Solo players, |
| 103s | because they'll never play against Wide Groups. |
| 105s | We think of groups that are close in rank as narrow. |
| 108s | So, Narrow Matches will only be Solos and Narrow Groups. |
| 112s | All this means that you'll be able to choose |
| 115s | whether you want to prioritize the highest match quality |
| 117s | or playing with friends. |
| 118s | We're also expecting to see fewer smurfs after these changes too, |
| 122s | since we know some players were only creating alt accounts |
| 124s | to play Competitive with their friends. |
| 126s | We've heard your requests for more avoid slots, |
| 128s | but having more than three in our current system |
| 131s | breaks matchmaking for high-skill players. |
| 133s | We realize that basing our avoid count on that restriction |
| 136s | hamstrings the system for 99% of players, though. |
| 139s | So, to add all the new features we're about to discuss, |
| 142s | we had to rethink what it means to avoid players, from the ground up. |
| 145s | First off, we're increasing the number of avoid slots to ten. |
| 149s | We're also going to let you pin some avoided players |
| 152s | so that they never fall off your list. |
| 153s | The trade-off we make to get these features |
| 155s | is related to our next new feature. |
| 157s | You'll now be able to prioritize your avoid list, |
| 159s | where players at the top are most likely to be avoided. |
| 161s | For players below Grandmaster - that's most of us - |
| 164s | you can expect all ten avoid slots to be reliable. |
| 167s | But we still want to give you the tools |
| 168s | to organize your list by how much you dislike the players on it. |
| 171s | For our highest-skill players, this feature is particularly important, |
| 175s | because if we can't find a balanced match, |
| 177s | we'll start ignoring players at the bottom of the list, in order, |
| 180s | as queue time increases. |
| 182s | Another area we're addressing will bring changes to our leaver penalties |
| 185s | for Unranked and Competitive play. |
| 187s | Right now, on the Unranked side, |
| 188s | our penalties kick in when you leave four out of your last 20 games, |
| 192s | and get worse when you leave six out of 20. |
| 194s | We aren't changing those, |
| 195s | but we are adding a more lenient five-minute penalty |
| 198s | if you've left two out of 20, |
| 200s | and a much more harsh 48-hour penalty |
| 202s | if you've left ten out of your last 20 games. |
| 205s | Now, there aren't a lot of players leaving more than 50% of their matches, |
| 208s | but they do exist, |
| 209s | and we think the game would be better without them, most of the time. |
| 212s | On the Competitive side, we're closing another edge case |
| 215s | by suspending any players that leave more than ten matches a season. |
| 218s | We're also going to start counting matches completed in Competitive |
| 220s | toward the 20-game window for Unranked. |
| 223s | Finally, I want to talk to you about our improved anonymity features. |
| 226s | We already had a Streamer Mode, |
| 228s | but we're making this feature more useful to all players, not just streamers. |
| 231s | Right now, this feature is client side only, |
| 234s | which means it only changes how players' names appear on your screen. |
| 238s | The big change we're making is adding server-side functionality, |
| 241s | which means we'll change how your name appears |
| 243s | on everyone's screens in your match. |
| 246s | We think this is great for players |
| 247s | who may experience harassment because of their BattleTag |
| 250s | and just want to queue up without any chance of that happening. |
| 253s | Don't forget to report players that harass you or anyone else, though. |
| 257s | And speaking of reporting, don't worry. |
| 259s | Players in Streamer Mode being disruptive in text chat or voice |
| 262s | can still be reported, avoided and blocked, |
| 265s | and penalties will still apply to them in exactly the same way as normal, |
| 270s | because we still know their name behind the scenes. |
| 272s | Next, Natasha will talk to you |
| 274s | about our main initiatives to combat disruptive behavior. |
| 276s | Thank you, Gavin. |
| 278s | Hiya. I'm Natasha Miller, |
| 280s | a Senior Research Scientist at Blizzard, |
| 282s | working on Defense Matrix for Overwatch. |
| 284s | While we are always working in many areas of combating disruptive behavior, |
| 289s | today, I want to talk about disruptive chat. |
| 291s | I'll also touch on some of the tools that we're improving |
| 293s | to help keep the community safe. |
| 296s | Disruptive chat can really negatively affect someone's experience in game. |
| 300s | In our focus to curb this disruptive behavior, |
| 303s | we are taking a multipronged approach that will roll out over several seasons. |
| 307s | Today, I'll discuss the first two, coming out in the next few seasons. |
| 311s | In our first approach, we will prevent players at endorsement level 0 |
| 315s | from using text or voice chat. |
| 317s | To be clear, the only way to get to endorsement level 0 |
| 321s | is by having your account actioned for an in-game infraction. |
| 325s | Even brand-new players start at endorsement level 1, |
| 328s | so these are players that have proven themselves to be bad actors |
| 331s | so much so in the past that they received a penalty. |
| 335s | This feature would allow those players to take a forced break |
| 338s | in Team and Match channels |
| 340s | until they work their way back up to endorsement level 1. |
| 342s | And from there and all higher levels, chat would work as it did before. |
| 347s | Remember, the best way to work your way back up to endorsement level 1 |
| 350s | is to demonstrate good teamwork |
| 352s | by trying your best, helping your team and using the in-game ping system. |
| 355s | In our second approach, |
| 357s | we will remove chat functionality for spectators. |
| 360s | Spectators don't have an in-game need to use the chat channels, |
| 364s | and by removing their ability to chat, |
| 366s | we remove a channel that is increasingly being used by bad actors. |
| 370s | Along with these improvements, |
| 372s | we are looking at making it easier and faster |
| 374s | to report any reportable offense mid-match. |
| 377s | At the moment, |
| 378s | our numbers indicate that most reporting is done towards the end or post-match, |
| 383s | and one reason for this is that it's not quick to report mid-match. |
| 387s | However, this could put pressure on players to remember |
| 389s | that they need to report, who to report, and what to report them for, |
| 393s | all after the match, and at that point, |
| 395s | they are likely more interested in just starting the next match. |
| 398s | So we are hoping that by making it faster to report mid-match, |
| 401s | more players will use the reporting system. |
| 404s | This is very important, |
| 405s | because we rely on players to help us know what is happening in matches |
| 409s | so that our mitigation systems can be more effective and reliable, |
| 413s | overall, making Overwatch a safer community for everyone. |
| 417s | Player feedback is a vital part of improving |
| 419s | and optimizing these types of features, |
| 422s | so we want to create even more avenues for you to share your thoughts with us. |
| 426s | In Season 11, we're introducing the first iteration of player surveys |
| 430s | into Overwatch 2. |
| 432s | This won't happen after every game, |
| 434s | because survey participants will be chosen at random among the playerbase. |
| 438s | The survey will be prompted after your progression screen |
| 440s | at the end of match flow. |
| 442s | This means that you'll be able to watch the Play of the Game, |
| 444s | give endorsements, and review progression without getting interrupted. |
| 448s | Once the progression screen has closed, |
| 450s | the survey will prompt the player for their feedback. |
| 453s | Both console and PC players will get the option |
| 456s | to give us feedback via a QR code. |
| 458s | PC players may also choose to open the link in a separate browser. |
| 462s | Surveys will ask questions about the game, including new modes, events, features, |
| 466s | and how you feel about the way we're mitigating disruptive play. |
| 470s | We're excited for this feature, |
| 471s | and we look forward to continuing to improve the game |
| 474s | as we gather your feedback. |
| 475s | These are just a few of the things we have been working on in this space. |
| 479s | We will continue to bring you updates on our progress |
| 481s | mitigating disruptive behavior via the Defense Matrix blogs, |
| 485s | which will get a refresh in the coming seasons |
| 487s | to include even more on the impact this work is having in the community |
| 491s | through transparency metrics. |
| 492s | Defense Matrix in Competitive will always be core to Overwatch, |
| 495s | and we'll continue iterating, improving |
| 497s | and, of course, listening closely to your feedback on these systems. |
| 501s | Please keep sharing your thoughts with us, and we can't wait to show you |
| 504s | what we've been working on in Season 10 and beyond. |
| 507s | See you soon! |
| 509s | Natasha said, "You will not be getting an outtake out of me today!" |
| 513s | Oh! My clip just came off! |
| 515s | ...any reportable offen-- in... |
| 518s | ...and they get... Okay. ...and they get worse... Wait. |
| 521s | I've reset. |
| 524s | ...and reliable. |
| 526s | You got so close to the end! |
| 529s | It's coming back for another pass. |
| 531s | -Circling. -It's turning around! |