The life cycle of comp games in Overwatch 2 has been a work in progress ever since the second version of the game came out back in October 2022. With just over a year of tweaks and adjustments, we are getting yet another workaround for comp matches in the upcoming Season 9.
This is most certainly a good thing because, for a very long time, players have been confused, frustrated, and above all disappointed with how you can attempt to climb - or fall dramatically - in rank. The biggest point of contention is the lack of transparency in what makes a good run of games actually good.
There was no way of knowing exactly what caused a rank-up or a de-rank, and it often felt like a total roll of the dice when finally completing the 5-win cards. Overwatch 2 comp in Season 9 looks to alleviate this, by completely rehauling how rank is presented and earned.
During Blizzcon 2023, the Overwatch 2 devs revealed their new comp system, which finally does away with the win cards and losing streaks. They recognised that there was no incentive for players to keep grinding when on a loss streak because they were guaranteed to rank down because of it, so this rehaul looks to reward players regardless.
Instead of the cards, there will be a brand-new page used to display comp progress, called the "competitive overview". With this new and improved system, the player's rank will be displayed after every match, win or lose, for better or worse.
Some have claimed, however, that this overhaul is a classic Blizzard PR move. Take something away that is pretty much an industry-wide standard for most competitive game modes, make us really miss it, and then bring it back with a shiny new UI under the guise of listening to what the community wants and needs.
Regardless, we're just pleased that comp games in Season 9 and beyond will hopefully be far less brutal than how they are currently. For more Overwatch 2 content, be sure to check out our current heroes tier list, as well as our Genji and Kiriko guides.