Overwatch 2 season 2 is finally here, bringing with it new rewards, maps, and a tank hero in Ramattra. The new season also means more competitive play opportunities and chances to earn competitive points in Overwatch 2 ranked, which you can use to show off your skill when buying the highly coveted golden weapons in the multiplayer game.
Problem is, Blizzard has changed the way one of the core challenges for competitive play works, which incentives comp players to stop playing at a certain point, and that’s exactly what some say they’re going to do.
Blizzard has changed how the season end challenges work in Overwatch 2 ranked, and the fine print of these challenges appears to indicate that it would be better to stop playing the competitive mode of the FPS game when you get to a high rank, as you’ll still get the rewards.
Overwatch used to drop these challenges based on your season high SR (season rank), which meant that even if your rank went down, your rewards would be based on the highest skill tier you were in throughout the entire season. Now it looks like it’s based on the tier you’re in at the end of the season, which could mean that it would be better to get into something like Diamond, stop playing competitively, and wait for the competitive points to roll in instead of going down a tier and getting less.
In the Overwatch 2 ranked challenges menu, each tier challenge (from Bronze to Top 500) says you can “qualify for competitive rewards and end the season ranked as [challenge’s tier]. Only one rank challenge awarded.”
The choice of words here, specifically “end the season ranked as [challenge’s tier],” confirms that whatever tier you’re in at the end is used instead of your highest overall tier.
This is a massive shame, as Blizzard has changed the unlock method for Overwatch 2 season 2 hero unlocks into something we think is much better, while seemingly taking a step back with competitive challenges.
Turns out, a Twitter post from the official Overwatch account recently revealed that this change is actually deliberate, as it explains the change to Overwatch 2 competitive play rewards.
“At the end of every season, your final rank will be based on any matches played since your last rank update,” Blizzard writes. “End-of-season competitive rewards are based on your final rank.”
As you can imagine, this hasn’t gone down well with Overwatch 2 players and fans, with plenty of players in a recent Reddit post highlighting the problem saying they’ll just get to a point in competitive and stop playing.
“This is exactly what I’m going to do this season now that I know this,” says CongealedMemories. “This is exactly what I did lol,” adds iamturtle26.
If you want some guidance amid Overwatch 2 season 2 though, we’ve broken down all Overwatch 2 maps and game modes, alongside the best Overwatch 2 settings for your PC, and a definitive Overwatch 2 tier list of all roles and characters.
