“We wanted Champion to be a very prestigious rank, but unfortunately Champion 1 was almost impossible to achieve.”
Season 12 of Overwatch 2 will get a soft rank reset. Read on for what this means and what to expect in the upcoming season's ranked mode.
Overwatch 2 Season 12 rank reset explained
The start of Overwatch 2 Season 12 will include a soft rank reset, similar to the one in Season 9. Player ranks will decay, bringing everyone’s ranks closer to the average.
According to Overwatch 2 systems designer Gavin Winter, this approach aligns with major gameplay updates, such as the introduction of the Clash game mode, balance adjustments, and more. He also noted that rank resets are the only time that the Overwatch 2 team can redefine rank thresholds.
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Overwatch 2 reveals Champion 1 rank details
Winter then shared some insights about the Champion rank, explaining that Champion 1 was almost impossible to achieve by players.
"Champion, Grandmaster, and Master all had fewer players than we think they should, so we’ve remodeled our target rank distribution in our highest ranks," he said. "We also still had a few too many players in our lowest ranks, so that distribution has changed a bit, too."
In terms of his predictions for Overwatch 2 Season 12, the soft rank reset will allow both the lowest and highest-ranked players to reach new heights.
"Most of our highest and lowest ranked players will find themselves achieving new peaks after this reset, but the combination of techniques we're using in the reset gives everyone an opportunity to prove they're higher rank than they've ever been," he said.
More ranked updates
In terms of other updates, Winter introduced everyone to Competitive Drives in Overwatch 2. These events will begin near the end of a season and take place over a weekend. Competitive Drive events feature rewards such as Competitive Points and the all-new Competitive Signatures.
As for ranked-adjacent announcements, the game will soon let players avoid 15 teammates in total, replace Group Respawn with Wave Respawn, and add a speed boost to spawn exits in Flashpoint mode.
That's all for now. Are you excited about these adjustments? Stick around on esports.gg for more news and updates on all things Overwatch 2!