Struggling to find my place in this game :(

[Orby]

First off I have been playing since late beta. Over that time I have come to love this game so much, especially as I am not a huge first person shooter fan. But lately (more so over the last two months) my enjoyment has fallen.

I am a person who doesn't play ranked because you need to be with friends to be successful in that mode and I don't have friends who play Overwatch. Plus the first experience led to be getting assaulted with insults and abuse, it totally triggered my anxiety that I never wanted to go back. This was back in Season 1. Especially when all I wanted to do is just play the game and do my best. I consider myself a good player I am not pro or nothing, but I have those characters that make me a capable player.

So when that happened I thought,. maybe I would just stick to quick play, have that experience but with no ranking system. And for the last year 9 months I would say I was having fun in Quick Play.

But recently something changed quick play has become filled with trolls, practice players, and people who just generally are not playing the game to win. Recently I have lost nearly every game because of people not "playing"

I love this game but I feel I don't have a play mode catered for me. I just want to play the game and win or lose just get my own satisfaction from it, like I was originally playing Quick Play. But it seems the game has become so toxic and trolled. I cannot enjoy it any more

Maybe I should go back to ladder again give it another shot. But I dont want to go back to be shit on verbally by groups of people who only see fit to pick on me because I am the odd one out in our group, because I am not grouped with them and don't know them like they probably know each other.

I would fancy a mode with that balance, that in between Quick Play and Ladder but I thought that's what Quick Play was supposed to be.

Some advice would be helpful on what would you guys do?

[Post]

You can turn off chat in ranked. Also I easily got to platinum solo, so you can have success there.

[Fus Ro Yay]

i would try to reach out to some people either on forums like these or other sources to find someone to play ranked with.
because Quickplay is arguably the best way to train or just chill and have fun with heroes you're not used to playing while still playing the game normally.
i can see your problem tho, so i wish you luck in your endeavours!

On blizzards side, i think a "solution" would be to change up the competitive points, adjust so you get slightly more for winning/losing in comp.
and add a very small comp point bonus every time you win in Quick play (2-3 points or something) Just to incentivize people to play for the win, and just not for the memes.

[Morglheim]

Either learn to cope with other people being trolls while playing online games, stop playing the game, or kill yourself. All 3 options are fine and have their own benefit, though I'd probably bet on the last one if you're such an anxious pussy over just video games

Infracted - Flaming

[kaamila]

like someone else said, you could just turn off ur chat when doing rank so you dont have to listen to the toxic players. IDK how it was in season 1 since i didnt do rank til the end of season 3 and really getting into it this season but ur not going to get flamed for queuing solo. if people are complaining and shitting on you it would be because youre playing hanzo/widow or other non meta heroes, or youre not as good as you think you are. dont mean that as an insult just stating the possibilities.

[DeadmanWalking]

You can play ranked fine solo, just don't cry like a baby when you hit a random group button and it does what it is intended to do, give you random people to play with that have random attitudes and random skills. If you absolutely can't do the group thing you can still do competetive. I do it from time to time, planned to do it all the time this season but I had some bad ram sticks giving me bsod for several weeks until I could figure out the culprit and I don't play in groups often.

Thing is I know what I am getting into when I go in and I don't come to the forums to throw pissy fits because I randomly got random people from pushing a random group button. It isn't a best of the best button. If you have a problem with possibly losing due to random groups then don't go solo into random groups and then whine about it. You should know that when you buy a lemon you could get a fine glass of lemonade or a shitty car that breaks down all the time. You will be rolling the dice every game. Own that in your head and you will be fine in solo comp.

[Hinastorm]

Either learn to cope with other people being trolls while playing online games, stop playing the game, or kill yourself. All 3 options are fine and have their own benefit, though I'd probably bet on the last one if you're such an anxious pussy over just video games

Infracted - Flaming

I also only play competitive online games with chat/communication off ( I even turn off pings if people are obviously trying to be a jerk with them)

Guess what, I wish I could play with it on, but so often if just devolves into the bullcrap the OP described.

I have a 4th option for you. Play the game how you want, and use the tools the game has to block out all the crap. While I dont have proof that you participate it this kind of chat, I have a hunch from your reply that you do. You are the problem, not me and the OP.

[Deleted]

First off I have been playing since late beta. Over that time I have come to love this game so much, especially as I am not a huge first person shooter fan. But lately (more so over the last two months) my enjoyment has fallen.

I am a person who doesn't play ranked because you need to be with friends to be successful in that mode and I don't have friends who play Overwatch. Plus the first experience led to be getting assaulted with insults and abuse, it totally triggered my anxiety that I never wanted to go back. This was back in Season 1. Especially when all I wanted to do is just play the game and do my best. I consider myself a good player I am not pro or nothing, but I have those characters that make me a capable player.

So when that happened I thought,. maybe I would just stick to quick play, have that experience but with no ranking system. And for the last year 9 months I would say I was having fun in Quick Play.

But recently something changed quick play has become filled with trolls, practice players, and people who just generally are not playing the game to win. Recently I have lost nearly every game because of people not "playing"

I love this game but I feel I don't have a play mode catered for me. I just want to play the game and win or lose just get my own satisfaction from it, like I was originally playing Quick Play. But it seems the game has become so toxic and trolled. I cannot enjoy it any more

Maybe I should go back to ladder again give it another shot. But I dont want to go back to be shit on verbally by groups of people who only see fit to pick on me because I am the odd one out in our group, because I am not grouped with them and don't know them like they probably know each other.

I would fancy a mode with that balance, that in between Quick Play and Ladder but I thought that's what Quick Play was supposed to be.

Some advice would be helpful on what would you guys do?

I find that competitive is actually best when solo queuing. I think you can get to grandmasters pretty easy solo, probs top 500 too if you're good enough. I think it's a myth that you need to be grouped.

My advice is to turn off chat. I pretty much ignore it totally, pick what's needed and go from there.

If you want to actually play with people you gotta make friends. No advice on that, I'm a misanthrope.

[Deleted]

I am a person who doesn't play ranked because you need to be with friends to be successful in that mode

Yea, see that's where you're already wrong. There's plenty of people who've climbed to Diamonds/Masters/Grandmasters playing completely solo, or just occasional grouping. 100% of the people who are "stuck" on low ranks while playing solo are there because they just are not good enough to get high. Not because of the lack of friends on their friends list.

[Perfectdoll]

First of to the people who dismiss your anxiety: Sod off.

Just because the internet has decided to make a meme of the whole 'triggered' thing doesn't mean it's a very real thing and it's fucking awful to experience. Something I have personal knowledge of, for reference. It thoroughly sucks that the OP was reduced to that state due to toxic players of a game the OP loves.

That said, in regards to trying out comp again, OP, I'd say go for it. Though I also recommend giving voice comms a try even if you only listen, it makes co-ordination so much easier, and it's better to have it on and turn it off as necessary rather than not give it a try to start with and ending up in a vicious circle of losing games.

In regards to characters - you didn't mention which ones you play well - I'd personally recommend trying to get skilled on at least two from each category, and with different styles of play (ex. Soldier/Pharah. Hitscan/projectile mid/long range) so that you can fill and/or switch as necessary to counter the enemy team without feeling like you're having to play a character you're subpar at just to 'fill'. In regards to heroes, it's also probably worthwhile to stay away from the tilt trio (Genji/Hanzo/Widowmaker) in comp, unless you do really well at them and are prepared to defend your choice. Else wise it's probably not worth the energy you'd have to expend to convince your team to give you a shot at them and then after for them to not blame you if your team loses (even if you did really well personally - anecdote; had a game the other day (just QP, Route 66 def on our part) where the enemy team had a very decent widow who got the kills she needed on our team and we were constantly urging our Winston to go harass her so she wouldn't pick us off, and a member of the enemy team went "on a scale from sucks to terrible, rate our WM" in match chat after they lost... Some four people on our team came to the WM's defense and went 'yeah no, she did good'.)

About not having people to play with... If you can manage it, talk to people when you play with them! And if you find people you synergise well with, check if you can add them to your friends list and poke them for playing together, I've done much the same and gotten a couple of cool people I play regularly with as a result of that. Trying to be positive, I've found, also really helps at least for myself, I get much less stressed out if I try to have a positive mental outlook on the games, and it certainly helps on voice comms to do the fun banter thing to help relax tensions in games and it makes for more enjoyable times while playing, even if you lose a game.

Also, (and boy this is gonna sound advertise-y), if you haven't checked 'em out, YourOverwatch on youtube does vids about the game and how to play various heroes well and how to think when playing and a bunch of other stuff and I personal feel like I learn things from every video I watch, even with being lvl 600+, so if'cha feel stuck about how to proceed, they might have some tips. Also, if you do go the discord server route to find people, they have a very large community where you can almost certainly find people to group with.

Good luck!

[Deleted]

You can get to top500 while playing solo, if you can't handle some trolls in the internet in 2k17 i don't know what to say.

[Swalload]

I think you are slightly over reacting to the one bad experience in ranked. If you're a decent player people shouldn't mind. I'm not the best, I make mistakes, I also have my moments, sure there are some negativity but nothing so bad as to stop me from playing ranked altogether.

I 100% agree with your views on quick play, people have become gigantic shits there, it's unplayable, always a bunch of people saying "it's just QP" as if it was an excuse for playing like a fucking retard.

[Rotted]

First off I have been playing since late beta. Over that time I have come to love this game so much, especially as I am not a huge first person shooter fan. But lately (more so over the last two months) my enjoyment has fallen.

I am a person who doesn't play ranked because you need to be with friends to be successful in that mode and I don't have friends who play Overwatch. Plus the first experience led to be getting assaulted with insults and abuse, it totally triggered my anxiety that I never wanted to go back. This was back in Season 1. Especially when all I wanted to do is just play the game and do my best. I consider myself a good player I am not pro or nothing, but I have those characters that make me a capable player.

So when that happened I thought,. maybe I would just stick to quick play, have that experience but with no ranking system. And for the last year 9 months I would say I was having fun in Quick Play.

But recently something changed quick play has become filled with trolls, practice players, and people who just generally are not playing the game to win. Recently I have lost nearly every game because of people not "playing"

I love this game but I feel I don't have a play mode catered for me. I just want to play the game and win or lose just get my own satisfaction from it, like I was originally playing Quick Play. But it seems the game has become so toxic and trolled. I cannot enjoy it any more

Maybe I should go back to ladder again give it another shot. But I dont want to go back to be shit on verbally by groups of people who only see fit to pick on me because I am the odd one out in our group, because I am not grouped with them and don't know them like they probably know each other.

I would fancy a mode with that balance, that in between Quick Play and Ladder but I thought that's what Quick Play was supposed to be.

Some advice would be helpful on what would you guys do?

Go play ranked solo, you can climb just fine.

I sucked donkey dick in season 1 and how rating works I'm still getting punished for that, (Literally, my 10 placements for s4, 8 wins, 1 loss 1 draw all but one as zen who had most golds nearly every game, 1200 rating), I've played this last week on and off each night as a break from work and just hit 1700 last night. Its slow and painful to climb out of wood, but doable. If you've been playing since beta and haven't got a previous season against you, no reason you shouldn't take your main and get a decent placement

- - - Updated - - -

I 100% agree with your views on quick play, people have become gigantic shits there, it's unplayable, always a bunch of people saying "it's just QP" as if it was an excuse for playing like a fucking retard.

This annoys the hell out of me. I'm learning to play orisa ready for season 5, I've done my fair share of bot games as practice and to get a feel of her, I'm now on QP games. When we do lose and someone kicks off, yes I do say it's just QP. You shouldn't be throwing your toys out of the pram because you lost a QP. Infact, the only time I say its just QP is when some idiot starts raging at people.

Where else do you expect us to go to practice new champions outside of bot games? We can only learn so much there and I'm certainly not taking a brand new champion into ranked

[Sanguinezor]

Disable Social(Chat/Voice) and play for fun (^^_)

Maybe pick up a new main.
I suggest Hanzo, Torb or Bastion and just think and laugh at all the hate messages that you are getting, but will never receive.

[Jyggalag]

OP let me ask you a question - why do you give a shit what anyone else in an online game thinks of your ability to play the game? Turn off all voice & text chat if that's possible (idk i haven't played it) and just start fucking people up. If anything laugh at them for being so mad and upset about losing a shitty jump in lobby style online video game to the point where they need to out of their way in an attempt to troll or bring you down just so they can vent.
For a long time I had a similar anxiety with every online game that I played, and today there's quite few that I would avoid because i know i cba putting in the time to get better and i'm competitive and hate losing, but usually after a few rounds of ranked play and quickly realise i'm just as good if not better than 90% of the people i'll encounter. I played HS for the first time ever with some mage deck i found online and won every match to rank 8 or smth and never played again because it's boring as hell imo. If you enjoy OW make it yours.

[Deleted]

Turn off all voice & text chat if that's possible (idk i haven't played it) and just start fucking people up.

Considering it's a objective-based, very team play oriented game, that's pretty stupid idea. At least if you're interesting in actually winning.

There's the 1v1 arcade mode for the people who don't care about playing as a team and/or communicating with their teammates.

[Jyggalag]

Considering it's a objective-based, very team play oriented game, that's pretty stupid idea. At least if you're interesting in actually winning.

Implying that anyone who wants to play any online team based/objective based game is stupid for not wanting to have to communicate with strangers they've been randomly matched with. It's the exact reason LFR exists in WoW. If anything, it just proves how shit the game is that you can join a lobby and be paired with people who don't want to speak to you and lose the game as a result. Can't ever see a system like that becoming toxic at all...
I've got friends that play CoD and battlefield and other online shooters and never join any communication channels and have won plenty of games. I don't imagine OW is any different unless you actually give a shit about your MMR. You can still win plenty of games at a low MMR, you'll just lose as many. Anyone that cares about their MMR in a game like OW needs to have a good look at themselves IRL

[Fluffyfluff]

Implying that anyone who wants to play any online team based/objective based game is stupid for not wanting to have to communicate with strangers they've been randomly matched with. It's the exact reason LFR exists in WoW. If anything, it just proves how shit the game is that you can join a lobby and be paired with people who don't want to speak to you and lose the game as a result. Can't ever see a system like that becoming toxic at all...
I've got friends that play CoD and battlefield and other online shooters and never join any communication channels and have won plenty of games. I don't imagine OW is any different unless you actually give a shit about your MMR. You can still win plenty of games at a low MMR, you'll just lose as many. Anyone that cares about their MMR in a game like OW needs to have a good look at themselves IRL

I agree with this human

A rank is just a number that goes up and down makes me giggle how many pple get so angry over this in game. it means nothing

[Deleted]

Rank means nothing. You can easily ignore your toxic team - mote them all. After it's a team based game, this means that you have to accept initially that there will be a certain amount of toxicity. If you wish to have a solo-oriented FPS - go for the new Quake.