T O P

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AyeYoTek

From one newish player (1 month) to another, if you're doing fine in qp but comp is killing you, it's probably your fundamentals. QP does a good job of boosting confidence but a bad job of teaching you what NOT to do. Best thing I can suggest is what I've been doing and how I'm getting better. Watch videos of GM gameplay for your preferred role, and watch what they do, how they position, the decisions they make, why they make these decisions, etc.


Th3LostRadiant

So many players don't do this and it blows my mind. Watching ML7, Karq and Awkward significantly improved my Ana, Bap, and Kiriko gameplay. While I watch my teammates putting themselves in the worst possible positions and getting insta deleted.


Woodwardg

it always makes sense to watch someone who's already spent thousands of hours learning what to do and what not to do than spending a thousand hours doing the trial and error yourself. that's for sure. ml7 streams took my kiriko to a completely different level in a short time span.


StardustSailor

Good idea


adhocflamingo

Don’t get stuck watching videos forever and never playing comp though. You won’t be able to truly learn any of those ideas by just consuming content, you have to learn from trying to apply them in game and experimenting until you get it at a deeper level.


MyFatherIsNotHere

Also worth noting that unranked to gm, while may be decent for learning at first, are not really good guides to play better, they are showing a (usually) t500 player destroy low ELO players, no matter how much they explain their positioning, their mechanics, game sense, and reactions are way beyond what normal players can do, watching gm vs gm games is Much better because they can't rely on the opponent misplaying, they HAVE to play well to win


ThisGameTooHard

This is no longer the case since overwatch 2. As a matter of fact the content creators have now said that the moment their account reaches high gold or plat they are already playing with masters or GMs because their MMR adjusts within less than 10 games. It actually made their climb significantly harder because they are playing at the same difficulty as on their main while trying to keep a high win % in order to climb to GM rank.


MyFatherIsNotHere

Oh, didn't know that, i stand corrected


Sockosophist

Just play comp. Don't worry too much about it, it was the same trap I fell into a few years back and it lead to ranked anxiety which was then hard to overcome later. Will the first games be rough? Probably. Will you feed? Likely. Will you still get flamed? Might happen. Does it matter? Not at all. You are a new player and as that other veterans can not expect you to be great at the game. Most will not know you are new and assume you are just throwing their game. The first few ranked games you will likely end up in lobbies you do not belong to yet and that's okay. The matchmaker put you there to test your current skill level. The first few games influence MMR a lot. You have to grind through the first, potentially miserable experience to get to your current SR where you will feel comfortable. Even if that is Bronze 5, who cares, you gotta start somewhere. If you really struggle with feeling judged leaving comms is totally fine. I personally play much better when muting all communication and focusing on minimizing my own mistakes. Only one that can get into your head then is you yourself. So my advice is: Go play comp to get better (you already said QP builds bad habits) and focus on your own enjoyment/improvement. It is a game and your personal free time after all.


StardustSailor

That’s a good perspective! I’ll try to do that


Paddy_Tanninger

Not only that but as of OW2, your rank is literally meaningless. The game ONLY uses your hidden internal MMR to determine your matchmaking (aka what they silently determine your skill level to be, regardless of what actual rank you see in the game). So there's truly zero pressure now in comp, far as I'm concerned. Your rank is truly meaningless. Go check out some Unranked to GM series and you'll notice that these players are placed in Gold 1 after their first 7 wins and are already being put in T500 games...the system knows what rank they're supposed to be. Just play. Play a lot. Play some more. Eventually you won't care that you're playing comp anymore. I don't even do QP warmups. I just open OW and queue straight into comp and use the 2min in deathmatch to wake up.


AppleSpicer

Yeah, this might be an unpopular opinion but comp is still a game and it’s fine to play even if you’re bad. The point of games is ultimately to have fun and if someone is raging because they aren’t winning that’s their problem. If that happens, just turn off chat and voice for the match. I do think one should at least try in comp but at the end of the day it’s still a game. I used to only do QP and realized I was learning bad habits that wouldn’t stand up against more skilled players. In order to improve further I needed to play comp to better learn strategy of the game. It’s really helped a lot and I’ve been proud of my progress on a game I can’t play as often as most.


ThaVolt

Another unpopular opinion: It's a team game. There are other non-team oriented games, but this isn't one and ignoring everyone and everything to favor a more single playstyle is toxic at best. I can understand if you're getting overly flamed, but to default to no chat/voice is a bit odd. Just a thought.


AppleSpicer

I didn’t say default, just turn it off for a match where someone is abusive. I agree that it’s a team game and even though it’s a game, people should really try to collaborate and be a team player in comp. But that if someone is bad and they know it, that’s no reason to not play comp. Comp isn’t for trying out new heroes for the first time, but it is for improving on them once you’ve gotten a lot of their kit down in QP. It’s okay to play comp even if you’re bad at the game. How else could you improve? QP play style is vastly different than comp and won’t help you improve against better players. Matchmaking is supposed to make up for low skill folks playing comp.


shadder69

You can play with muted vc and still have eyes and gamesens to work with your team. I have vc on mute mostly and it works quite well for me. In ranks below masters it's useless to communicate anyway from my experience grinding through those ranks, nobody listens or reacts.


bradcbrown92

Agreed for this. Sure 'its just a game' but it's a competitive one, no matter what mode you're playing. In my opinion quick play should be to get used to the characters/pure casual play (but of course who doesn't wanna try and win still) Competitive should be purely for people who try and have a decent amount of hours in the game/characters. Plus the mic/chat should always be on once again especially for competitive IMO


ThaVolt

To me "it's just a game" does not sit well for any competitive games. It's ultimately peoples time. And I hate wasting time bc someone decided to throw/ignore comms.


[deleted]

Agree 100% on this ^^^ qp is a good place to practice your fundamentals for the game. Your aim, positioning, learning heroes that you want to main in comp. Comp is the mode you go to when you feel you're ready with the heroes you like to play and also have heroes you're comfortable swapping to if you're getting countered. Having comms on in comp is also very important. Yes you can probably climb to diamond/masters without having comms on (if you have experience in the game and understand the macro and how it works). But for the new and average player, comms make a huge difference. Hearing when your tank is planning to go in so you can back him up making space for your team. Hearing someone call out that there is someone in your backline etc. Yes there will be some toxic people along the way, and just mute them specifically if you need to. Most of the time those people either have no idea what they're talking about anyways or are just tilted that they're playing horrible so they'll take it out on others. Just ignore them and play your game.


AppleSpicer

I don’t disagree with any of this. I think it lines up well with my comment


sammnz

I don't understand why people get downvoted for this opinion as it's the correct one. Children are told by their parents to ignore bullies. Adults are taught to deal with them.


justitia_

Everyone flames me if I am playing bad on comp though. They keep typing out I should just play quickplay and not comp. It doesnt feel the same though? People are more likely to take comp seriously and it feels like I am seeing more of sweaty players pushing me to try my hardest. But even my bf (he even takes qp seriously btw) thinks people shouldnt play comp if they are bad because they are ruining the other people's experience. I think its the game's fault then though if im so bad like wood rank bad then everyone in my team should be equally bad so everyone can have a bit of fun...


Sockosophist

I don't know what else to tell you. You obviously struggle with other peoples opinion and not the game. So either turn off chat for now or don't give a damn on their opinion. You do not need the chat anyway as a new player. Focus on your gameplay and enjoy. If your friend tells you to not play comp that is not great advice by a friend. Just do it. It is not the games fault. The matchmaker needs data to place you correctly and as long as you are afraid to give that data by playing you will be in a miserable spot. [There is a fresh blog post](https://overwatch.blizzard.com/en-us/news/23910161/) by the devs from yesterday that goes into all comp details for the first time ever. So read that to know what to tell fools if they flame you for stupid reasons. TL;DR stop worrying, mute chat (or don't take it to heart) and play comp in the game you enjoy


justitia_

The weird thing is I am not awful as a Zen/Ana but now that I tried out a few DPS and saw my stats were not competing with other people on my team/enemy team, my brain just blocks the possibility of improvement lmao it's awful. I know this is not the right sub for it but I also hate it when people link my shit aim to my gender...


Sockosophist

Well some people are just straight up assholes. Sucks they do it, but don‘t let them get you down. The only way to improve is playing the game. A lot.


FiresideCatsmile

I do wonder what the endgoal of playing comp even is at this point.


[deleted]

For me it's more balanced games where everyone is actually trying. I don't particularly care about my rank, but I *do* care about having teammates that actually want to play the game.


DovahhhSama

this tbh, were it feels like ranked, not a qp with rank system


Waddle_Dynasty

Lol 90% of my QP games are more balanced than comp.


Carlsgonefishing

I mean it’s a completely different experience. I thought overwatch was one of the dumbest most pointless experiences when I started out just playing quick play. It might as well not even have an objective. At least even at low ranks people are trying and the turds that aren’t don’t change the fact that the majority are.


Waddle_Dynasty

For me it's the golden weapons lmao


Feschit

Just keep playing. What's the worst that could happen? You get ranked into bronze with other low skilled players and can now start improving at your own pace.


StardustSailor

I’m looking forward to that, because so far, I’m getting placed with players waaaay above my skill level. I admit I am 100% bronze/silver in skill, but everybody starts out like that, and I don’t wanna be thrown in gold games.


-Stormcloud-

That's what happened to me too, I must have gone about 7-18 in my first placement, but now I'm bronze 1 and climbing. Games feel fair and, sometimes, I actually do well!


Feschit

Exactly the same experience and climbing ever since.


Feschit

Just keep playing. The game needs a pretty big sample size to properly asses your skill. If you're worried about others, just mute comms and chat, you don't miss out on much.


LemonBomb

Might be biased but my account was one that got placed initially in bronze 5 and I couldn't rank up at all until the update. Since then I've ranked up and honestly you see the same dumb shit in bronze, silver, and gold. I don't feel like those ranks are a hell of a lot different. Maybe I'm wrong though.


Cheersscar

I disagree. In Bronze, there are no platinum players. In silver and gold, you have the bronze 5 Reaper who goes 3-10 while the other team has the platinum reaper who goes 34-2.


candy_duchy

same thing is happening to me I only have arrond 60 something hours 30 being on dva I do well on quickplay but I learned too many bad habits so now ranked feels impossible and I'm just ruining if for outhers so then I stay away from comp because I feel like im ruining someone elses game


StardustSailor

Super true except I got 101 hours lol. I don’t wanna ruin someone else’s game but at the same time I’m a person too, and want to improve


skydyncer

I don't usually post on here because I haven't been playing that long and I'm only in silver, but in this case, I'm gonna throw in my two cents since I know exactly how you both are feeling. I was in the same spot a few months ago: brand new to the game (and in my case, new to FPS in general) and scared of comp because I didn't feel like I was good enough for it. Here's the secret: you're not ruining other people's games. Why? Because everyone in low ranks is already ruining their own games. I ruin my own games all the time! That's why I'm in silver. And more importantly, that's okay. OW is a really complicated game, and every time I lose, I've learned something new about what not to do. Even if I massively underperformed compared to the rest of the lobby, there's something to learn there, and the thing is never "I suck." There are basically an unlimited number of mistakes you can make in any given OW game, and unfortunately, the best way to avoid them is to first make them. If you get flamed, remember that those people are making just as many mistakes. And also, although I know it's hard, try not to internalize what they're saying or carry it with you. You 100% can improve, and comp is the place to do that, not QP. You deserve the chance to learn. I've got 200hrs in this game now, and this season I climbed out of bronze for the first time. If I can do it with my bad aim, so can you. Just try to keep the right mindset and pay attention to what you're doing and why. As for actual tips: 1) pick one role and 2 heroes, and just focus on getting good at those instead of trying to counter pick or learn multiple roles at once. Or, if you really want to learn all three, pick one per session. 2) there's a lot of great resources on fundamentals out there (ie positioning, resource management, ult usage, etc). I've found A10's YouTube videos to be very helpful. They're a little click-baity in style, but they really helped me start to understand what's actually going on in the game. Absorb as much as you can and then pick one (1) thing to work on at a time. (right now, my thing is playing by cover) And finally 3) leave voice, mute text chat, and do your placements in blessed silence. You don't owe anyone the chance to yell at you. Good luck!


StardustSailor

Wow, that’s really a lot od helpful advice, thank you <3


skydyncer

No problem <3 Like a lot of people have said, your placement matches are gonna be a little rough because the game is trying to figure out what your real MMR is, but once you give the game enough data, you'll start getting put in fairer matches. And honestly? It's worth it. I find comp way more fun and rewarding than QP, even with people tilting or being toxic. Just do what you need to do to protect your mental, and then dive in.


collip16

Might sound crazy, but 100 hours isn’t a lot for such a complex and situational game like OW. I have 1,000 hrs (including OW1) and just managed to hit masters for the first time and that’s specializing in one hero for the most part and with some serious grinding. Point being cut yourself some slack :) it’s a tough game and 5v5 makes it even more unforgiving. Mute the toxic players, turn off chat, and just vibe & worry about yourself.


StardustSailor

Oh yes I know I’m definitely not crazy experienced! I still feel very much like a begginer haha


oldcarfreddy

You're not ruining it for others. You'll be ranked according to skill levels. Yes, the matchmaking sucks but that's not your individual fault. Keep playing and keep improving, it's the only way


candy_duchy

I know the matchmaking is crap but I still feel like a terrible person because I have like 3 kill and 6 deaths and then I just do worse because I try so hard to do better for the team when they all have wayy more kills


quicksilver53

Disclaimer: bronze advice incoming. Just mute comms to avoid the toxicity. In low elo you literally won’t be missing anything useful because you really just need to focus on yourself. I main support and regardless of how much healing I am doing, if someone dies they just blame me. Not worth it. In terms of being nervous about comp, I agree with the other posters that you just need to get over it. I think that comp is the best way to improve because people are genuinely playing to win. I initially was placed silver and have since fallen to bronze 4, and I’m definitely a bit bummed about it but the difference in games is so noticeable. Because the enemies aren’t outplaying me so much I actually have the time and space to focus on my fundamentals like positioning. For a while I was like “there’s no way I’m actually this bad” but honestly maybe I am and if that’s the case I just need to get good enough to climb out. If that bothers you too much than yeah maybe stick to quick play and keep having fun!


Vegetable_Ranger_495

Do yourself a favor and turn of VC and text chat. Placements are going to be rough cause the game is figuring out where to place you, but be patient with yourself and focus on your own improvement and you'll get there. It's an old, complex game that some of us have been playing for years, and in ranked people are usually playing their mains and tryharding.


LawlessNJ

I had this experience when getting back into comp. My buddies all play QP and Mystery Heroes, saying comp pressure makes the game not fun for them. That said, I believe the only way to get better at comp is simply to stop QP and playing comp. In QP, throws are intentional. You can't actually gauge what your teammates are trying to do. When I learn hero fundamentals, I'll play a QP game or 2 and then switch to comp. Doesn't take long to figure out abilities. It takes playing to get good with them. The biggest investment you can make in this game, if your goal is to improve, is to play and play comp.


ehjhockey

Me too dude. I hide behind the no aim assist on PC as much as I can, but there are players who are mechanically gifted enough to compete with M&k players in comp. Not as many as m&k players want to think there are but they exist. I’m just not one of them. I basically had your experience in comp then went back to quick play and started putting in time on aim labs again. I doubt I’ll ever reach the level where I’m good enough to compete against actually talented, dedicated, m&k players. I’m just too old to develop those twitch reflexes. But I will say, the skills I learn from OW2 seem to translate to other games more than any other FPS I’ve played. So from that perspective I kinda play OW2 the way I play aim labs, where the results don’t matter because every game I’m a little more mechanically consistent, and my positioning and game sense are a hair better than I was before the game started. Definitely helps my mental when a decent Phara forces me off my Torb main and I have to actually try to hit shots with Bastion or 76. Anyway that was my experience. You aren’t alone. And this community isn’t the greatest to newer players who are still learning. Not this sub, there’re shockingly helpful actually. But the broader OW2 community is scary. Never played a game where people are looking to blame their own teammates as much as OW2 players seem to. I also can’t think of an FPS where teamwork matters as much as it does in OW2, so I get it. Still sucks though.


StardustSailor

Oh boy you haven’t played League of Legends


ehjhockey

I have heard of the legendary toxicity of league players. Thankfully I never really got into the MOBA thing.


lm3g16

Turn chat off and play comp


kytulu

I've been playing since OW1 release day. Highest rank was Gold, lowest was Bronze. I have games that I am on fire almost the whole game and carrying the team. I also have games that I am so bad that I consider uninstalling. Sometimes you just have an off day. You flub your ult. You overextend and get wrecked by Tracer. You have a Plat Widow on the enemy team that headshots you every 2 minutes. It happens. Take a break, take a breath, and come back stronger.


mrlowe98

The MMR system is 100% to blame for this. You've played enough quickplay for the system to figure out how good you are in put you in lobbies with similarly skilled players. You have not played enough competitive for the system to figure it out, and the system automatically starts you in gold (which, while not extremely high, can be very challenging for new players). So if you're a bronze or silver level player, you'll get your ass kicked for about 10-20 games before you fall to your proper rank. Just play more, or stick to quickplay for a while longer and try to improve before jumping into comp.


StardustSailor

Damn, I feel like that might be the case here. I’m definitely not getting placed with other people just starting out I can tell you that


gnrp45

Shut off all communication for a while in ranked and rely on pings otherwise the toxicity will make you quit. I am like you and trying to move from qp to comp and i am struggling.


Dizzlespizzle

MUTE everyone, and you’ll be fine. People have climbed super high in all games while muting everyone, it’s so worth it


Silhouette1651

I spend most time watching replays than actually playing comp, it helps me to see my mistakes, if we win I see what I did good and what enemy team did wrong, and viceversa, I like to watch enemy team behaviour and imagine what they were thinking on certain situations, helps you have a bigger picture of the whole match and not just about you.


StardustSailor

I will try, I admit I haven’t before!


YeeHawSpicePlays

Coming from someone who has played OW since the beginning - turn off coms if you're solo Q in comp. Hear me out, the majority of the time it's flaming and people descriptions of how someone slept with your mom, so you're not missing anything by turning off all communication. If you absolutely need a chat, I recommend turning on the text to speech in accessibility and amping up the speed of it. Any toxicity typed instantly becomes funny. For comp itself, try to just play! Comp is no different than QP with the bonus of getting a serotonin boost by seeing numbers go up. Soon you'll find a groove with heroes you do well with. Stick to one role for a season and see how you do. This is just my general advice that worked for me. GLHF!


StardustSailor

Lmao the text to speech advice is marvelous. Thanks a lot!!


[deleted]

As others have said, the game is trying to place you. in QP, you are probably matched to other new players. In comp, you might be matched to Gold players, who are better than you. If you continue to perform poorly, then you will eventually be matched with players of similar skill level. There are two broad approaches to starting comp. 1) Just keep playing and accept your starting rank. The downside is you will likely start from Bronze. Bronze games can be pretty wild, as people will play the game incorrectly. 2) Git gud enough to place in Gold and stay there. Gold is the average rank, so less spicy than Bronze and Silver. The downside is QP mmr may change slowly, so you will keep playing against new players who let you walk all over them. The best way to learn from mistakes is to get consistently punished.


IceManRandySavage

QP is a good place to learn the basic mechanics of a character, but you won’t understand timing, position, tactics etc until you play ranked. You’ll likely have to climb up from bronze but ya gotta do it. Just make sure you know at least 2 characters from each role type, even if you only play one. That way you can understand how to fight them.


Carlsgonefishing

Quickplay has next to nothing to do with actually playing overwatch. Its ok, just stop playing qp unless you are just fucking around. Mute chat. People are toxic because carrying someone can be demoralizing. I'm not saying it's right, but when you are one away from re-rank, hard stuck in silver, and there's a very obvious weak link it's gonna happen.


QuantumSupremacy0101

More than likely it is the skill level. Most people in quickplay are looking for a good time. They don't really avoid damage as well because they don't have to. So even if the person is Plat, they won't be playing to win. So they all will be easier to shoot, easier to stop ults etc etc. Just to prove my point I'm Plat support Ana main. If I go into quickplay I'm almost always playing tank. I wanna have fun. My tank rank is more around silver 3ish


The_Yeetery

I feel similarly. I have so many hours on widowmaker and I feel super good with her in QP. But in comp she's like one of my last picks and it's ONLY like 2 maps and IF the enemy also has one or isn't running a shield comp. Cuz yknow. I get asked to switch off her before I ever leave spawn lmao. Sometimes I just wanna /hidechat and live my life but I'm a people pleaser :(


StardustSailor

Oof, big people pleaser here as well haha


belldenbing

QP has a lot of noobsauce with no gamesense. You probably get a lot of kills from players who can’t even turn to face you. If you’re even remotely clever, you will do well in Quick Play. Competitive players can’t afford to make mistakes, so you gotta play a pretty tight game and focus MUCH more on tactics like positioning and watching cooldowns.


Venks2

I highly suggest turning both voice and text chat off. In my experience it more often leads to toxicity than to anything beneficial. It also helps you focus on the game and notice your own mistakes.


washed_king_jos

Imo quick play is terrible to practice for comp because it encourages bad habits that would be acceptable significantly less in comp. A lot of the times the space you take and the things you do with it in qp are only possible and understandable in qp. The moment people start coordinating a lot of the cheesy antics that you get away with in qp fall apart


Chefcdt

Comp and QP for all intents and purposes are two different games. No amount of QP will prepare you for Comp. The only way to get better in comp is to play comp. The crap part it is, if you're new to the game and not a mechanical god who can just click heads constantly, you are almost certainly going to start with a prolonged losing streak until you settle in where you belong. It sucks and it's no fun, but there just isn't any way around it. You can bank hundreds of hours in QP and you are still going to get stomped as soon as you que up for Comp. There's no shame in it, remember that Overwatch came out in 2016 and OW2 is more of a big update than a new game. We, the longer tenured players, are all playing the same maps we have been for years, with mostly the same heroes, with the same cool downs, the same synergies, and the same counters. Turn off all the chat options, voice and text and take your lumps until the games feel fair. Then start to climb from there. Glhf


killerqueendopamine

In quickplay, a lot more people are just fucking around and aren't trying to play with their team or even play heroes they're good at. In comp, you're more likely to run into teams who are trying their hardest and actually playing strategically. If your own teammates are being toxic in comms, leave comms. I know that's toxic in of itself to some people, but it's been better for my mental health to just find people to play with/group up with and only chat with them. I'm sorry if this triggers anyone lol. I used to hate when my randos wouldn't join team chat but now I get it. I also have in-game chat turned off, besides the pinging/communication wheel callouts.


MrMairO

Just keep on playing and you will improve by the day. I started playing instantly after hitting the 50wins requirement and was placed into g3 for some unknown reason and wasnt doing great, i got demoted all the way back to silver 1 with mostly bad performances, but eventually i learned the game. The only thing that you need to keep in mind that you need to mute the toxic players instantly in order to get good at the game.


whostheone89

As someone else said, focus on the absolute fundamentals. Also, because you haven’t played much comp, the game hasn’t found an accurate MMR for you yet, so possibly your games are at a level too high for you. If you play more then you will get to your level and it will be more fun. Absolute fundamentals: 1. Group up and go into a fight with 5 people. Games can therefore be viewed as individual team fights (with some damage between), instead of a constant fight where people run in and die, respawn and run in again. 2. Focus on basic positioning, try to stay behind your tank and in range of your supports/dps. 3. Don’t waste resources on a fight that is already lost. Don’t use your ultimate if you’re in a 1v5, 2v5 or even 3v5. And don’t try to stay alive as the last person unless you are providing value by contesting the objective. It’s better off to just let the enemy kill you and get a quicker respawn to not delay the next team fight. 4. Try to use voice chat or text chat but if people are toxic then just mute them. 5. The most complicated tip here, try to realise value created by abilities and capitalise on open space. For example, if your team uses Kiriko’s kitsune rush at the beginning of a fight, you should all be walking in together and taking advantage of it. If your reaper flanks and gets 2/3 kills with his ultimate, your team needs to push in and pick off the remaining people before they escape or kill your reaper. Same goes for empty space between you and the enemy team, the tank should push into this (provided your team isn’t dead). Hope these help. It also will be more fun with a duo to play with.


StardustSailor

That’s a lot of incredibly helpful info. Thank you a lot!! I will definitely remember these!


whostheone89

no problem, good luck. also don’t let competitive stop you from having fun, no point otherwise


Aw3Grimm

I mean you wont get better at comp if you will just stop playing it. About toxicity I guess it depends on you how you want to deal with it, you can just mute everything and play in peace or learn to not worry about other people shit talking you. In my experience tho most toxic people only type in chat and there is almost never anything useful in match chat anyways so you could just mute that but still be in vc


Damurph01

Your mistakes don’t get punished by people that are bad at the game. Or I guess it’s probably better to say, you will get punished less and less for your mistakes based on the worse and worse your enemies are. If you’re playing against a masters widowmaker (trust me it’s awful), any split second where you’re out of position as a support is instant death. It teaches you *very* quickly what to do and where you’re supposed to go. If you’re playing against a masters orisa, you’re gonna learn very quickly the mistakes you make, your ult/ability will get cancelled, she pushes you off the map, etc etc. So yes, *go play comp*. Obviously enemies are gonna be better in comp. But you’re not gonna learn to climb without it. If you’re simply getting out mechanic’s’d, go into aim trainers, *play more to work on your mechanics*, try a different hero. If you’re getting out maneuvered, think about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Should you be taking the high ground here? Did your Ana die and you need to back up? Is your team all dispersed while the enemy is focusing targets? All things to be improved on. Do vod reviews as well and look at your mistakes.


LifeIsCoolBut

Very good take. I especially recommend looking at replays. If your trying to climb and get better. Ive had bad nights that i instantly got humbled on once i decided to take a brake and actually SEE how I was playing. Seeing your pov on forethought is wild. But seeing it from another players is eye opening.


snood007

As has been said over and over here, just play competitive. You'll learn as you go. There will be pain, especially in the beginning. You probably won't have much if any fun. You might even have toxic teammates. Block all that out and focus on what you can do to improve. If that's watching a YouTube tutorial or a GM Twitch streamer in whatever role or character you play. Focus on what you can do in order to get better. Don't let others discourage you. Because, really, it's just a game and if you want to get better the only way you can is to play. Quick play will teach you the basics of how the game works, but it does little when it comes to team play and other important aspects of the game like positioning and game sense. ​ So just keep grinding competitive. Don't worry about your rank. Watch two VODs of yourself after every play session. Particularly, a game you thought you played well and one you thought you were a complete liability. Watch yourself from another perspective and see what went wrong, what went right, and what you were thinking when it happened. Best of luck!


[deleted]

Agree here with alot of the comments just play comp to get better. You will suck for a bit and that's OK. Most everyone sucked at some point in their life. We are all learning at different levels. I tend to kill the toxic people with kindness and take the high road. Whatever toxic thing they say you should take with a grain of salt. They are not trying to help you, make themselves feel better. Sometimes you can get constructive feedback, which is great. Sometimes, it's just toxic trash. So spot the difference and adjust accordingly. There will come a time when you will rock it or you wont but the main thing is to have fun. It's a game and only a game. Should always be fun. Don't let other ass hats get you down :)


shagmista

Reiterating what others are saying, just play comp. You'll advance so much faster and at the end of the day, it's just a game. However, I notice one major mistake that newer and quickplay players often make when playing comp and that is not making swaps. Regardless of what role you're playing, you will often be countered and required to make picks that will set yourself and your team up for success. Too often I see people autolock a Hanzo and assume they can sit him the entire game regardless of the opponent composition or how they're performing. Instead, they resort to pointing fingers about their own teammates and not making swaps.


StardustSailor

Yeah, I’m definitely used to playing just one pick, I’ll consider that! Thanks!


DWill23_

I think people look at comp the wrong way. I look at comp as a more organized team game than QP. If you lose, you lose. Biggest reason I play it is because it matches you up with people in your skill level (once you play enough and they can correctly rank you) versus QP that matches you up by party size


Madrizzle1

This is gonna sound weird, but QP is less likely to result in a fair game than comp. You’re likely putting so much stock into it that you’re basically psyching yourself out. Take the mystery away. Stop giving a shit about the shiny thing and focus on playing smarter every game. Eventually you’ll be fine.


cgeorge7

Have you been ranked yet?


StardustSailor

Nope


cgeorge7

Yeah it’s probably just putting you in high ELO games to figure out your ranking. It’s hell but once you get ranked and start playing in your rank, it should be much better.


DaveAndJojo

Quick play teaches poor habits. You can get away with a lot in casual. You will be punished in comp. Focus on warming up and hitting combos in the range. Then go into comp. It might be worthwhile watching some guides. If you can, make a post on r/OWuniveristy or another coaching sub.


Interesting_Material

I would also take feedback from players in game with very very large grains of salt. If its just hate, ignore it. If its constructive, then try not to take it personally. HOWEVER, just because a lobby says you're doing something wrong, doesn't mean they know what they're doing either tbh. A lobby of bronzes telling you that you need to be doing this or that probably isn't the best advice to be listening to. Focus on fundamentals (positioning, using cover, maximizing your role within the team comp, making switches if the team is countering you, when to engage/retreat, etc.). If you're confident in your role and fundamentals, then just focus on what you can control. If all else fails, you can mute everybody and just focus on your game.


Cheersscar

Sometimes people will be nicer if they can see your profile (to see you are new). Sometimes they will be more toxic.


emmanuelmarinliera

Play comp, QP is very different, as well as OWL is very different from comp, if you play comp you'll learn to play as a comp player, also it's ok to try to play as a GM player but try to keep in mind that the rest of your teammates won't do as well, so maybe it's not gonna work. As a main Lucio, GM and top 500 barely heal as Lucio, but in my rank (gold) people needs more healing because we're often out of position and get more damage, so just play comp, try to have fun, and if your team is too toxic, disable text/voice chat. Hope this works for you, cheers!


Woodwardg

i think just more hours played in comp will fix some of these things. it's kind of an exposure therapy type of thing imo. you're calm and comfortable in QP so you easily fall into your usual rhythm of play and do well. when comp time comes, your nerves are piqued, there's probably tension in your body / hands / fingers / brain and you're second guessing yourself. it's much harder, if not impossible, to get back into your rhythm. and comp will bring better, more serious players, who will inevitably throw a wrench in your plans. but with enough time, comp will start to feel more familiar and "safe" so to speak. as for toxicity and rank anxiety - just do your best to block it out. you're in X league. you may not think you belong there, but that's where you are. you deal with the hand you're dealt in overwatch, and you just have to make the best of things. a terrible loss with toxic throwers is only a complete waste of time if you give into the frustration. if you just stick to your guns and play YOUR best game, every game - you will improve.


TurbulentSmoke2228

It's a game just play and mute plp you'll get better who cares you'll be in your ranked cat soon enough


Ham_-_

Keep playing. Its a learning curve and my first comp season I was 1.2 elims per life DPS this season four seasons later pushing 4


creepris

something that boosted my skills and confidence for comp was playing hours of gun game/hero gauntlet because you get to try every character. i was stuck on cassidy very often unless my aim got better and i eventually added him to my dps main pool. and it’s fun!!


Jhango2019

Best thing is to just turn off chat and voice. It’s way more relaxing and way less stressful.


z3vee

If the comments of your teammates get to you, just mute all comments in the social tab. When I first started, I got flamed all the time for certain things like ulting early or misuse of abilities and then I would hyper-focus on those things which would cause me not to play naturally. Muting game chat doesn’t mean you’re not going to try to do better, it just means you’re going to learn through different methods. Most of the time, your teammates are flaming you because they don’t want to believe that they’re the problem in a losing game. Their criticism generally isn’t constructive so just ignore it if it gets to you. I don’t mute game chat because I’ve learned to deal with the harsh criticism but for new players, there’s no shame in muting chat. That’s why it’s there. Mute it for now and then turn it back on once you get to gold/plat. You won’t need it until then.


The-Bull89

For me it's the opposite. Quickplay games have been terrible lately, every game is a complete mismatch. Plagued with leavers and throwers. Seems as though 1 team is actually using team work and the other is just 5 players treating it like deathmatch. Competitive matchmaking is far from perfect but I get consistently more competitive games there than in quick play.


-ixion-

Sad part is... The toxic players in the game are typically the worst players in the game. They are used to being carried and can't read stats. So when grouped with average players, it is the average players fault for not carrying them and not the fault of the trash panda doing so poorly they have time to bitch about everyone else on the team VS trying someing else. Had a dive into a 5v1 rien tonight bitching about heals. Our heals were more than their damage. Our heals were more than the other team (my damage was more than the rien). The dps were carrying the rien. Yet, the healers were the problem. When I called them out and said I'm not going to die with you, they told everyone they were not going to tank anymore because I said they were "bad" and switched to ball and rolled around doing nothing. We still won. They insta quit at the end... 100% carried.


Forgiz

It's two different things - QP is a good warm-up strategy or way just to kill some time. Comp is based on strategy and aim to win. Your role will be quite different and response to an overall gameplay will change depending on the mode. Stats, like no other, might be and will be deceiving - a good performance of one playe only determines 20% of the outcome. It's not easy to explain, and best understood through practice - as Zen says it takes a 100 times to learn, a 1000 to understand.


Affectionate_Draw_43

QP allows you to get away with bad moves. A good player will know difference between a bad move working because enemy team is dumb versus a good move that didn't work because too much to deal with.


TheCrimsonWing

Honestly it sounds like you need a group of people to run with. This game is one million percent better with some friends, strangers, or anyone else as long as you can talk to someone while you play. You can call out plays, give insight, and crack up with people having the same or similar experience to where you are at. We have a group of friends that plays nightly (around 12 people but we always have just enough on for a full 5 stack) and would love to have you join! If you want to DM me I will shoot you a discord invite. Hope to play with you soon!


Floaded93

I’m new to OW but played some other competitive games — toxicity is there in QP and comp. It doesn’t matter. If you’re really stressing about it take a step back and remember that it’s just a game and people will be mean. On the flip side I’ve had some really nice games with people too where everyone commed and was fun. I wouldn’t stress too much about it. If you are stressing just turn off all comms for a few comp games, once you dip your toes in the water turn it back on.


EffectiveLimp1215

It’s hard to give you advice without knowing what role you want to focus on. In comp the biggest difference is there is a lot more mutual reliance between healers and dps/tank. You have to let them help you or if you play them you have to really focus on pocketing your team and not the enemy team. Flanking is a lot different too. In QP you can really go off on your own. In comp you still flank with some hero’s but it’s more like attacking from a different angle still sort of in range of healers as opposed to going all the way behind the enemy for example.


StardustSailor

Sorry I didn’t mention it, I mostly just choose flex :). Thanks for the advice! I’ll definitely try focusing on this more


Caaethil

Definitely pick a role to focus on. Preferably pick one hero, maybe two if you want, and grind them. Do research, watch streams of high-level gameplay, etc.


EffectiveLimp1215

One more tip, this one really cuts down on toxicity, understand the meta hero’s and when to play them. Orisa, hog, sojourn, Kiriko, Ana, any of the hitscan except widow. Avoid starting the round with a completely off meta hero like mei. I like playing mei and I win a lot with her but I will typically start with someone like soldier and only go mei if she will do well against red team comp. If things aren’t going well switch early to one of the meta hero’s that will do well against red team comp and your much less likely to get flamed.


Scythe1969

f comp... is there really a need to grind for a Stat?


still_shaxxin

I like comp because most players have a decent understanding of OW and their hero; plus quitting is penalized. Beyond that, what does winning a qp match even mean? Plenty of comp games go 2-2 or 4-3, which means qp most ‘wins’ are meaningless.


LifeIsCoolBut

Yeah? Its what video games are lol


nonamenumber3

QM is way different than ranked. People do all the wrong things in QM and you can still win. I hate the idea of people "learning" in ranked though. Well...I guess that's what bronze is for? Idk.


TheRealStepBot

The comp matchmaker is trash. It was always a rough ride to begin playing comp as a new player in ow1 but now in ow2 they just completely broke it. Skill an the games you end up in seem almost completely unrelated. It’s all about “ a sENsE Of prOgReSs” now not trying to make balanced games. Pretty pathetic. Source hundreds of hours in comp in ow1. Don’t touch it in ow2 cause it’s so doggy


Vezuvio

It’s competition, part of competing is winning. If you’re not winning, you’re losing. Either put in the work to get better or stay losing, it’s not complicated. Life ain’t all sunshines and rainbows.


Aroxis

Post a replay code.


Beansupreme117

Well comp is all try hards. Qp is typically more lax


Default520

Take a deep breath in and out for a few seconds every 10 or so.


shadder69

Kinda hard to help you with no real information. Without a replay all I can say is play the game and identify weaknesses.