In terms of skill ratings for healers in Overwatch , everything is okay, my Blizzard. We reveal how this is justified.
About a week ago, hell broke loose in the Overwatch community. Because with the “Uprising” event, a wave of negative reports began. According to reports, healers would receive significantly less skill rating in ranked matches than their DPS counterparts, even though they are constantly participating in the fights and healing as much as possible.
The community quickly identified the reason, namely the change to the “On Fire” mechanic.
This bar symbolizes how “good” you are in your role and how much you contribute to the match. Healers have received an “On Fire” rating much slower since the last patch, and their skill rating seems to be growing more slowly as well. The conclusion came quickly: “Because healers are less ‘on fire,’ their skill rating increases more slowly. Blizzard, change something!”
Now Scott Mercer from the Overwatch team has commented on this topic and explained that the community is on the wrong track here.
The “On Fire” mechanic was previously faulty
On one hand, it was about the “On Fire” display. This was previously faulty, as a character who supports another hero in something (like a kill) received full points, even with minimal contribution. This led to far too many players being almost constantly “on fire.” Moreover, the “On Fire” display is not just an indicator of your own performance but also your performance compared to your teammates.
Skill rating gain compares identical heroes
Furthermore, the gain (or loss) of skill rating is not directly determined by the “On Fire” display. Instead, the game compares the player’s performance with a specific hero to the performance of players with a similar skill rating using the same hero. So, if you play a Genji, you will subsequently be measured against the performance of thousands of other Genjis worldwide.
A flaw in the system has yet to be discovered.
However, Mercer admits that there are still some reports where the gain of skill rating seems to be faulty. So far, this has not been confirmed, but Blizzard is still looking into the matter.
The characters of Overwatch, by the way, don’t value love much – they are married to the payload.
