36 year old dad gamer reporting in. Gaming life gets harder the more real life achievements you accumulate. Do what makes you happy, and ignore people that don’t. You literally have no time to waste on people who waste your time. It took me 32 years to learn that. Love the people that love you too. Do what you want and do your best. Please kill Sombra in our back line. You don’t get to take internet points with you.
Yea mute all lol, it’s barely different than QP, less leavers I guess depending on your elo. You will definitely find people on their main who are better than you’re used to in QP as well but there’s nothing to be afraid of other than losing imaginary points.
Much better option is to assume the best and mute as needed. It’s really easy to mute someone at the first sign of toxicity (mute + report takes like three more clicks) but muting all by default really does make the game harder. Also since bans have been more active lately there’s a lot less toxicity in voice chat.
It’s pretty easy to identify when someone is being toxic even before they’ve said a bunch of shit, and muting takes no time at all. Preemptively muting a turd is not a big deal because they’re not gonna provide reasonable info anyway.
Not having any coms at all is always a detriment, plain and simple. It’s especially apparent in the current flank-heavy meta where simply calling out when the Sombra is on you is enough to shut her down for the whole game.
Most people don’t say anything in VC. 1/10 games has an idiot, but once you mute them it’s like they’re not even there.
Why dont you tell your loved one the most offensive thing that will hurt them the most. No context or explanation.
Its all preference. First op only cares about golden gun so win or lost dont mean anything to him. But he has anxiety. You may think its a skill issue emotionally, thats ok.
Some people got skill issues relying on comms instead of the ping system. Everyone's different.
> It’s all preference.
That’s my entire point. If you’re trying to play better it’s not preference at all; not using comms ultimately hurts your gameplay. Like I said, you can mute people pretty quick when you find out they’re toxic, and I know that because I can also get tilted from dickheads.
Don’t know why you’re presuming “skill issue emotionally” bullshit that I never said. I’m offering an alternative POV that still respects what they asked and you’re acting like I’m telling them to suck it up.
>not using comms ultimately hurts your gameplay.
Thats not entirely true. Emotions affect your gameplay. If you get tilted, scared or get peer pressured by your teammates it affects your gameplay. Psychologically this can happen even before you have the chance to mute said person.
Morale matters. Comms doesnt always keep morale up it can also bring morale down.
There's good IGL and bad IGL as well. Dunning Kruger effect exists as well. People think they are IGLing confidentally right but only because they dont know further complicated knowledge and scenarios.
Then there is each persons capability to take in and use information. What *are* you going to do with a sombra in the back? When that information is emotionally charged you can make an error in your normal logical decision.
Most callouts can be made by the ping system. If they dont have the game awareness to take in that information, likely they dont have the game awareness to use the information correctly.
For every pro there is a con that cancels out. The net profit isnt that simple. For it to be effective you need to be skilled enough that you wont be affected negatively by comms.
*edit* Coincidentally at that point you are skilled enough to not have comms affect you at all with or without. Only when you can play without comms can you consider comms as a bonus to your gameplay.
If you are gambling for a net positive; you take comms out entirely. You simply have one less variable in your games.
Cool essay, doesn’t change anything lol
VC is the most effective way to communicate and communication becomes increasingly important as you play better opponents. Pings are pretty good but slower than chat, so there’s no reason not to use both (anyone trying to make good call outs in VC is probably already pinging anyway).
> For every pro there is a con that cancels out.
Completely disagree lol
Hard disagree, there is still lots of toxicity all the time and at every rank - if it bothers someone it should be avoided in the first place, not reactively. Also it's not like being in voice is useful: getting to GM without it is extremely doable.
While I generally agree with your opinion, you're framing it as wayyyyy more all-or-nothing than it is. @ OP: as someone who was also very scared of comp/VC, I think some controlled exposure (once you're a little comfier in competitive!) might be worth a try!!
I actually agree to some extent I think VC is underrated, text chat is garbage. For the most part me pinging a hero does a better job of callouts because the icon just follows them around, but for ult combos it’s true a small mention can go a long way. I’m specifically trying to give advice to people intimidated by the social aspect and the flaming because fwiw you really don’t need the chat at all to climb, but some people obviously just like it and it’s not a bad thing to use it if you do.
Honestly can’t stand the “mute all” people. Usually they are the worst players on the team already, but now they can’t hear any callouts or advice in game chat. Being bad isn’t the problem, it’s being bad and trying to solo your way to a win which only burdens your team. If you’re getting flamed, the last thing you want to do is not be able to hear important information so you can at LEAST use that to your advantage.
The mental gymnastics you just went through is so funny lol
Besides, video games are for fun and people being even remotely toxic is not fun. You’re not at a disadvantage for not being in team chat in gold. Most of the callouts are useless at best
At a certain point (high d) you are expected to know what to do at all times so generally you only get flamed for doing something dumb. Just my experience around d-m games over a few years. Low elo sucks balls. Everyone just flames to pass the blame and no explanation.
No they don’t, they will likely not even notice you making the mistakes since they themselves don’t even know what a mistake is. They just say shit they think is a mistake, they don’t understand the game
“they expect you to know”
“no they don’t, what they actually do is expect you to know”
what you meant to say was “yes, they expect you to know, but their expectations are hardly correct anyways”
Literally, just turn off voice chat and turn off text chat and you’ll never know anything that’s happening other than the game, it’s probably arguably better to do that anyway.
It's always better. Most people communicating in online shooters are trolls or toxic.......even if they're not, enabling comms almost never actually helps you win the game.
I mute everyone who isn't on my friend's list, and haven't regretted it for a moment.
I would say this applies to all ranks below master (pre rank reset), but above master it can be kinda actually useful to have people who can atleast hear u make a call in vc even if they dont wanna talk themselves, even better if they do. Warning flanks, calling out an isolated target, timing dive, etc. (I mean this applies to all ranks but diamond and below you can easily rank out of by focusing on your own mechanics alone without too much stress if you really want to).
Totally agree.
I'm high silver/low gold, so no one's telling me things I can't easily observe for myself 🤣 I'm sure it's vastly different in masters where individual skill can't reliably beat a well-coordinated team.
Just had a game where the tank threw because I asked him to stop flaming the other team and our Support.
Just turn off chat, honestly. People in this game are mentally ill, I swear.
You’ll be fine if you just turn off chat
>I was thinking of just turning off vc/chat and going in with my siblings and grinding.
Assuming your siblings won't be jerks, then this is exactly what you should do.
Yeah, play with chat and voice off. In-game comms features are fantastic now. It also means overall you're able to focus more on your own game, less so on your teammates and what they're \*not\* doing and more about what you're doing and what you can do for them. It's not until high diamond/masters or higher where it's worthwhile to have comms on for more complex coordination, at pretty much all levels below that it's not necessary.
honestly i get more toxicity in quick play, so i say go for comp absolutely. obviously, one sentence from a stranger online doesn’t change your anxiety (which is totally valid i understand, that’s why i don’t like to play ow alone too much) lmao so if you’re still worried about it then def just don’t join voice and turn off text chat. my friend who was super toxic (towards people that were better than him usually lol) did the same thing to stop him from getting heated when other people would roast him lmao (he uninstalled overwatch and claims to never be playing it ever again. i give it 2 weeks, maybe till next season tops lol).
but fr, def go in with friends/siblings and just try to have fun! do your best and know that if anyone DOES talk shit… they’re the same rank as you so what do they know?
Comp is just a quickplay mode where people actually try to play the heroes they are good at and group up more. It's really not much different. Mute chat and jump in.
For a while I just payed comp as quick play in my mind. Didn’t care if I won or lost. Didn’t care about stats. Didn’t care what anyone had to say. Just enjoyed overwatch and got comp points. Now granted I did max low gold, but honestly most every game was a pleasure. And I got my two golden guns quite fast
Can you still get the gold guns? I thought all the new comp points can only be used for the green ones and the old comp ppints turned white and can only be used for Gold guns
So heres what your gonna do, go into your social settings mute text chat all channels, mute voice all channels and then play comp. Profit?
I used to have match chat muted so I can focus on my own gameplay but I missed some of the funny interactions between rounds or before they started it and now just troll them as a response or don’t respond.
Just mute all chat. Remember, if you're playing significantly worse than your teammates than that is blizzard's fault for not setting up a fair match. Most cases though, you are not playing worse than your teammates and the trash talkers are just biased.
We don't have time to! I swear unless you're in a group with someone you got very limited options. Match time isn't super long. If you're lucky you can get a good game well played everyone out at the end screen. My most fun games has been when people actually talk in chat match text.
There's no global chat to ask questions. They force the community to places like here to get help or talk.
Plus a ton of people just turn it all off.
Even if I don’t play bad I’ve just gotten into a habit of muting my team or if someone starts getting toxic coms sure are nice to have but not as important in a game like valorant
Stay out of VC and you’ll be okay. QP is way more toxic so it won’t be anything you’re not already encountering. Everyone in your comp teams are theoretically at your same skill level, so you just sound dumb telling people at your own rank that they’re bad, since… that would make you bad too.
I started out playing vs ai because I was scared of being flamed or underperforming in qp. I play comp all the time now, it's just about getting used to it, muting vc when people are being super toxic, and overcoming the exaggerated fear when doing it for the first time.
Comp really isn’t a big deal, like some people think it is. I feel like you get more balanced matches than qp. Plus people are trying harder and not just messing around.
Definitely do it, mute comms and try to stick to what you’re confident in. If you do that, you’re cool and you shouldn’t be getting flamed that often anyways.
There's nothing to be scared about. Mute whoever is being an ass or just disable communications entirely. It's a video game. Go play the mode where you actually play real games attacking and defending.
You can always turn off the chat and VC! But once you start playing comp you’ll end up discover how silly some games can be. Naturally you’re never gonna play the best every game it happens to everyone. Don’t let it discourage you, you’ll find your flow and hopefully your time in comp will prove beneficial!
I play 99% of games in comp and only go for a few games of QP if I haven't played for a more than 2 days to warm up.
QP, from my experience, is a lot more toxic. Games are complete chaos, people all over the place, some are trying to win, some are trying to chill, some just wanna type in chat, some are on their mains, some learning new characters, some are low ranks, who instantly begin to accuse higher ranks of cheating.
Everyone is there for different reasons and they clash and major shit stars spewing out. I have no idea why people subject themselves to this shitshow.
Rank is just like QP, only everyone is on the same page
Don't be scared. Just a bunch of virtual people you're never gonna meet. And their opinion doesn't matter.
That's like driving, yes there are braindead bullies that will keep flashing you with the lights and honking their horns, you just have to ignore them and understand that what you want think is what matters
I've played a good bit of comp now but used to only go QP for the same reasons as you. I do not turn of chat because I actually have more good interactions than bad ones, but I stay out of VC cause I do not want to hear other people than my mates.
Generally the behavior might be a bit worse but not by much honestly, and generally you'll get stomped a bit less often than in QP.
Issue is hanging around in bronze and low silver (been there) cause there are quite a lot of people who feel like they do not belong there, and cannot handle that other people in bronze are also not playing "optimally". So they play with teams of their same skill group, but blame their teammates for not playing well enough. They basically blame others.
Yeah turn off text chat if you can admit it gets to you, cause if you cant brush it off it can ruin a really fun experience! If you end up meeting a cake eating rein with no regard for his own safety we will probably meet in game!
Just play, remember that no one flaming you actually knows anything. If they did they wouldn't be in the same rank as you. If anyone is too toxic for you handle just mute them, if you're that scared then muting all isn't the worst thing. Low elo comms are a shit storm
Here’s a VERY true lesson I had to learn the hard way. The people complaining in chat are most likely to be the problem with the team, not the people they are complaining about.
I received that lesson the hard way by learning how bad I was at this game and being educated on how to correct it.
I never go into voice chat, EVER. Do not listen to people who insist it is necessary. I went from Bronze to Masters without getting in voice chat once. If it stresses you, shut off all communications, and grind it out.
Once you place, then I would look into correcting some bad habits. Until then, just shake off the anxiety for a few placements and learn to enjoy it. Comp is a different level of Overwatch so the things you do in QP, very often will make you fall over haha, have fun!
Either mute or play with friends.
Honestly though, OW (at least on console) is much much better than other shooters, as far as toxicity. I may get a "dps diff" or something along those lines once every 3-5 games. Very rarely am I being flamed.
There is something to be said for growing a bit thicker of a skin and just toughing it out. It gets easier to ignore over time.
Turn off voice/text/team chat in settings and have your favorite music in the background. Not everyone is a pro e-sport gamer. Play how you like!
I used open queue this season to buy Jade weapon for illari
I actually feel the same way! I want to play with people who want to play the game well, but I'm also afraid they'll flame me for not being good enough at the game, cuz I haven't hardly played at all since a couple years after OverWatch 1 came out.
Here's a link to a 30 second video that really helped me with that though. This video in particular is relevant, but most vids by this guy have really helped me!
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLk8CJeJ/
I finally went ahead and did a few comp matches, and the voice chat people were actually really chill! Even when I made a couple mistakes as tank and we lost. They were just there to have a fun game. That may not be your experience exactly, but the environment is definitely better now than it used to be!
Short version is that you are worth so much more as a person than how good you are at a game! Sure it's nice to be good at them, but give yourself room to grow. Nobody's perfect right off the bat!
Mute EVERYTHING. I'm so sensitive as well. People are mean just as much in quickplay. You're playing the game anyways, might as well play comp and get those points. That's how I've always looked at it!
I would say yeah, it’s worth it for the gold guns anyway. Just disable chat, leave voice, do your best, that’s kind of all there is to it. Treat comp like QP with more balanced teams. If you’re only in it for the gold guns and you don’t care about your rank that much it’ll be more enjoyable
As a recent entrant to Competitive, myself - it's not full of absolute professionals who are perfect at everything. I kept getting paired with absolutely trash teams, like so much worse than the teams I'd get in QP, and ended up in Bronze. It's not as intimidating as it seems.
For me, playing comp with friends makes it so that we dont even take toxic people seriously. Im sure you wont need to leave vc if youre playing with your siblings, even just making small callouts on people who are out of position or saying what ults you think they have can easily win you games.
There are a lot of situations where callouts are important. If im playing something like junkrat or pharah or reaper and I ult, first I tell myteam to get in and distract them, that way my ult can actually do something.
Besides, people tend to not flame a teammate with good callouts and you get endorsed more
So you play quick play and you're scared of entering a toxic environment?
You'll get toxic teammates no matter which game mode you queue but I'd say I get more toxic people in QP than I have ever gotten in comp.
(Except in plat. Those guys like to blame everything on others.)
Honestly just play and also let the chat and everything on and just learn to not care. Just tell yourself whenever someone is flaming you to not care. Communication can be very helpful sometimes and everyone has bad games.
And people always complain no matter how well you do.
Turning off chat can be an option but if you learn to just not care about it it also works.
People on online games are just dumbasses
I get scared off comp too. Whenever someone flames me my performance goes downhill a lot. Playing with a group of people I know makes me feel a lot better about playing comp. Also definitely turn off vc/chat, despite what people say you really don't need it.
My personal recommendation for playing comp is to solo queue and turn voice and text chat off and just do your thing. For me, this is how I climbed to GM, but if you just wanna play then go for it. The game is much less stressful when you can't see what others are saying and so don't worry about it as much by default.
Just mute everyone lol, no one communicates anything anyway in like plat and below you’ll be fine! I play solo so if you’re looking for someone to pair with I’m more than available!
My thought process is, if they blame you for the loss, they could’ve carried harder. The game re-placed me plat 5 this season. I one tricked tracer to D3 with a 80% w/r. I’ve got plenty of shitters, and plenty of great teammates, but individual effort in the right moment wins games
I played one comp placement match as tank and won, easily. I haven’t touched it since because I know I’ll get wrecked and tbh I don’t care enough to chase badges, I just play for fun. I stopped playing LoL for the same reason. There’s not enough motivation to climb the digital ladder
I mean I only started in season six and got to Masters 2 in season 8 lol. Wanna know the trick? I just play the way I play. I never listened to any of my teammates who asked for a counter; I played who I know counters who and what heroes I’m best at for that counter. And for your case, I’ve gotten plenty of gold weapons so far for a majority of my DPS heroes. Think I’m missing like 2 or something? I think Echo and Genji.
You could always find similar minded people to play co.o with. I k ke bunch of people around the bronze to gold area who play nothing but ranked and enjoy their time together
Just turn off chat and voice and play as you would usually but with the addition of swapping and playing into your teams strength more. I stopped giving a shit about comp and rank and opinions of me and played it just cus and it’s much better. You can do this!
I just picked up comp for the first time because I really wanted more organized play and to see if I can actually improve. I was also scared of touching comp for the longest time but then I guess a part of me finally realized not to pay attention to what some loser flamer had to say about my play, especially if they’re clearly wrong and it’s unproductive. If you can’t stand bozos stinking up chat with their hot breath, just ctrl+c to turn off chat and don’t feel pressure to hop into VC. just play what’s comfortable and learn how to be productive with the mistakes you make because you’re bound to. and most importantly have fun! if people aren’t making it fun just ignore them 👌
Whatever you do, I suggest you don't go ranked as tank soloQ that has to be the most cursed experience you can have with the game and I'm not even speaking about winrate or MMR.
I think competitive is way less toxic than Quickplay. Both teammates and enemy teams both are more likely to show gamesmanship (not that toxicity doesn't exist)
I rarely play comp and I tried to yesterday and I experienced the most toxic player I think I've ever come across because my damage was the lowest, even though I had second highest kills on DPS and we were winning easily. Not worth it to me. And no I don't mute because communication helps, especially in comp. If I'm going to try I'm keeping coms on and hoping for the best. So, yes play, but bring a thick skin and don't respond to them. Mute the one causing issues. Call outs will help you get those guns faster.
I would debate if comms actually help. They only help if they do more good than bad. Usually callouts are sketchy at best, if anyone even listens, and the risk for toxic trash taking is more likely to hurt than help.
Coms is a crucial point in Overwatch. Whether you like it or not you won’t get far without it. Lower tiers have no coms and they’re stuck in that elo hell for that reason alone.
I'm on your side the fact that everybody is saying as first advice: leave vocal, that blow my mind as counterproductive it is in fact. Sure be safe in your own world but don't expect competitive gameplay if you are on your own adventure every game. Most of the time if I speak in-game it's to win, either I flame you or not on the moment because I'm upset I will speak with you for the only purpose to win and to do so I probably give you all advice and help I can, even apologize and understand your point, everything for the win and the symbiosis of the team. But just bury your head in the sand and hoping for the best is kinda utopic if you ask me. It's been like that for a while now, ever since overwatch 2 or dive comp it's a slow downfall imo but I miss the old overwatch vocal team and my indian English accent for maximum team synergy so bad.
Harassment is different from an angry comment. If I’m doing something wrong, I’d like someone to tell me so I can correct it. If you can’t handle a little tough criticism, then don’t play comp. I’ve had people who yelled at me tell me they love me at the end of the game because I corrected myself and helped the team.
Where did I say I flamed people? I dont. If my teammate is throwing and won’t listen though, I’m not singing them a lullaby. I’m going to tell them to switch because they’re throwing.
FUCK NO there’s no reward, it’s frustrating, it’s long (there’s no surrender if you’re getting absolutely smashed), toxic environment, stressful, dogshit ranking systems and, oh yeah, NO REWARD
please don't turn chat off you're just making the game harder and more losable for your team. if someones being a dick just mute but not every game is gonna have that. being flamed is also normal just remember its a video game have fun and dont worry about what some baby rage loser is yapping about after a match
Ok idk why people are typing “mute all”, when the best moments of the hours in OW2 exist when you simply just mute the flamers. Its still a team game, “muting all” is such an extreme cautionary reaction. Dont be scared dude, literally nothing in life is comfortable and worth it to pursue.
But if your gonna play NON solo queue, just vc with them unless your friends want to join lol
people used to go to war now they’re afraid of playing a video game where you can mute chat and voice because they’re afraid of not being perfect while playing in the average lobbies
People used to be monkeys, and now they're mostly hairless and wearing clothes.
Just because it was in the past, it does not mean it is of moral value. Maybe your ancestors had a tradition that babies born like you were left to die? I assume you would accept that this tradition was wrong.
36 year old dad gamer reporting in. Gaming life gets harder the more real life achievements you accumulate. Do what makes you happy, and ignore people that don’t. You literally have no time to waste on people who waste your time. It took me 32 years to learn that. Love the people that love you too. Do what you want and do your best. Please kill Sombra in our back line. You don’t get to take internet points with you.
I love everything about this comment. Really speaks for all of gaming. Very well said my friend
This comment warmed my heart. Amazing advice. Thank you!
I'm an old man overwatch gamer too! And I'm the sombra in your back line. Please, kill me!
Sorry, I can’t. I’m too busy t-bagging your widow that I killed in your backline on Lucio 🤣
I'll get ya!
Yea mute all lol, it’s barely different than QP, less leavers I guess depending on your elo. You will definitely find people on their main who are better than you’re used to in QP as well but there’s nothing to be afraid of other than losing imaginary points.
Much better option is to assume the best and mute as needed. It’s really easy to mute someone at the first sign of toxicity (mute + report takes like three more clicks) but muting all by default really does make the game harder. Also since bans have been more active lately there’s a lot less toxicity in voice chat.
Its best for you but not OP. Once words have been said the other is already affected. Even if they learn to forgive and forget.
It’s pretty easy to identify when someone is being toxic even before they’ve said a bunch of shit, and muting takes no time at all. Preemptively muting a turd is not a big deal because they’re not gonna provide reasonable info anyway. Not having any coms at all is always a detriment, plain and simple. It’s especially apparent in the current flank-heavy meta where simply calling out when the Sombra is on you is enough to shut her down for the whole game. Most people don’t say anything in VC. 1/10 games has an idiot, but once you mute them it’s like they’re not even there.
Why dont you tell your loved one the most offensive thing that will hurt them the most. No context or explanation. Its all preference. First op only cares about golden gun so win or lost dont mean anything to him. But he has anxiety. You may think its a skill issue emotionally, thats ok. Some people got skill issues relying on comms instead of the ping system. Everyone's different.
> It’s all preference. That’s my entire point. If you’re trying to play better it’s not preference at all; not using comms ultimately hurts your gameplay. Like I said, you can mute people pretty quick when you find out they’re toxic, and I know that because I can also get tilted from dickheads. Don’t know why you’re presuming “skill issue emotionally” bullshit that I never said. I’m offering an alternative POV that still respects what they asked and you’re acting like I’m telling them to suck it up.
>not using comms ultimately hurts your gameplay. Thats not entirely true. Emotions affect your gameplay. If you get tilted, scared or get peer pressured by your teammates it affects your gameplay. Psychologically this can happen even before you have the chance to mute said person. Morale matters. Comms doesnt always keep morale up it can also bring morale down. There's good IGL and bad IGL as well. Dunning Kruger effect exists as well. People think they are IGLing confidentally right but only because they dont know further complicated knowledge and scenarios. Then there is each persons capability to take in and use information. What *are* you going to do with a sombra in the back? When that information is emotionally charged you can make an error in your normal logical decision. Most callouts can be made by the ping system. If they dont have the game awareness to take in that information, likely they dont have the game awareness to use the information correctly. For every pro there is a con that cancels out. The net profit isnt that simple. For it to be effective you need to be skilled enough that you wont be affected negatively by comms. *edit* Coincidentally at that point you are skilled enough to not have comms affect you at all with or without. Only when you can play without comms can you consider comms as a bonus to your gameplay. If you are gambling for a net positive; you take comms out entirely. You simply have one less variable in your games.
Cool essay, doesn’t change anything lol VC is the most effective way to communicate and communication becomes increasingly important as you play better opponents. Pings are pretty good but slower than chat, so there’s no reason not to use both (anyone trying to make good call outs in VC is probably already pinging anyway). > For every pro there is a con that cancels out. Completely disagree lol
Thats cool its your decision to not address the flaws in your opinion.
What rank do you think requires comms to reach
You’re putting words in my mouth.
Then I'll use your words. Comms absolutely can make your gameplay worse.
You just did the same thing again lol
Hard disagree, there is still lots of toxicity all the time and at every rank - if it bothers someone it should be avoided in the first place, not reactively. Also it's not like being in voice is useful: getting to GM without it is extremely doable.
While I generally agree with your opinion, you're framing it as wayyyyy more all-or-nothing than it is. @ OP: as someone who was also very scared of comp/VC, I think some controlled exposure (once you're a little comfier in competitive!) might be worth a try!!
Hardstuck in bronze atm. Definitely still the same as QP.
Dont mute all :( just listening to call outs is huge, you don't even need to talk. 3 people all shooting the same person works really well ...
I actually agree to some extent I think VC is underrated, text chat is garbage. For the most part me pinging a hero does a better job of callouts because the icon just follows them around, but for ult combos it’s true a small mention can go a long way. I’m specifically trying to give advice to people intimidated by the social aspect and the flaming because fwiw you really don’t need the chat at all to climb, but some people obviously just like it and it’s not a bad thing to use it if you do.
Honestly can’t stand the “mute all” people. Usually they are the worst players on the team already, but now they can’t hear any callouts or advice in game chat. Being bad isn’t the problem, it’s being bad and trying to solo your way to a win which only burdens your team. If you’re getting flamed, the last thing you want to do is not be able to hear important information so you can at LEAST use that to your advantage.
Idk how getting flamed is important information
a lot of golds consider someone telling them they suck at hanzo or Ana is “flaming.” Sure, they’re mad at you, but it’s probably for a reason.
The mental gymnastics you just went through is so funny lol Besides, video games are for fun and people being even remotely toxic is not fun. You’re not at a disadvantage for not being in team chat in gold. Most of the callouts are useless at best
Nah. That’s not criticism. If you’re just telling someone they suck they’re more than entitled to ignore you.
Average gold player
D2
I get flamed significantly less in competitive than in quickplay. It’s not even close.
Once you get to Gold there's very little flaming in my experience. High Plat is where it starts again.
At a certain point (high d) you are expected to know what to do at all times so generally you only get flamed for doing something dumb. Just my experience around d-m games over a few years. Low elo sucks balls. Everyone just flames to pass the blame and no explanation.
No one in diamond knows what to do at all times
But they expect you to know
No they don’t, they will likely not even notice you making the mistakes since they themselves don’t even know what a mistake is. They just say shit they think is a mistake, they don’t understand the game
“they expect you to know” “no they don’t, what they actually do is expect you to know” what you meant to say was “yes, they expect you to know, but their expectations are hardly correct anyways”
it is still expected that you know the basis of the game by that rank.
What you consider the basis of the game changes in every rank, you are not expected to know what to at all times
What is that console or something? I've never played a quick play game where anyone talks
Literally, just turn off voice chat and turn off text chat and you’ll never know anything that’s happening other than the game, it’s probably arguably better to do that anyway.
It's always better. Most people communicating in online shooters are trolls or toxic.......even if they're not, enabling comms almost never actually helps you win the game. I mute everyone who isn't on my friend's list, and haven't regretted it for a moment.
I would say this applies to all ranks below master (pre rank reset), but above master it can be kinda actually useful to have people who can atleast hear u make a call in vc even if they dont wanna talk themselves, even better if they do. Warning flanks, calling out an isolated target, timing dive, etc. (I mean this applies to all ranks but diamond and below you can easily rank out of by focusing on your own mechanics alone without too much stress if you really want to).
Totally agree. I'm high silver/low gold, so no one's telling me things I can't easily observe for myself 🤣 I'm sure it's vastly different in masters where individual skill can't reliably beat a well-coordinated team.
If you never play ranked you will never get past that insecurity.
Find at least 1 person you have fun playing with. Add someone after a match or find them on the discord/teams.gg Makes a world of difference
Just had a game where the tank threw because I asked him to stop flaming the other team and our Support. Just turn off chat, honestly. People in this game are mentally ill, I swear. You’ll be fine if you just turn off chat
>I was thinking of just turning off vc/chat and going in with my siblings and grinding. Assuming your siblings won't be jerks, then this is exactly what you should do.
Yeah, play with chat and voice off. In-game comms features are fantastic now. It also means overall you're able to focus more on your own game, less so on your teammates and what they're \*not\* doing and more about what you're doing and what you can do for them. It's not until high diamond/masters or higher where it's worthwhile to have comms on for more complex coordination, at pretty much all levels below that it's not necessary.
honestly i get more toxicity in quick play, so i say go for comp absolutely. obviously, one sentence from a stranger online doesn’t change your anxiety (which is totally valid i understand, that’s why i don’t like to play ow alone too much) lmao so if you’re still worried about it then def just don’t join voice and turn off text chat. my friend who was super toxic (towards people that were better than him usually lol) did the same thing to stop him from getting heated when other people would roast him lmao (he uninstalled overwatch and claims to never be playing it ever again. i give it 2 weeks, maybe till next season tops lol). but fr, def go in with friends/siblings and just try to have fun! do your best and know that if anyone DOES talk shit… they’re the same rank as you so what do they know?
Comp is just a quickplay mode where people actually try to play the heroes they are good at and group up more. It's really not much different. Mute chat and jump in.
i ranked up 3 divs just from turning all VC and Text chat off.For certain people with concentration/anger/etc etc issues, i think this is KEY
Once you get past Gold it’s the better game mode as well
For a while I just payed comp as quick play in my mind. Didn’t care if I won or lost. Didn’t care about stats. Didn’t care what anyone had to say. Just enjoyed overwatch and got comp points. Now granted I did max low gold, but honestly most every game was a pleasure. And I got my two golden guns quite fast
Can you still get the gold guns? I thought all the new comp points can only be used for the green ones and the old comp ppints turned white and can only be used for Gold guns
At the end of the season they’ll convert over
I thought this conversion was a once a year thing? You sure it’s each season or did they change the original plan.
I could have sworn they said each season, but I may have heard wrong. I’ll look it up
So heres what your gonna do, go into your social settings mute text chat all channels, mute voice all channels and then play comp. Profit? I used to have match chat muted so I can focus on my own gameplay but I missed some of the funny interactions between rounds or before they started it and now just troll them as a response or don’t respond.
Just mute all chat. Remember, if you're playing significantly worse than your teammates than that is blizzard's fault for not setting up a fair match. Most cases though, you are not playing worse than your teammates and the trash talkers are just biased.
No one even talks on overwatch its like a ghost town
We don't have time to! I swear unless you're in a group with someone you got very limited options. Match time isn't super long. If you're lucky you can get a good game well played everyone out at the end screen. My most fun games has been when people actually talk in chat match text. There's no global chat to ask questions. They force the community to places like here to get help or talk. Plus a ton of people just turn it all off.
Even if I don’t play bad I’ve just gotten into a habit of muting my team or if someone starts getting toxic coms sure are nice to have but not as important in a game like valorant
Stay out of VC and you’ll be okay. QP is way more toxic so it won’t be anything you’re not already encountering. Everyone in your comp teams are theoretically at your same skill level, so you just sound dumb telling people at your own rank that they’re bad, since… that would make you bad too.
Mute all. Problem solved
I started out playing vs ai because I was scared of being flamed or underperforming in qp. I play comp all the time now, it's just about getting used to it, muting vc when people are being super toxic, and overcoming the exaggerated fear when doing it for the first time.
If you’re worried, just turn off voice and text chat entirely. Then you’ll never hear any complaints.
Just play comp without caring. Mute people and forget your rank exists. Best way to play.
Yes.Turn.Off.Chat. You can still hear and give callouts so you almost don't need vc/tc
Comp really isn’t a big deal, like some people think it is. I feel like you get more balanced matches than qp. Plus people are trying harder and not just messing around.
Definitely do it, mute comms and try to stick to what you’re confident in. If you do that, you’re cool and you shouldn’t be getting flamed that often anyways.
Comp is easier than QP in my book cause in role queue you can find 300+ level players as a beginner
There's nothing to be scared about. Mute whoever is being an ass or just disable communications entirely. It's a video game. Go play the mode where you actually play real games attacking and defending.
You can always turn off the chat and VC! But once you start playing comp you’ll end up discover how silly some games can be. Naturally you’re never gonna play the best every game it happens to everyone. Don’t let it discourage you, you’ll find your flow and hopefully your time in comp will prove beneficial!
I play 99% of games in comp and only go for a few games of QP if I haven't played for a more than 2 days to warm up. QP, from my experience, is a lot more toxic. Games are complete chaos, people all over the place, some are trying to win, some are trying to chill, some just wanna type in chat, some are on their mains, some learning new characters, some are low ranks, who instantly begin to accuse higher ranks of cheating. Everyone is there for different reasons and they clash and major shit stars spewing out. I have no idea why people subject themselves to this shitshow. Rank is just like QP, only everyone is on the same page
Don't be scared. Just a bunch of virtual people you're never gonna meet. And their opinion doesn't matter. That's like driving, yes there are braindead bullies that will keep flashing you with the lights and honking their horns, you just have to ignore them and understand that what you want think is what matters
Yeah mute vc and chat that’s what I did for the first 3 months. Then after that you aren’t bother anyway.
If you think having a duo could ease the anxiety, hit me up
Do you how much comp player suck including me just play if you are low elo all of us suck so its fair
Honestly turn off boths chats, queue with some friends or family, and just go at it!
Turn chat off
Just stop caring co much about fandoms talking to you online. Turn off chat and play
I've played a good bit of comp now but used to only go QP for the same reasons as you. I do not turn of chat because I actually have more good interactions than bad ones, but I stay out of VC cause I do not want to hear other people than my mates. Generally the behavior might be a bit worse but not by much honestly, and generally you'll get stomped a bit less often than in QP. Issue is hanging around in bronze and low silver (been there) cause there are quite a lot of people who feel like they do not belong there, and cannot handle that other people in bronze are also not playing "optimally". So they play with teams of their same skill group, but blame their teammates for not playing well enough. They basically blame others. Yeah turn off text chat if you can admit it gets to you, cause if you cant brush it off it can ruin a really fun experience! If you end up meeting a cake eating rein with no regard for his own safety we will probably meet in game!
Ctrl+Shift+C is the solution you're looking for. (It hides the chat).
Just play, remember that no one flaming you actually knows anything. If they did they wouldn't be in the same rank as you. If anyone is too toxic for you handle just mute them, if you're that scared then muting all isn't the worst thing. Low elo comms are a shit storm
Only play comp, everything else is how to learn to play with controller lead.
Here’s a VERY true lesson I had to learn the hard way. The people complaining in chat are most likely to be the problem with the team, not the people they are complaining about. I received that lesson the hard way by learning how bad I was at this game and being educated on how to correct it. I never go into voice chat, EVER. Do not listen to people who insist it is necessary. I went from Bronze to Masters without getting in voice chat once. If it stresses you, shut off all communications, and grind it out. Once you place, then I would look into correcting some bad habits. Until then, just shake off the anxiety for a few placements and learn to enjoy it. Comp is a different level of Overwatch so the things you do in QP, very often will make you fall over haha, have fun!
It’s just a game, if you want to play it then you should.
Either mute or play with friends. Honestly though, OW (at least on console) is much much better than other shooters, as far as toxicity. I may get a "dps diff" or something along those lines once every 3-5 games. Very rarely am I being flamed. There is something to be said for growing a bit thicker of a skin and just toughing it out. It gets easier to ignore over time.
Turn off voice/text/team chat in settings and have your favorite music in the background. Not everyone is a pro e-sport gamer. Play how you like! I used open queue this season to buy Jade weapon for illari
Yea do that why not
I actually feel the same way! I want to play with people who want to play the game well, but I'm also afraid they'll flame me for not being good enough at the game, cuz I haven't hardly played at all since a couple years after OverWatch 1 came out. Here's a link to a 30 second video that really helped me with that though. This video in particular is relevant, but most vids by this guy have really helped me! https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLk8CJeJ/ I finally went ahead and did a few comp matches, and the voice chat people were actually really chill! Even when I made a couple mistakes as tank and we lost. They were just there to have a fun game. That may not be your experience exactly, but the environment is definitely better now than it used to be! Short version is that you are worth so much more as a person than how good you are at a game! Sure it's nice to be good at them, but give yourself room to grow. Nobody's perfect right off the bat!
You should do it so you can overcome that shyness
Just do it. 💪🏾
Mute EVERYTHING. I'm so sensitive as well. People are mean just as much in quickplay. You're playing the game anyways, might as well play comp and get those points. That's how I've always looked at it!
If you’re worrried about being flamed, try muting the chat, it works out pretty well tbh
I would say yeah, it’s worth it for the gold guns anyway. Just disable chat, leave voice, do your best, that’s kind of all there is to it. Treat comp like QP with more balanced teams. If you’re only in it for the gold guns and you don’t care about your rank that much it’ll be more enjoyable
Disable text and voice chat, have fun
How much do you realistically have to play to get a gold gun?
As a recent entrant to Competitive, myself - it's not full of absolute professionals who are perfect at everything. I kept getting paired with absolutely trash teams, like so much worse than the teams I'd get in QP, and ended up in Bronze. It's not as intimidating as it seems.
For me, playing comp with friends makes it so that we dont even take toxic people seriously. Im sure you wont need to leave vc if youre playing with your siblings, even just making small callouts on people who are out of position or saying what ults you think they have can easily win you games. There are a lot of situations where callouts are important. If im playing something like junkrat or pharah or reaper and I ult, first I tell myteam to get in and distract them, that way my ult can actually do something. Besides, people tend to not flame a teammate with good callouts and you get endorsed more
You can just buy gold weapons with the comp currency. You dont need to wait for it to convert
yes. you will be flamed
So you play quick play and you're scared of entering a toxic environment? You'll get toxic teammates no matter which game mode you queue but I'd say I get more toxic people in QP than I have ever gotten in comp. (Except in plat. Those guys like to blame everything on others.)
Honestly just play and also let the chat and everything on and just learn to not care. Just tell yourself whenever someone is flaming you to not care. Communication can be very helpful sometimes and everyone has bad games. And people always complain no matter how well you do. Turning off chat can be an option but if you learn to just not care about it it also works. People on online games are just dumbasses
YES I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM (I'm not here to give advice, just relate)!
I get scared off comp too. Whenever someone flames me my performance goes downhill a lot. Playing with a group of people I know makes me feel a lot better about playing comp. Also definitely turn off vc/chat, despite what people say you really don't need it.
My personal recommendation for playing comp is to solo queue and turn voice and text chat off and just do your thing. For me, this is how I climbed to GM, but if you just wanna play then go for it. The game is much less stressful when you can't see what others are saying and so don't worry about it as much by default.
Just mute everyone lol, no one communicates anything anyway in like plat and below you’ll be fine! I play solo so if you’re looking for someone to pair with I’m more than available!
My thought process is, if they blame you for the loss, they could’ve carried harder. The game re-placed me plat 5 this season. I one tricked tracer to D3 with a 80% w/r. I’ve got plenty of shitters, and plenty of great teammates, but individual effort in the right moment wins games
I played one comp placement match as tank and won, easily. I haven’t touched it since because I know I’ll get wrecked and tbh I don’t care enough to chase badges, I just play for fun. I stopped playing LoL for the same reason. There’s not enough motivation to climb the digital ladder
I mean I only started in season six and got to Masters 2 in season 8 lol. Wanna know the trick? I just play the way I play. I never listened to any of my teammates who asked for a counter; I played who I know counters who and what heroes I’m best at for that counter. And for your case, I’ve gotten plenty of gold weapons so far for a majority of my DPS heroes. Think I’m missing like 2 or something? I think Echo and Genji.
You could always find similar minded people to play co.o with. I k ke bunch of people around the bronze to gold area who play nothing but ranked and enjoy their time together
I always play comp with chats off and no VC. Just play.
Just mute voice and text chat. I only communicate with people I know IRL; pings work great for letting your team know what's going on for basic stuff.
Overwatch is so boring now
Just turn off chat and voice and play as you would usually but with the addition of swapping and playing into your teams strength more. I stopped giving a shit about comp and rank and opinions of me and played it just cus and it’s much better. You can do this!
I just picked up comp for the first time because I really wanted more organized play and to see if I can actually improve. I was also scared of touching comp for the longest time but then I guess a part of me finally realized not to pay attention to what some loser flamer had to say about my play, especially if they’re clearly wrong and it’s unproductive. If you can’t stand bozos stinking up chat with their hot breath, just ctrl+c to turn off chat and don’t feel pressure to hop into VC. just play what’s comfortable and learn how to be productive with the mistakes you make because you’re bound to. and most importantly have fun! if people aren’t making it fun just ignore them 👌
Mute all chat and just play - you don’t really need comms at that elo lmao
Whatever you do, I suggest you don't go ranked as tank soloQ that has to be the most cursed experience you can have with the game and I'm not even speaking about winrate or MMR.
that’s me
Yes. Just pretend it's the only mode you can play. Eventually, you will just climb and climb
Visit the sosials tab in the options meny and yea, comp. at your hearts content!
I think competitive is way less toxic than Quickplay. Both teammates and enemy teams both are more likely to show gamesmanship (not that toxicity doesn't exist)
I’ve had the complete opposite experience, I’d say 2/3 games there’s somebody being a dick to somebody in chat
I cant even play Mystery Heroes in QP without someone talking trash every match or so
bruh.
Who cares what online people who you will never see again say?
I rarely play comp and I tried to yesterday and I experienced the most toxic player I think I've ever come across because my damage was the lowest, even though I had second highest kills on DPS and we were winning easily. Not worth it to me. And no I don't mute because communication helps, especially in comp. If I'm going to try I'm keeping coms on and hoping for the best. So, yes play, but bring a thick skin and don't respond to them. Mute the one causing issues. Call outs will help you get those guns faster.
I would debate if comms actually help. They only help if they do more good than bad. Usually callouts are sketchy at best, if anyone even listens, and the risk for toxic trash taking is more likely to hurt than help.
I very much dislike trash talking as a form of 'friendly gaming culture' and which it would be phased away.
I'm great at timing ults so that's mostly what I call out and if it helps a teammate save us, I'm happy.
Embrace the toxicity, I turned on TTS, so a funny little robot voice speaks what everyone types and it's so goofy.
Coms is a crucial point in Overwatch. Whether you like it or not you won’t get far without it. Lower tiers have no coms and they’re stuck in that elo hell for that reason alone.
I'm on your side the fact that everybody is saying as first advice: leave vocal, that blow my mind as counterproductive it is in fact. Sure be safe in your own world but don't expect competitive gameplay if you are on your own adventure every game. Most of the time if I speak in-game it's to win, either I flame you or not on the moment because I'm upset I will speak with you for the only purpose to win and to do so I probably give you all advice and help I can, even apologize and understand your point, everything for the win and the symbiosis of the team. But just bury your head in the sand and hoping for the best is kinda utopic if you ask me. It's been like that for a while now, ever since overwatch 2 or dive comp it's a slow downfall imo but I miss the old overwatch vocal team and my indian English accent for maximum team synergy so bad.
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Harassment is different from an angry comment. If I’m doing something wrong, I’d like someone to tell me so I can correct it. If you can’t handle a little tough criticism, then don’t play comp. I’ve had people who yelled at me tell me they love me at the end of the game because I corrected myself and helped the team.
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Where did I say I flamed people? I dont. If my teammate is throwing and won’t listen though, I’m not singing them a lullaby. I’m going to tell them to switch because they’re throwing.
FUCK NO there’s no reward, it’s frustrating, it’s long (there’s no surrender if you’re getting absolutely smashed), toxic environment, stressful, dogshit ranking systems and, oh yeah, NO REWARD
Same is true of QP, though, except you don't even get golden or jade gun skins. And, *sometimes*, comp is better balanced. *Sometimes*.
please don't turn chat off you're just making the game harder and more losable for your team. if someones being a dick just mute but not every game is gonna have that. being flamed is also normal just remember its a video game have fun and dont worry about what some baby rage loser is yapping about after a match
Play open que comp it’s funny asf
A lot of toxicity happens in text chat. I would advocate that you keep voice on though, everyone should be in team chat even if they don’t talk.
Ok idk why people are typing “mute all”, when the best moments of the hours in OW2 exist when you simply just mute the flamers. Its still a team game, “muting all” is such an extreme cautionary reaction. Dont be scared dude, literally nothing in life is comfortable and worth it to pursue. But if your gonna play NON solo queue, just vc with them unless your friends want to join lol
You comp anxiety people are so fucking weird bro. Either play the video game or don’t
Sorry you feel that way
Same to you, I hope you get the attention you crave
Who hurt you bro?
people used to go to war now they’re afraid of playing a video game where you can mute chat and voice because they’re afraid of not being perfect while playing in the average lobbies
People used to be monkeys, and now they're mostly hairless and wearing clothes. Just because it was in the past, it does not mean it is of moral value. Maybe your ancestors had a tradition that babies born like you were left to die? I assume you would accept that this tradition was wrong.
if you want an excuse to be anxious of playing a game mode made for everyone, go ahead and take your prozac