If you are getting more serious about Overwatch 2, you will likely hear some discussion on MMR, or Matchmaking Rating. This is an unseen value attached to your account that will decide the opponents and teammates you get paired with for any game in Overwatch 2. Anyone who plays a lot of ranked matches will often have an opinion on how the game is finding opponents for you, but often, a lot of misinformation is thrown around on this subject. Luckily, Blizzard has given us a little information on how the system works. Here is what you need to know about MMR in Overwatch 2.
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How does MMR work in Overwatch 2?
MMR in Overwatch 2 is a number you can not see on your profile. It is a constantly shifting value that rises when you win and lowers when you lose, with the goal of making a match as fair as possible. That being said, while MMR sounds similar to SR (Seasonal Rating), they are different. While you can see your current SR Tier and Division, your MMR could be higher or lower than you think because of your game outcomes. SR does not impact the people you play in ranked; you just find others with similar MMR within that SR. This is a confusing situation that Blizzard has promised to work on more in the coming future. MMR is also affected by unranked play.
The change in your MMR between matches is decided by multiple factors like the MMR of your opponents and how long since you last played the game. Starting in Season 4, Competitive will have seasonal rank decay removed from its internal workings, but your MMR will likely still go down when you don’t play for a while.
If you have friends you play Overwatch 2 with, your separate MMRs can make your games a little wonky. Say, for example, you have been playing Overwatch since 2016, and you group up with your friend who is trying the game for the first time. Their MMR is completely unknown, so the game might put you in matches where you dominate lower-skilled players, or they get steamrolled by people closer to your skill. Starting in Season 3, groups that enter Competitive matchmaking with a big difference in MMR will see other groups with large differences as opponents more often. Solo players and teams of similar MMR will avoid them more.
There are some common misconceptions about MMR in Overwatch 2. For starters, when you go on a winning or losing streak, the game does not place you in games with the intention that you win or lose. While Blizzard would think that a 50% win rate for the community means they have things pretty balanced, you are being placed against people the game deems you have a fair chance against. Of course, this isn’t a perfect system, and Overwatch 2 is a complex game with many moving parts. Some matches will always have blowouts, even with two similar MMR team ratings.
How is MMR decided in Overwatch 2?
According to Blizzard, your stats in each match of Overwatch 2 has no bearing on your MMR. All that matters is if you win or lose. The reasoning behind this is with so many heroes with very different abilities, it can be hard to decide how skillful you are based on those numbers. For example, a Lucio who stays on his healing AoE and never moves it to speed will have large healing numbers, but they have also likely made their team miss out on many opportunities without Speed Boost. There are too many instances similar to that to allow your stat accumulation to decide your MMR, and Blizzard doesn’t want you to focus on blowing up your stats and making your team lose the objective.
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If you feel you are being matched against people outside your skill range, the best thing to do is keep playing matches so the game can adjust your MMR accordingly. That can be tough in some situations, but the more information it has, the better it can place you in a fair match in the next game.
