Overwatch 2 Competitive players demand harsher penalties for leavers

Overwatch 2 fans have grown tired of players in their matches leaving, going AFK, or deliberately throwing games and now want Blizzard to hand out harsher penalties to deter such behavior.

Overwatch is defined by its Competitive mode which provides players with an arena to test themselves and improve by facing off against others of a similar skill level. However, it isn’t perfect and one reason for that imperfection is the ongoing battle with leavers.

Players quitting in the middle of games is nothing new. It’s been a problem for so long that Blizzard implemented designated leaver queues preventing players from queuing back into regular lobbies if they leave games early too often with this even applying in some casual modes.

A month on from those additional restrictions being added and the problem has not gone away. In fact, some players believe it has gotten even worse describing the situation as getting “out of hand,” and demanding Blizzard take action.

Overwatch 2 fans want leavers to be given stricter penalties

Following a difficult weekend of Overwatch, a frustrated player expressed on Reddit, “I counted. This weekend out of my 20 competitive games, I have had someone leave or go afk/throw in literally 12 of them. This is completely out of hand.”

They continued, “I cannot deal with this anymore. Ranked is impossible to enjoy when this happens more than it doesn’t. I EVEN WON ONE 4v5 AND GOT LESS POINTS THAN NORMAL BECAUSE I WAS EXPECTED TO WIN THAT GAME ARE YOU KIDDING ME,” before insisting, “There needs to be stricter penalties for this.”

I counted. This weekend out of my 20 competitive games, I have had someone leave or go afk/throw in literally 12 of them. This is completely out of hand
byu/I_Am_Jacks_Karma inOverwatch

Equally enraged, one player replied, “I made a post just like this and got people just telling me I’m either overreacting or that it doesn’t matter that much and that if I’m truly better I’ll rank up regardless. Like f**k off for real. Like half the games I play in ranked someone throws or leaves or some sh*t.”

Also wanting to see change, another reply stated, “…there should absolutely be harsher penalties for people like this, as well as some system in place that will end the game with no elo loss if someone is reported enough for throwing.”

Looking to explain why OP was having such a bad time, one comment theorized, “It is a weekend thing. All the casuals that camp their rank do not play any other time and they are very willing to quit a game. Always be super prepared on weekends for odd games.”

The good news is that Overwatch’s development team has shown a willingness to make sweeping changes to Competitive if needed. They even implemented a large-scale overhaul in Season 9 suggesting that stricter penalties for throwers and leavers is not out of the question.