Overwatch players baffled after literal AI bots invade ranked
Blizzard EntertainmentIt’s not uncommon for Overwatch players to complain about their teammates by comparing them to AI, but as it turns out, actual AI teams have been showing up in ranked games much to the confusion of fans.
In Overwatch there are a handful of ways to play against AI opponents. You can specify to queue up against them in a custom game or fight off Talon and other story-based threats during certain event modes such as Archives.
However, bots actually showing up in ranked is unheard of for many players, which is why some were shocked when that’s exactly what happened in a random competitive match.
In a post on Reddit, user SloshyForever showcased how his team found themselves competing against a stack of AI foes during a 2CP battle on Temple of Anubis.
AI bots queue Overwatch ranked
In the video, Sloshy showed how his team was able to spawn camp the enemy and never let them near the first point. All of his opponents seemed to be lower-leveled accounts with actual names, not the default hero character name normally seen by AI.
“Can someone explain what is happening?” the user asked, and luckily, didn’t have long to wait for a response.
As many in the comments stated, some nefarious users make bot accounts to quickly level up and then sell to players of higher skill to smurf with.
Blizzard Entertainment“You’re more likely to see these bots / multibox teams in Gold and below, because they’ll start off at the middle of the SR curve (around 2350 SR) and then fall rapidly as they lose,” a user noted. “You can usually tell if they’re bots because the names will be simple/weird and the entire team will be at a similar level.”
On the bright side, it doesn’t seem like anyone was matched alongside the bot accounts, so no one ended up losing SR as a result of the lopsided teams. Still, this is an issue that Blizzard may want to address, especially before Overwatch 2 releases.