Player finds a fix for the Bronze 5 bug in Overwatch 2

Jaxon Published October 13, 2022

So, you ranked Bronze 5 in Overwatch 2. Welcome to the club!

Browsing the internet, it seems like the vast majority of players are trapped in Bronze 5. You rank there, win seven more games, and don’t rank up. Win another 7, and stay sitting right there.

It’s incredibly frustrating and has led many players to speculate whether or not it’s a bug, or if Overwatch 2 really has that many Bronze 5 players. Well, according to one Redditor, the Overwatch 2 Bronze 5 issue has more to do with the ranking system than a strict bug.

[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaM0S_jCPck”]

Overwatch 2 Bronze 5 bug, or flawed ranking system?

For those who don’t know, Overwatch switched their ranking system a bit when they went into Overwatch 2. Now, instead of seeing your rank go up or down after each win or loss, the game hides it from you until you win seven games or lose/draw 20.

So, when you see your rank stay at Bronze 5 after going 7-0, it’s hard to even tell if this is a bug or a competitive design problem.

Initially, I was under the impression that it was a bug. I went 14-3 as a DPS and am still in the lowest possible division the game has. How can that be intended? What proper competitive system would require players to win the vast majority of their games and still be classified as one of the worst players in the game?

According to a recent Reddit post from someone who climbed out of Bronze 2, it could be that we’re facing an incredibly flawed ranking system rather than a technical bug.

The Redditor speculated that, due to the skill decay for idle players, a lot of old Overwatch 1 accounts had an SR (skill rating – the OW competitive score) of 0.

How to get out of Bronze in Season 5

Bronze 4 in Overwatch 2 requires players to have 1100 SR, which would take about 21 wins in a row with zero losses to get out of Bronze 5.

So, is it a bug? If this Reddit post is accurate, then it technically isn’t a bug – just a terrible ranking system to start a competitive game.

As the creator of the post points out, all true Bronze 5 players are getting rolled over by Silver/Gold players who are stuck in the rank with them.

The system demoralizes true Bronze players, who can’t buy a win, along with Silver and Gold players who can’t carry a team of terrible players. It makes sense, as some Bronze 5 games are too easy while others feel like running into a brick wall.

Again, this is still just speculation. Blizzard has been completely silent on the topic, even though their official forums and Reddit pages are overflowing with “Stuck in Bronze 5” complaints.

As someone who is stuck in Bronze 5 in Overwatch 2, myself, I can speak to how defeating it is. It doesn’t seem to matter what I do, my damage numbers, or anything else. I’m stuck here because I can’t 7-0 every time with true Bronze players next to me.

Blizzard needs to speak about this. Enough is enough. It’s ruining an otherwise fun game.