Overwatch Competitive Play seasons shortened from three months to two
Pharah better experience all round.
Blizzard has announced Overwatch Competitive seasons will, from season six forward, last two months instead of three.
Overwatch tried one-month seasons during beta then swapped to three-month seasons after launch. Jeff 'from the Overwatch team' Kaplan explained one-month seasons were universally considered too short whereas three-month seasons, despite being "pretty good overall", led to a fizzling out of activity over time.
To compensate for the shorter season, Blizzard has introduced other changes. Total rewards will be less at the end of each season but this should even out as you play extra seasons throughout the year. Players will also receive more Competitive Points per win in Competitive Play, although Kaplan did not confirm whether this means you will also lose more points for losses.
Another change being introduced affects Control maps. Currently Control matches are the best of five, but from season six onwards, matches will be best of three. This is the same system used in Quick Play, and Kaplan explained this was to stop matches going into overtime as often and to make them shorter.
For those players who rank at Diamond and above you will now have to play only five matches a week to maintain your Skill Rating, rather than seven. Skill Rating decay is being lessened to 25 points from 50, too.
Top-tier Competitive matches may, however, take longer find, as the algorithm will now try to find more closely balanced matches.
Kaplan also assured players they would now be placed more accurately at the beginning of a season. In seasons four and five, players were placed slightly below their Skill Rating but could progress easier and quicker at the start of the season. For season six this system has been scrapped which should mean players are placed where they should be.
There is no confirmation as to when season six of Overwatch Competitive Play will start, but it will be interesting to see how these changes affect the game.