Bug-Free Overwatch Competitive Season 18 Goes Live

The Overwatch Competitive Season 18 was due for release on August 18, but Blizzard had to take it down after it was plagued with issues. As a result, the studio had to extend the Role Queue Beta Season until these bugs were squashed.

Blizzard originally announced that the aforementioned Overwatch season would be delayed until “early next week.” Finally, the mode is officially here and players can experience it in its entirety.

"Hey everyone, when Season 18 went live matchmaking values from prior seasons weren’t being respected," Overwatch Developer Bill Warnecke wrote on the official forums. "We’re extending the Role Queue Beta Season while we work on a fix for this bug. We expect to be ready for Season 18 early next week."

As soon as the Role Queue Beta ended, the studio wanted the 18th Season to be released over that weekend. Although the season did arrive on schedule, problems were quick to surface just about an hour after the official release. According to high-ranking players, their ranks suddenly spiralled down. Developers reportedly shut down the mode immediately and extended the Role Queue Beta Season instead.

Overwatch players are now reporting on social media and streams that Season 18 is live. And soon after it was released, the studio made an update on its official forums site.

The competitive season of the first-person shooter title is expected to bring a good number of changes for players. The Role Queue Beta Season, in particular, was specifically designed to give players the opportunity to test out the new feature, which was enabled following the arrival of the new competitive season.

It is also worth noting that Role Queue is not only available in Competitive Mode – players who want to give it a try can also do it in the Quick Play mode. As for the mode that does not have role queue locks, you can access it in the Arcade section – called “Quick Play Classic.”

The 18th Season is currently live on Overwatch. As of this writing, Blizzard has yet to confirm which of the bugs was responsible for the delay of the season, let alone the steps the developers had to take to eliminate them. According to the update, the new competitive season will last for another 57 days.