Overwatch's competitive mode is now fully available for PC

After a week of testing and numerous changes to how the ranked system operates, the Overwatch Competitive Mode is now fully available for everyone on the PC. As for the consoles, they will receive this update at some point during the week once it finally goes through certification.

The first season of the Competitive Mode will only last 1.5 months, after which there will be a two week pause before Season 2 kicks into gear. If you would like to participate the only prerequisite is that you need to be Level 25 or above, which is somewhere in the ballpark of 10-20 hours of playtime, nothing truly unreasonable for what is supposed to be a serious mode.

Everyone that finishes their 10 placement matches will be granted a thematic spray and player icon, as well as a large sum of Competitive Points at the end of the season, the exact amount depending on the player's final rank. These Competitive Points can then be used to purchase some truly extravagant golden guns, so if you want to be the shiniest guy around make sure to give it your best. While I'm not a giant fan of the golden guns, I do like slightly exclusive rewards, and these certainly fit the bill given that even the most dedicated of players will only be able to snag ~2 guns per season.

The final thing I wanted to highlight is the massive increase in leaver penalties. In the current Quick Match environment you will be perfectly fine as long as you don't leave more than 20% of your games, but in the Competitive Mode this percentage will be much lower, and the punishments will be much harsher. You can even get disqualified from participating in Competitive Mode for the entirety of that season if you continuously leave matches! If this doesn't prevent people from ruining games, I don't know what will...

If you're interested in all of the details, I would suggest you head over to the official Overwatch Blog, the team has done a great little how-to for the Competitive Mode.

Overwatch Zarya's golden weapon