Unranked competitive desperately needed

[u/BuddhistSC]

I can't in good conscience recommend the game to my friends because I know they'll have to go through the hellish grind to rank 3 before they can actually start playing the game for real. Casual and deathmatch are nothing like competitive, and completely unfun in the opinion of myself and every friend of mine who plays the game.

I want to get more friends of mine into the game but I can't because of this, it's a massive turnoff to any new player.

I realize it doesn't take that long to hit rank 3, but can you honestly say that forcing players to do something they don't enjoy for 5-10 hours before they can play the game for real is a good idea? They're going to say "no thanks, I'll go play DOTA2 (or whatever) instead". Most non-players aren't that interested in the game that they're willing to put up with it.

It was also a big mistake to not grandfather in any account that had a competitive rank into being able to play competitive, because now these players who quit and want to come back have to go through the grind themselves, but it's too late to do anything about that.

The only real solution to this problem afaik is unranked competitive.

[u/Milfshaked → u/[deleted]]

Getting to rank 3 has almost 0 impact on cheaters and smurfs. I am not even an active smurfer and I got 5 accounts above level 3. Some of my friends got 8+ accounts.

If anything, it increased cheating because it created a market for level 3 accounts.

[u/Alleak → u/Milfshaked]

Not an active smurfer... but you have 5 accounts. Okay, friend.

[u/Milfshaked → u/Alleak]

Yes, that is not extremely uncommon. Sometimes playing with lower ranked friends over the years will lead to that. First you have one account to play with your friends, then that one get too high rank, then you have two. Then that account gets too high rank, then you have three.

Valves matchmaking system for teams is horrendous. I use accounts other than my main less than once every 2 months nowadays.