Ever since yesterday’s Patch 1.13, multiple reports have been spotted on the battle.net. From “Overwatch” forums to Reddit’s r/Overwatch and multiple other communities, players have been complaining about being wrongly kicked from games (not just quick play games, but competitive games as well!).
Most users reported being kicked as Bastion in Configuration: Sentry
This issue seems to be stemming from an undocumented change in the patch notes (where the inactivity algorithm was tweaked to be more precise). Instead, it seems to have broken it. The majority of reports are from Bastion and Widowmaker players where they have been actively engaged in team fights.
One particularity with the Bastion players is that they were all in Configuration: Sentry. Despite the fact they were actively fighting, the algorithm probably didn’t see any movement and decided to kick them.
User u/AdeonWriter on Reddit reported he even got kicked in the middle of a battle because he wasn’t dealing damage due to Orisa and Winston barriers. He then came back as a spectator and “got kicked for inactivity for a second time.”
Widowmaker players seem to have similar issues
Widowmaker players’ issues are more ambiguous though, they were also actively shooting and moving around slightly. It would seem like the inactivity algorithm would not just take non-movement as a signal to kick a player or not, but rather the amount of movement within a certain time frame.
If it doesn’t cross a certain threshold, then it’ll take action and kick the player.
Other reports from other players seem to indicate this is also an issue with other characters but they look like they are happening at a more random time and unpredictably. There is no clear indication or clear cause, nothing we can really draw a conclusion to unlike the two patterns identified above with Bastion and Widowmaker.
In this case, Latency might be the common factor.
Practice range inactivity timer increased drastically
Ironically, the inactivity timer in the Practice range has been significantly increased. You will no longer be kicked after a short period of inactivity in the practice range. The time frame has been increased to nearly 5 minutes before you get kicked!
This was a popular request coming from the "Overwatch" community. Prior to this change, the inactivity timer was so short that during the practice range, if you had to go into "Overwatch’s" settings to tweak them, you’d probably be kicked by the time you come back out which made it into a very unpleasant experience.
All these reports have surfaced in the past 24 hours and are likely caused by a tweak in "Overwatch’s" inactivity algorithm. We strongly suggest you avoid playing competitive matches for now, until we get an official acknowledgement and fix from the "Overwatch" team. We’ve reached out to Blizzard for an official statement.
Have you been wrongly kicked for inactivity? Tell us in the comments below!
