With the New Year comes more updates on the competitive first-person shooter game by Blizzard, "Overwatch," which is now currently on its eighth season. In fact, it is already up and running on all platforms -- the PC, PlayStation 4, and the Xbox One -- and many players may be returning from the holidays without knowing some of the big changes that have been implemented with the recent patches. 

Fortunately, changes have not been made in how players would need to go up the ranks. Players will need to have a level of at least 25, in order to join competitive matches. However, Blizzard has reduced the threshold in the allowable difference between players' Skill Rating, depending on how far apart they may be given the players on the same team. This implementation is something that is similar to other competitive games, and has existed for a while now. 

Specifically, players with Bronze through Diamond ranks have been reduced to 1000, with 500 for Master, and 250 Skill Rating difference for Grandmasters. In essence, the higher a player's rating is, the easier for them it will be to play ranked matches with players of higher tiers. This system not only makes it easier for players find matches much quicker, but it will also help mitigate the skill level of the foes that players will be going up against. 

It is important to note that the slight change in the match making system ensures that the game is more balanced for players, especially given how competitive players get every season of "Overwatch." However, the system had just been implemented, which means there is also a potential for it to not work just as Blizzard had planned.

Players will have to wait and see just how effective the new system is, and should there be more problems, Blizzard will most probably attempt to address them next season. 

Season 8 is scheduled to last for about two months, and players will be working toward gaining as high of a rank as possible until it ends.