The mid-season update of Season 12 is here, and it brings Competitive Drives, a new Overwatch 2 system that lets players earn an entirely new type of cosmetic by grinding ranked.
Revealed back when Season 12 began, the ranked event planned to bring in a whole new type of cosmetic called Signatures, which can only be earned, not bought, by doing the hard yards in ranked.
Of course, this can get a little confusing considering it’s all very new, so this is what you need to about the new Competitive Drives feature and an explainer of what Signatures are.
When does the Competitive Drive feature arrive?
There currently is no confirmed start date for when the Competitive Drives will debut, but we know it will take place near the end of a Ranked season.
Season 13 is slated for an October 15 release date, so it’s safe to say it will most likely start around the last week of September.
This aims to incentivize more players to play ranked towards the end of a season, as anybody who grinds it during the final weeks of a season knows queue times can get quite long.
We will update you here when the start date is officially confirmed.
Competitive Drives in Overwatch 2 explained
You can think of Competitive Drives as a mix between climbing the ranked ladder and the Battle Pass.
There will be a progression ladder that you can climb with six checkpoints. Reaching each checkpoint will give you a reward. There are only two types of rewards, being a Signature or some Competitive Points.
With each checkpoint passed, the rewards you gain will be bigger and more exclusive. If you were to complete the entire Competitive Drive, you’d get an Elite Signature (the last reward) and 3,000 Competitive Points in total. That’s enough to buy a Golden Gun or Jade weapon skin.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
To gain Competitive Drive points, you will need to win ranked games, but if you lose, you will lose progression. This is the hard part as any ranked grinder can tell you that winning games consistently is far from easy.
Luckily, checkpoints protect you from sliding backward, so whatever reward you’ve gained will not be taken away when you’ve lost, and you will not go further back than the checkpoint.
Below you can find all six checkpoints and the rewards they give:
| Checkpoint | Rewards |
|---|---|
| 1 | 500 Competitive Points |
| 2 | Signature |
| 3 | 1000 Competitive Points |
| 4 | Advanced Signature |
| 5 | 1500 Competitive Points |
| 6 | Elite Signature |
What are Signatures in Overwatch 2?
Signatures are a new form of cosmetic exclusive in Overwatch 2 to the Competitive Drives feature.
To get it, you will need to reach the designated checkpoints as listed above. There are three different types; Signature, Advanced Signature, and Elite Signature, and as you go up it’ll signify just how much ranked you grind.
Signatures will be automatically upgraded whenever you earn a higher tier one, so you can’t choose to go equip a lesser one if you want to.
The cosmetic will be visible to all to all players wherever your name is displayed. This means on your Name Card, Play of the Game highlights, Scoreboard, and Hero Select.
Your Signature will be removed when we reach a Rank Reset, which will be every half year. The last rank reset was when Season 12 arrived, and the last before that was when Season 9 came along.
So if you’re looking to get bragging rights, there’s no better time to grind ranked towards the end of Season 12.