How are the top 500 players in competitive play determined? Is it based on skill rating or something else?
I noticed a yellow/white icon beside my level yesterday. As mentioned in What does a white/yellow rank icon mean, the icon is used to indicate placement in the top 500, a blizzard forum post indicates that there was a bug on the PTR that caused the icon to appear when it shouldn't, is this the same for the live release? I've done all the placement matches, I've played about 12 hours in competitive play, my skill rating isn't high, so I wonder whether it's a bug or if the skill rating is not what determines placement in the top 500.
How is placement in the top 500 determined?
Best Answer
I believe the visual bug from the PTR is present in the live version of the game. I have also seen the Top 500 symbol where my rank should be, and I know for a fact that I am not in the top 500 players in ranked mode (low 50s).
The Top 500 should be determined rather intuitively: the 500 players with the highest ranking, including fractional ranking amounts. Jeff Kaplan has stated in this post linked below that they will not begin displaying the top 500 players until a few weeks into the season, so I think it's definitely bugged.
http://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20745714833#post-6