So I dabbled a bit with LoL in the past. While the game wasn’t really to my liking I think HotS could learn a thing or two about their role queue.
As it is right now you can get 2 people who chose healer as secondary, one flex and none of them willing to pick healer.
What I suggest is to have role queue based on position, with the 5 positions being tank, healer, dps, solo and flex. The first 4 are self explanatory. Flex, while realistically would probably be a 2nd dps most of the time, can also be a support or another melee/bruiser/tank/healer. It would also help if it shows the most common position for a hero.
So you could maybe choose 2 roles when queueing, but one you get into draft you’re assigned one of them and that’s the one you’re expected to stick with unless you switch with someone.
If you don’t think it’s a good idea I’d at least like to hear why.
it would restrict flexibility, both in terms of comp (2 bruisers + 0 tank) as well as players
*1) team of 3 joins up, they flex between themselves
*2) I’m okay with tanking as long as it’s a specific one; I’m also a Ming OTP but I won’t play her into Zagara+Naz+Anub-Xul due to minions blocking everything
it would increase queues (for assassins)
The unfortunate element is that 65% of the Heroes playerbase prefers ranged assassins, just a rough guesstimate from QM.
One of the results is, even though someone is okay with flexing, they may have played 5 games in a row as a tank (I do as ranged main), so they jump at the opportunity to finally play their other beloved roles.
The shorter queue doesn’t offset the unfun of playing undesired roles.
Part of the problem is the lack of learning grounds for other roles, as much of the hero pool depends on some cooperation. Solo tanking for and against four ranged isn’t my definition of fun. Being Kharazim in the same setup isn’t great either.
Strict role based queueing could introduce role based MMR which would, in return, allow me to play my worse roles. I still have a massive disparity among heroes per role (e.g. I’m a bad Genji and the only tank I play well is Anub) but can’t have everything.
Which is good tho, but it doesn’t increase the interest to play other roles that’s what we see in OW, where the assassines role is always overcrowded. But there are other problems why this idea is a problem in Hots like heroes who can fit into more than one role like Uther or Varian.
Well yeah, it’s just that a lot of times flexibility in my games means 3-4 players lock in ranged assassins. Especially if it’s 4 I’m stuck with the choice of playing tankless or healerless. Or like you mentioned playing 5 tank games in a role even if I prefer to be the solo laner. The way it is now a lot of times you get tanks or healers who aren’t really comfortable with the role which just makes it an uphill battle.
Stacks can still flex somewhat if they want but if you get 5 solos there’s usually no coordination anyway and I’d rather if we could just get the basic roles right.
Well yeah, but the whole reason other people suffer is because of those times you get 3 people hover assassin and refuse to switch. I mostly play QM because I’m tired of how the draft works (as in not the actual process, but that the team has to essentially fight each other for the desired roles a lot of the times). In QM if you don’t have a healer the enemy doesn’t have one as well but in SL you’re usually doomed to a lopsided match where the more standard team wins.
Queue length doesn’t matter if the experience is not enjoyable. So the people who aren’t happy with the situation leave and you’re just left with those who instalock assassins and disregard anything else.
LOL is played on a single map and the entire concept of last hitting makes the game very feel very rigid. Leaving a lane in HOTS (in my opinion made better by lingering xp globes) makes the game much more random, fun and dynamic.
Tying up roles to specific locations on the map just makes thing boring and leaves little room for interesting strategies and any player innovation, literally do as intended or else (you lose!).
The beautiful thing about HOTS is that it at least feels like there is some diversity in hero pick priority based on map and it’s not unusual for certain roles to be completely ignored or picked multiple times.
Like the interesting strategy of 5 mid and the healer having to ping furiously at the other lanes not being soaked?
Unlike LoL the roles I mentioned don’t tie you to a lane they tie you to a role. After 10 the solo lane is literally the lane where the enemy team isn’t at it’s very dynamic and you have to come for teamfights too. On 3 lane maps the other 4 people either split between 2 lanes or roam as 4. After level 10 they usually travel together to whatever camp/objective are available.
Yeah but like I’ve said the cause of this in my games is usually not some big brain draft but people refusing to compromise even though it’s a team game. It’s the “mid or I feed” mentality from other games.
So what your diversity means for me is usually:
4 people hovering assassins so I’m stuck with the masochistic choice of playing tank or healer without the other role.
3 people hovering ranged assassins so even if I want to play solo lane I’ll be stuck as the de facto tank anyway.
Having to play healer for a tank that doesn’t know how to tank because no one else agreed to pick healer or otherwise I would have been the tank.
So personally I’d rather that people had an idea what role they want to play before queueing and stick to it, even if it means longer queues for all of us.
BTW role queue in LoL is basically a suggestion. You can pick whatever hero you want but you’ll be blamed for trolling if you were to pick a hero that doesn’t fit for no reason (as a HotS example picking Abathur as a tank or Li Ming as a healer). And you can switch roles if the other person agrees. There’s a UI for that and all you can send a request to switch and they can accept or deny.
Even if you are last pick and dont pick tank or healer that is not your problem casue you should not be forced to pick what others refused to pick in the first place.
And if the others already picked full dps team then why not just do it yourself too ? Forcing the last pick to pick healers/tanks is just toxic
And if you already told the others in chat that you cant heal or tank and gets forced to it anyway then its not your problem if you lose.
I would be happy if draft chat was used some more really. No one use it to tell what you are best/worst with or discuss ban options. Its all quiet and no one says a word and you end up have to think for yourself what you need or who to ban even if you have no clue who to ban.
You say it’s not my problem but it’s an awful experience, and it turns people away from the game.
I stopped bothering since half the time people respond negatively, and telling someone to pick something meta usually leads to them picking something they’re not comfortable on. at gold-plat you’re more likely to win if your team just goes for comfort picks. I’m also on EU so I can’t even be sure if people understand English.
The thing is, HotS with its talent system means that there are any number of heroes that can play outside their “traditional” role. Blaze is a tank, but he is also arguably the best solo laner in the game. Uther is a healer, but I have far more success playing him as a tank. Murky is a melee assassin, but he is most effective as a dual-soaker. Kharazim is more scary as a melee assassin who can provide a little damage mitigation and healing than anything.
While it can be frustrating to find yourself partied with people who refuse to play critical roles, I don’t think forcing people to do so is the right answer. I like to play in a 3 stack in SL whenever possible, as it means I can group with people I know can be flexible. The lack of random people willing to flex is the main reason I learned how to play Uther. No one wants to tank or heal? I got this!