I’m usually quite calm and quiet in-game except for a few suggestions here and there and pinging where I’m headed. It’s tough to upset me just by being bad, drafting poorly, or doing anything that’s not obvious afking in base or feeding. What really, really tilt me in this game, though, are people who list as one role and first pick something entirely different when there’s someone listed for that role as their main.
Think Healer/Tanks first-picking Butcher, Tank/Bruisers grabbing KT, Range/Melee Assassins taking Li Li, etc. If it’s last pick and needed, fine, but before that forget it.
When this happens, I realize that no matter what I do, I and the community lose. If I stick to my guns and pick what I listed as come what may, I may be technically in the right but could well be throwing the game, which is unfair to the other 3 players who did nothing wrong. On the other side, if I fill for such a… “person”… it just reinforces his belief that it’s okay and people will play around him, and it increases the likelihood that he’ll do it again next match. It’s a lose-lose situation and no fun.
So, my proposal to fix this: Partial role lock until last pick. If someone in the group has not yet picked and has a main role declared, that role is locked for the rest of the group that doesn’t have that role selected until at least one player with that main role has picked the role, all with the main role have picked off-role, or until last pick. Since typically 2-3 DPS heroes are picked I’d only lock melee/range assassins once at least 2 players have that as main role selected. To prevent trolls, if someone waits until last pick and his main role is not filled, he’s finally locked into just that role, whatever it is.
No comps are prevented by this, as the role will be freed up for everyone as soon as that player has picked a character. Want 5 healers? Have the listed healer pick first. Listed as just one role and want another? Don’t wait until last pick.
Thoughts/improvements?
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Sounds logical, but probably won’t happen.
Blizzard has no backbone to implement such rigid enforcement. If they did decide to do it it would take this dev staff 2+ years to implement at the pace at which they move.
True, it’s a shot in the dark posting here and it probably won’t get implemented, but it would sure save me a lot of headaches and bad games.
Enforcing respect for other players’ main roles would IMO be a huge improvement to help prevent people getting pushed into roles where they may effectively play a league or two lower than their main role(s). I suppose from a certain perspective it seems rigid, but it’s intentionally as loose as possible because I, too, don’t want to see a strict role lock which would lead to MM-forced comps and metas.
There will always be metas when it comes to a draft type match. Its pvp and it naturally happens when pvp is competitive not just in Ranked.
I do like the OP idea of a loose lock for roles and think it would greatly improve quality of play in most cases. BUT, they would have to make it to where it would be mandatory to select a main role. Currently you dont even have to select anything to play unranked or ranked.
Honestly i feel you. Despite me being for free comps (who said 5 healer can’t win) If there is a role selection, and if you pick that role, why the hell do you instapick another role without organizing with you team ? It’s really frustating. Another valid point is that even if i’m for free comps blizzard itself made a role-searching queue for qm for example admitting there is a necessity for determinate roles or for a balance.
I’m all for free comps, too, which is why I wanted a solution which guarantees a role to the people who listed for it against people who didn’t without limiting comp choice.
If the people in those listed roles choose to give them up by first picking something else that’s available, the role is then freed up for second and third picks if the team so chooses. If the team only wants one healer or tank, though, the spot is guaranteed to someone who picked the role.