Heres a thought, back when the Find group feature was Implemented and the first role restrictions were possible my ideal composition was 2F-1-1-2, this meant 2 FLEX players, 1 fixed DPS, 1 fixed TANK and 2 SUPPORTS. Im very capable on at least one hero of every category therefore I grabbed the flex role and hoped to find another flex player like me within the group , this usually allowed you to play almost anything and worked smoothly for most of my matches (mind you I was very responsible and careful on my hero choices).
Now what if there was a 4th role straight out called “Flex” in the role queue that was unlocked after doing placements on all 3 regular roles and if these 3 roles are within 250 SR of each other youd qualify as a flex player that is allowed to pick any character in the game at any given time, your rank as a Flex player would then be the average of the 3 roles and losing/winning games as a “Flex” player changes the SR of the respective roles you used during the match, not playing all 3 roles often would result in the SR disparity to increase and therefore youd be forced to role queue for the specific roles you havent been using.
Maybe this is too complicated? The idea is that if a player demonstrates he is qualified to actually be flexible in all 3 roles within a SR skill treshold they could be rewarded with the most freedom in the game, after meeting this initial requirement itd be important to have some sort of mechanic to keep the player playing all 3 roles or else hes not “Flex” anymore and would lose the privilege of choice.
I think itd be cool if overwatch had some sort of mechanic like this to showcase and reward those players that actually can do this very well (which are rare), sadly though I fear its the sort of thing that somehow the community would abuse or exploit in some way and somehow turn it into something negative or toxic.
If they do that in the idea I proposed playing DPS too often would cause their DPS SR to increase or decrease too much in comparison to the other roles, getting these issues right would be the key imo.
Idea is finding/creating more players that actually care a lot about the purpose of the roles (I believe these players do exist but its very difficult to find them), Being of the same SR on all 3 roles is just one of the requirements I can think of but perhaps there can be more.
Maybe with this idea the matchmaking could try to find matches for 2 Flex -1 DPS - 1 TANK - 2 SUPPORTS or 2-2-2 depending on which is faster for the pool players queuing at the time.
It’s unclear to me what property exists on a player just because theyre the same SR on all three roles that would indicate they care about the purpose of roles more or less than anyone else.
2-2-2 is a balance for the game, not the player community.
every hero can now be balanced within its own role, and you don’t have to worry about a 6 tank first point rush.
How’s this idea against the purpose of Role Queue?
To me, the biggest benefit Role Queue has brought us is bringing more orderliness to the game. Having a “Flex” role won’t ruin this. Actually it will solve most of the concerns raised against Role Queue, and probably diminish the amount of time DPS only players have to wait.
At the very least itd indicate the player poured the time to have a certain skill level in different areas and not just one (while this may be easier said than done one tricks cannot do this) thats a basic quality of a Flex player in my opinion, theres more qualities to a Flex player like positive and analytic approach to the game, good teamworker… maybe we could tie this to the endorsement system somehow which is currently useless, outdated and no indication of anything meaningful whatsoever.
That’s exactly what 99% of people would use it as. No one’s going to pick flex role because they feel like playing healer. They’re going to pick it because they want to play dps and not wait for the queue time
If they do that in the idea I proposed playing DPS too often would cause their DPS SR to increase or decrease too much in comparison to the other roles treshold and therefore losing the Flex status, getting these issues right would be the key imo.
Worst case scenario youd have a 3 DPS - 1 TANK - 2 SUPPORTS which isnt a terrible comp by any means, plus youd have the possibility of using 3 tanks as well
I think this thread idea is not to squirrell, its not how to make a deal… its about how to make OW roles even better and I think Flex role when properly executed its an amazing thing to behold in this game, its overwatch at its best and there should be a way to promote it happening more often.
I very much like having 2 dedicated tanks, 2 dedicated dps and 1 other support with me in game, and despise playing versus any comp running 3 dps because it’s usually some desperate comp with sombra and 2 snipers. 2-2-2 has helped the game so much and I honestly don’t want it any other way