A question regarding avoid as teammate

[Kaedi-11739]

@SaltyPizza-11963

Has Blizzard ever given a reason for why the list is capped at 3 people, and it only lasts 1 week? Was just musing this question today. It seems like a very arbitrary set of limitations if you ask me.

Let’s pull up the original developer post that discusses the feature.

@ScottMercer

Recently we provided another active tool to give you more control of your Overwatch experience: the ability to mark players as people who you don’t want to play with as a teammate. Our initial deployment of the feature only allows you to avoid two players, but we want to increase that limit over time as we become more confident that it doesn’t negatively affect matchmaking.

When they expanded it to three, here is what Scott Mercer had to say:

@ScottMercer

At the same time that Competitive Season 12 begins, we’re increasing the number of players you can Avoid as Teammate from two to three. As promised when the feature was implemented, we have been watching to see the effect Avoid as Teammate has on gameplay and queue times. After reading feedback and deciphering data, we think adding a slot will help players better control their Overwatch experience while still keeping queue times reasonable. When you add a player to your Avoid as Teammate list, you will not be placed on the same team with that player for seven days.

In reality, avoiding another player has an exponential impact on the matchmaker than you may think. The game literally has to take the time to figure out separate teams for both you and the other player and this problem multiplies (not simply adds) when you avoid a second and a third player. The seven day limit is in consideration to keep the matchmaker as open as possible. Tell me, can you specifically remember the name of a team mate you got angry with from say two months ago? How do you know they haven’t since shown up in your own games? the Avoid as Teammate tool is intended as a short-term player management tool to handle your current play session experience. If there was indefinite holds and unlimited slots to avoid teammates, we would eventually break the matchmaker.