I don’t know what the consensus is when it comes to the etiquette here, which is why I ask.
I never do it and typically don’t like it when somebody does it with me. I perceive it as being like “Hey, do you want to just abandon your teammates who want to win and are counting on you in order to join my group? Not to mention, you’re not interested in finishing and possibly winning the game you already started, right?”
What I will do is spectate a game one of my friends is in, if they’re in it, and after they die and don’t need to concentrate I will whisper them and ask if they’d like to group up after it’s done. Or, if they’re just in the menu doing nothing, I might send a group invite or I might whisper them and ask before I do to find out whether they want to do QP, Arcade, Comp, or whatever.
I’ve never really asked friends for a group up but receive a lot of invitations. Personally I don’t mind getting them but if I’m in the middle of something, I’d just reject the invite so it’s no biggy to me. The only reason why I’d see it as poor etiquette is if they constantly spam invitations despite rejections.
I find it incredibly annoying when people invite me without messaging me first. Like I’m automatically supposed to know what they want to do. It’s even more annoying when I’m in the middle of a match because it clogs up my screen. PM me if you want to do something. And this irritation doesn’t apply to just OW.
To answer your question, I always send them a PM first regardless of whether or not they are in a game.
Lol, I babysit a 10 year old and he’ll send people invites who aren’t even in the same game as him.
They’re watching youtube, I don’t think they want to play Overwatch with you.
I usually just send a message.
They can take 2 seconds to look at it during a respawn and reply with an emoji if they want to when they’re done.
Simple, quick and easy.
It’d be less of a problem if accepting the group, then declining the match kick didn’t remove you from the group you just got invited to. I’ve got no problem waiting for friends to finish their games, but being able to join a group mid game WITHOUT being forced to leave the game would be nice.
I usually get a lot of invites because of who I play the most(I swear I’m learning other supports), but I make them wait, I’m not gonna leave the current game for a group of friends
Agreed, this wouldn’t be an issue if it didn’t kick you from your current match.
I’ve been sent invites while I’m in the middle of games, and unless it’s DM, I decline. I find it disrespectful to just send an invite without checking your friend’s status, and, on the other side, to leave a game because you got invited to a group.
(Although what offends me the most is adding me to a group and then starting to search for a game without asking me what mode I want to play or even saying hello)
Just in general I don’t invite people and rarely join groups.
I wouldn’t say it is rude though, I have a friend who does it all the time. Most likely they will just wait until the end then whisper you for an invite though.