Ok, so I will say up front I genuinely think this isn’t an easy thing to get right. If there were a solo only queue, it’s going to be a nightmare for the “main” queue as a large proportion of the fill-ins when you have a 4 stack or 2x2 stacks are just not going to be there for that last spot, so you either get worse MM or longer queues.
But clearly that advantage of queueing with others has to be managed. And currently it really feels like it isn’t. I mean, tonight I’ve been in multiple games where one side has had significantly more grouped players than mine. In one case, the whole other team was grouped and no one on mine was (whether it was a 2+3 or 5 stack who knows). Even when groups are relatively even between teams, the solo q guy is often not going up against someone solo q in the same role on the other team.
None of this seems to me to be good for balance. I get that absolute perfectly aligning groups isn’t going to easily happen. But the current effort seems pathetically inept, to the point of being actively disruptive to good gameplay. Surely you could at least make sure a solo q guy on one side is matched with someone solo q on the other in the same role?
In QP I can let it slide - it doesn’t ultimately matter beyond that one game. But in ranked it’s clearly going to make a difference. And it just leads to more bad games when there’s at least some steps that could be made to minimise this.
And yes, I’m sure the “find friends” crowd will wade in. But regardless, if we really want an even playing field for all thats not the answer because we’re back to the first point. 4 stacks need their fill-in for 5th. And people shouldn’t feel obliged to play a game a certain way just not to be dumped on.
Or should they? I look forward to the responses.