That I have no objections to. Players who end up backfilling at the end of a match or get curb-stomped because they had to play 4v6 when both their healers left - those I feel SHOULD get a priority queue. I remember a 5-minute wait on the PTR which threw me into a game that finished while I was loading, which then threw me back into another 5-minute wait. I’m also fine with penalising leavers by deliberately depreoritising them very quickly.
Basically, the queue should try and account for the experience of people it throws into broken matches, but these are special-case exceptions.
Understandable and i agree with your point. personally the only time a priority queue should happen is for those in comp who have a match cancelled due to a leaver.
The only solution that i can see is to make tanking and support just as rewarding as damage. Heres what i mean, damage heroes are mostly focusing on kills and on a kill you get a chimy sound followed by a red skull its all stimuli designed to reward the player and damage roles get those the most while healing and tanking get little to no rewards for doing their jobs. If they implemented a reward system for these roles id see alot more people playing them.
Tank example: blocking an ult that would of killed a teammate get a bodyguard reward followed by a sound and little icon.
Support example: Heal a teammate before they take lethal damage get a guardian angel reward followed by a sound and little icon
Edit: this could be a bad example as some players could wait for their allies to get to low health before healing them but im sure you get my point
Its these small things that could shift the role population a bit to at least release some of the pressure.
Edit: i like to think about how the ribbon system works in BF4 it gives reasons for players to stick to the role as it makes them feel valued and like they helped their team in fact i made a conscious effort to get as much of these as possible because i knew i was helping my team at the same time while setting a challenge for myself
If we’re being practical, I doubt the developers would implement something like this merely to reduce queue times for DPS. I think it’s fair to say that if players gravitate toward DPS, they like shooting more than blocking, so forcing those players to do something else could be seen as anti-consumer game design.
You also need to consider how this would pit against alternatives such as making overhauls to character designs, so that all three classes appeal roughly equally. Perhaps there are other ways to incentivize playing those roles.
So you’re going to force people to play a role they dont want just to get a chance to play one that they do want.
Be ready for plenty of throwing, they can just play tank/support and play terrible so that the other team can win quickly. Since there is role based SR then there is no reason to care about SR for roles that you don’t care about.
There are a couple of issues here, disregarding some people’s need to be the standout hero on a team of equals: Play of the Game and player feedback in both directions.
Play of the Game
Play of the Game is broken, I’ll straight-up say that. It’s supposed to highlight the most exciting or meaningful event of the match, but is almost always one of three things - a Junkrat Riptire, a Genji Dragonblade or a Hanzo Dragonstrike. Yes, those can sometimes turn a game around, but all too often they’re dumb. Oh, another Junkrat hiding around a corner who got two people with the game’s cheapest ult. Yay. Mercy, by contrast, can only ever get a PotG if I whip out my pistol and shoot three people - which I have, but it’s kind of not the point.
If PotG was better at recognising the contribution of healers who kept the team from dying through a massive slugfest or a Tank who managed to draw aggro and survive, then maybe more people would be willing to play those… Or at least feel less like they get no respect when they do. PotG needs to put a lot more weight on healing and taking damage without dying than on just damage and kills.
Feedback
Neither Tank nor Support get any real feedback to tell them that they’re doing a good job. Sure, the team is doing well and we’re winning, but am I really contributing as a Reinhardt? I don’t know of many good ways to more readily credit Tanks and Supports on their own screens… L4D used to have a “X protected Y” when you bash an Infested off of a team-mate, but that doesn’t work as easily in Overwatch…
I do, however, know of good ways to do the reverse. Make it more obvious to people that they’re being healed. Yes, the game displays a yellow vignette, but it’s very hard to notice in the heat of battle. All too often I’ve fought through a melee feeling like I wasn’t getting healing… Only to watch a highlight and realise that a healer saved my life multiple times. Make the sound more obvious and put a yellow highlight over the first-person guns the same as the blue one when the character is being power-boosted. Make it OBVIOUS to people that they’re being healed. This doesn’t just help generate good will towards healers, but it helps inform a character to “Go! I’m healing you!” in some cases.
When it comes to tanks, I’d say play a loud sound when a nearby tank is taking damage, proportionate to their health and the amount of damage they’re taking. Make the sound of barriers taking hits louder, as well. Play a sound for people when shots WOULD have gone into them, but went into a team-mate or a barrier instead, similar to a Widow shot whizzing past your head.
In my experience, people tend to gravitate towards DPS for the “glory” in a lot of cases. They have the Plays of the Game, they get the gold damage, they feel like they’re carrying. The truth of the matter is that all too often it’s the tanks and healers who end up carrying the brunt of the game SO THAT DPS can do their job. Properly crediting everyone would go a long way towards convincing at least some people to play a broader range of heroes.