A “communication wheel” type wheel appears where you select which play style you lean towards. Its duration stacks with Hero Select and it goes away when a button is pressed, prompting Hero Select as normal.
It’s segmented into 7 slots, 6 wheel pieces and a central core. Each is a button to press to indicate your preferred role in current and future games.
From the top and going clockwise the role select icons appear, fading from role to role, with “none preferred” in the center. Topmost is support.
Support, Support / Damage Hybrid, Damage, Damage / Tank Hybrid, Tank, Tank / Support Hybrid, and with Any in the center.
Every competitive game you play asks you to select a role and you do so at the beginning of the match. Failing to do so within the time given auto-selects “Any” and brings you to Hero Select.
Now assume that Blizzard keeps track of this and uses this player information for match making.
Hybrid players get prioritized first, with the match maker trying its hardest to get at least two hybrids per team.
After the initial hybrid players, “one-tricks” get queued in. Players that focus heavily in one role don’t get matched up with two others that focus that role. This reduces the possibility of getting matched with 5 DPS mains to fight a 2/2/2 team.
After 5 players have been selected, matchmaking searches for any “Any”'s in queue and has them be the 6th. If no Any’s are there, matchmaking selects another hybrid or one-trick to fill out a 2/2/2 composition.
Hybrid players get queued first, and if everybody is a hybrid, 2/2/2 is only suggested as these players can run nearly any comp if everyone has at least two roles to fill.
One-tricks get queued second but always have a hybrid to complete a 2/2/2 comp. One-Tricks will more often find themselves in a 2/2/2, but again; hybrid players will allow for 3/2/1 to be run effectively if necessary.
“Any” players will always have a game, being prioritized for the 6th player, but will actually have the worst reputation among players, being seen as someone who doesn’t understand Role Select, or someone who’s lying just to get quicker queue times.
This system does not keep track of individual hero pick-rates, only their role.
Role Selection appears around one’s Endorsement rating as an arrow pointing towards the player’s role preference. Supports point straight up, DPS points down and to the right, and Tanks point down and to the left. Hybrids point in spaces between their favored roles, and Any’s don’t have an arrow indicator.
In the Role Select screen seen before Hero Select, a white glint can be seen where a player’s preferred role is, or that segment lights up brighter than the others.
A new report category becomes available in “Role Deception”. Players who say they’re a support / tank hybrid or “Any” but only play one DPS hero would get reported and reprimanded to select appropriately, lose an endorsement level, and have their role selection stats reset to 0 games.
Role Select resets every competitive season, allowing players to set their preferred role(s) during placement matches.