If they donât change any major stuff in comp this will be a downgrade. Entirely removing role switches in general will make you loose to counter some stuff. As for example Genji is really good on attack on for example Hollywood for particularly the first point. However he can be difficult on the first payload phase and he might be better of as a winston there. And for the last phase he could switch back to put more pressure on enemys during the engagement phase. The Problem is its not common to do those switches even though they are oftenly done in the pro scene. However roleque would force this to make the genji player not be able to switch at all. I see the downdraft but on the other hand i think the most common problem is that people just want to play a specific hero for a match. Therefore the best idea i think is having a a prematch lobby where you can get in touch with the people before entering a game, you might even include some playerbased rules , so if you go into a match you cant break those. Like lets say you want to have a fixed role que you could do it, but this also would allow switches in general. Its always better to have a strategie before randimly spawn in with 5 people which you know. I think this is btw. the road blizzard wants to take rather than hero bans and role select, since this is in the interest of most players, knowing what you have to deal with in a game.
Still dont see how its relevant.
Filling and Flexing are 2 separate things. Mostly all âfillersâ are flex players but not all flex players fill.
Anyway, what is relevant is that given how that SR would track your hero usage, it is exploitable and flawed. That system works in Mobas, doesnt in OW. Point still stands.
Any thoughts on picking between these two queues with locked roles on the main Comp menu:
- Flex-Flex-Flex-Flex-Flex-Flex
- Flex-Flex-Tank-Tank-Healer-Healer
With the option to also vote to unlock roles, and an autounlock if you have a Leaver.
Pretty much what we have today is the first one, just adding a second one.
That can be done via LFG if they both are queue for the same games.
Also in the second i think flex players should be awarded more SR than the rest, since that comp banks on their flexibility.
Even in rolequeue the option to switch roles must always be kept available.
My suggestion:
You can have role queue with out role enforcment. While you can still have throwers and trolls like every game mode, it atleast would atleast set a reasonable expectation how each person will play while still allowing freedom of non-standard strats. (And ofc still allow switching)
No more 6 dps teams with everyone hoping someone else switches.
Exactly. There will be not-so-nice-people who queue with the ill intention to pick a different role than the one they are queueing for. But itâs the small price weâre paying to have a more flexible rolequeue system. Not to mention, like you already did, there already are throwers and alike in games so thereâs really no point in restricting roles. All that would do is create the awful situation of playing against an enemy comp that requires you to have 3 tanks, DPS or healers while you donât have the option to pick any more than 2 of each.
I prefer systems that work even if someone is trying to cheat the system.
For instance, letâs say you get 4 of the 6 players to agree to unlock Roles.
Thatâd have more control on it than giving selfish players faster queue times if they pick a role they donât intend to play.
Trying to police smurf accounts is a foolâs errand. Unless you want to tie peoplesâ accounts to personally identifiable information (like a SSN, which is probably illegal in most places) thereâs never going to be a way to figure out who is who unless theyâre stupid enough to stream. Thatâs why Blizzard doesnât bother.
There are more directly gameplay-centric problems with Role Queue as it is, like the fact that being good with Zarya or Winston has no being whatsoever on whether someone is good with Reinhardt or Wrecking Ball. Itâs far worse with DPS, where heroes can be good with a few DPS and hot garbage with 8.
Whatâs that? Neither your Junkrat or Mei can play a competent hitscan or Hanzo and the enemy Pharah is bombarding everyone uncontested? Your Zarya plays a solid McCree? Too bad, bucko.
Both of those issues are also present in regular matchmaking, even amplified. Because besides the chances of not having a specific hero (hitscan) of a given role (DPS) theres also the chance of not having any heros of a given role or too many. How many times did you have to endure a team consisting of 3 or even 4 players insinsting to play DPS? Or games where your only tank is a Roadhog?
Rolequeue, as suggested by me, isnt a perfect solution, but its certainly a better solution than no solution. And no, LFG doesnt count. Depending on the time of day theres hardly anyone using it and to quote my own post:
With rolequeue the chances of decent games are raised, not locked at 100%. But unless anyone comes up with a better solution I dont see any reason not to implement it.
they been talking about role queue for months now. i am surprised people even think it will even become a thing. blizzard will be crawling forever lol
Great, a cynic 
Can you see if you can poke any holes in this idea. Iâve been trying to fix any weaknesses on it.
i wanted role queue for ages. i suggested/seen many of those options many times already, at some point you just get tired and want to see the developer actually do something.
Well, in Jeffâs recent Emongg interview Jeff did say he likes 2Flex instead of 2DPS for 2-2-2 on LFG.
I figure having a ?-2-2 queue would give the vast majority of what people are looking for with LFG, without all the hassle.
And for everything else thereâs the normal 6Flex queue, or LFG. Or having 4 players in ?-2-2 queue vote to unlock roles.
There are a few different types of role switches I typically see.
The first is where someone snaps up a role from another person, usually in between rounds, without any communication or plan. This is soft throwing at the very least. Like for example a DPS player decides to just instalock Reinhardt after an attack round even if the Rein player was previously doing perfectly fine.
The second, and one that I have legitimately not seen in months, is where a player from another role has someone in their hero pool that fills a hole in the existing hero pool of the people currently in that second role. But even then thatâs not a clean swap. Say a DPS player and a main tank player swap roles because the main tank player can play Widow to contend with theirs. What DPS was the DPS player playing beforehand and how is their main tank compared to the person who is swapping off? It often doesnât have the intended effect because it discombobulates the comp more than it solves the perceived issue.
A lot of people say that this is a bad idea in case your lone hitscan player is locked behind a different role that they canât swap off of. Maybe it is an Elo thing, but idk, I personally think that if you canât play at least one hitscan hero (or at the very least a competent Hanzo) for when the situation calls for it you shouldnât really be playing DPS. A lot of people are stuck where they are because theyâre inflexible to the point where the best comp they can muster up against a Widow or Pharah is Junkrat/Reaper.
I mean, probably the most common reason people buy smurf accounts is because they know they canât play a specific role at their SR. Doing this would cut down on smurfing since thereâs no reason to hop onto a different account.
Not to mention, assuming youâre role locked to what you queue for, a T500 Widow isnât exactly going to be constantly oneshot trickshotting people when theyâre locked into the tank or support role.
But whatâs to stop a GM DPS player from soft throwing on healers down to Bronze?
Whatâs the point if theyâre not allowed to play DPS?
Because it would only affect their healer SR and theyâd only be able to play healers at that rank?
Iâm not sure climbing on a role where the fraggiest hero you can possibly play is Zen is anyoneâs idea of fun.
3 separate SRâs making things really complicated.
Game would want you to play that role the whole game to gauge the actual SR.
The only thing role queue solves is your ability to team build YOUR team and play the hero YOU want without having to compromise with your TEAM in a TEAM game.
AKA, just make your own team if you donât trust the match maker. Heâs a streamer and I doubt would struggle to find friends.