Ever consider implementing a feature where player has to select up to 4 heroes, form a total of 2 different queue (or one hero with a checkbox for one-tricks) that they want to play on their profile at all times? It can set two hero as primary, and two hero as secondary.
This may help out with the match making system.
wow just wow rulers sets there is only 1 rule set for comp, but you can set the roles and how many of any hero for the roles.
Is there a possibility that something like this will actually become a thing? I know it’d probably be a lot of work to basically redo the whole competitive system. But it seems like something that could be good for the game. It’d also be a great way of showing players what they really are good at, like they’re a diamond Tank player, a Masters Support but be at Plat in DPS. Or say a GM DPS player just really isn’t good with tank and support play style and be down in the plat low diamond range with them.
And if this were to happen (separate SRs for different roles) would it be a role queue into 2-2-2 games? Allowing the player to pick their role before getting into the game.
I absolutely understand queuing for DPS would very likely result in a longer queue but I and I feel many others would rather have longer queues than crappy luck throwing 4 DPS mains and 2 tank mains with no support mains into a game.
What basis would there even be for dividing players by “role,” though? Many of the characters in this game aren’t rigidly aligned to specific roles, and there is extreme variance in purpose and playstyle within the official three roles.
Someone who’s good at hitscan tracking skills, for example, would probably like to focus on things like Soldier, Tracer, Zarya, and Wrecking Ball. If that player picks “tank” and gets matched with another “tank” player of similar skill set, the outcome is no better than what we have now. In fact it’s worse if roles are locked, because none of the other players who might be better at Reinhardt or Winston are allowed to play those.
A similar problem occurs with various characters who cross between roles. Mei and Brigitte, for example, tend to fill the role of off-tanks but technically aren’t tanks. As a result, the people who want to play them will often be “tank mains” and thus probably choose tanks for a role queue.
Ultimately it seems to me like ranking several characters to queue in a “character queue” would be more sensible than a “role queue,” although as a flexible player, I might prefer to opt out of either one regardless.
I love Overwatch. My biggest complaint is that when I click “Play Competitive” I dont know what role I’m going to be playing. I hate that feeling.
A very good analogy is already how a lot of mercy mains have been treated.
“Learn Something different than Mercy”
Mercy starts training Ana
“Go and play Mercy, You Mercy main!”
Other than that, I’m pleasantly surprised of the fact that a role-Queue system is finally being pushed towards the spotlight (i lost count how many times I had to miserably solo heal for a bunch of DPS) So… Bully for you.
I’m worried separate SR could “encourage” people to not care about the SR of their sub roles.
If I’m already master on tank, and I know I don’t play DPS very well, I could not be doing my best in plat on DPS queue, because I just wouldn’t care about my SR on the roles I’m not really good at.
That could be like everyone has 2 alt accounts, but it’s free for everyone, and on the same account
Thank you for keeping all players in mind.
I personally prefer playing support, but with a system like OP’s in place, if it were to go off of my playtime during season 14, I would be actually forced to play Tank every game despite the fact that nowadays I relish the games where I get to fill a different role. Likewise, there have been seasons where I got tired of supporting every single game and wanted to Tank or DPS, but still filled Support because I wanted to help more than hinder.
Any system where the game automatically assigns me a role, especially one with a snowballing effect like this, would pretty much ruin the game for folks like myself.
omg jeff is really here POG
I think that’s the kind of role-queue a lot of people are scared about… one that just says “You are tank! You are Healer! You are DPS!” instead of selecting the role you want to play and get put in as it with a team fit to be around it.
I mean… it’s pretty much one of the big reasons peope use the private profiles… so they can play different roles without someone looking at their profile being like “But you’re a [Role you have most time on] Main! Go play that and let me play [Role you have but they want].” (Occassionally + “Or I report you for throwing!”
Also, Jeff… what’s your stance on people in LFG (group leaders) Leaving matches as the whole group just to kick people randomly?
HOG
No, if you want to climb you gotta know how to flex and play more roles and heroes.
I know that there is thought of implementing a hero specific MMR. What if the matchmaker asked you which hero you would like to play and once you pick a specific hero with a specific MMR then it places you in a match with other people so that you would have at least a 2-2-2 based on what people want to play.
However, if you want to switch your hero - you can only pick heroes from your roster that are within a certain percentage of MMR that you picked. This way you cannot say you play your main character and then switch to someone you are bad at.
In order to balance that though, the matchmaker will assign a variance value for everyone based on the hero and role they chose. If you are a one trick, you get a low variance value and if you have multiple heroes within your chosen MMR range, you get a larger value. The matchmaker would try to even out the variance values between the two teams to not put 6 one tricks on one and none on the other.
This would take into consideration what people want to play and what they can play. It would set the game up as a 2-2-2 to ensure a decent comp. It still lets people have some freedom though.
The cherry on top would be 2 team overrides where the team by majority vote can decide on the fly to suspend the 2-2-2 and/or open heroes up outside of your MMR level.
What is wrong with you people
This would make it worse for players who like certain heros that are deemed “unpopular”.
For example, a separate SR would not be a true representation if its by heros. Like myself, I love to play Sombra, it fits my style and preference, and quite frankly im pretty good with her.
The issue is, my rating is not a good representation of where I should be. Why?
Well main reason is because when I pick her, a lot of players throw out of spite and cause losses. (I only solo for the most part)
So if its by hero, rating would be low vs someone else of less skill will have a higher rating on a perceived meta hero.
That’s fine just go for it. You have enough of a playerbase that I doubt wait times would be too horribly impacted. I saw some GM’s complain that queue time is high now because people are leaving, so something fresh like this can possibly bring people back negating that.
Hey Jeff, I can understand your caution, but sometimes you just need to step out and try something instead of vacillate pondering all the wotifs.
Many other ideas like “6 stack only comp” do fundamentally change the game and WILL alienate people. OP’s suggestion is relatively harmless on the scale of things.
The neat thing about OP’s suggestion, is if you really wanted to, you could still support or DPS, now you could say this is a bad thing, but isn’t worse than what we currently have, so isn’t it worth trying out?
I think this is the best way to do it. I think people would be more apt to learn new roles if they knew they weren’t going to be soft-throwing while doing so. I’m a decent healer and dps, but an awful tank. I don’t want to think I’m throwing every time I pick a tank, but I would play them more if I knew it wouldn’t affect my SR with the roles I am good at.
Also, thank you for the communication, Jeff, many of us appreciate it.
Problems you might have as a result of in-game character choice are going to happen with or without any kind of restricted queue. Queues by “role” would do nothing to eliminate that kind of problem; only compound it with the ones I mentioned above.