Wide groups are not a good feature

Competitive Discussion
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Hey everyone,

I wanted to bring up some concerns regarding the recent changes to matchmaking in Overwatch 2, particularly with the introduction of the “Wide Match” feature in Season 10. It seems like many of us are experiencing significantly longer queue times, which is affecting our ability to enjoy the game.

For those of us who have been playing Overwatch and Overwatch 2 for years, finding a balance between match quality and wait times has always been crucial. However, with the latest update, it feels like we’ve taken a step backward.

Personally, I’ve been playing with a few friend for years, and we’ve always been within a full rank or two of each other. Our matches used to pop within a few minutes, but now we’re experiencing wait times of up to 10 minutes or longer. This is frustrating, especially when we just want to jump into a game together.

The issue seems to stem from the matchmaking algorithm heavily favoring narrow group configurations over wide group configurations. Even when my friend and I tested different role combinations and rank proximities, the queue times remained excessively long.

What’s even more concerning is that solo queue players are also facing extended wait times, with some reporting queues of an hour or more, particularly at higher ranks. And the priority requeue system doesn’t seem to be functioning effectively, exacerbating the problem.

Despite the healthy player base on Steam, the matchmaking issues persist, indicating that the problem lies within the algorithm rather than a lack of players.

Overall, I’m disappointed with these recent changes and hope that Blizzard will address the issue promptly. Matchmaking should prioritize both match quality and reasonable wait times, and the current state is not meeting these expectations.

If you’ve been experiencing similar issues, I encourage you to share your feedback as well.

Let’s work together to ensure that Overwatch 2 provides the best possible gaming experience for all players.

Thanks for listening.

-Effort

3 Likes
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I am all for Solo que only matches. Groups vs Solo has runined competitive gaming. Makes the matches uneven when you invite your “GM” friend to join your Silver group, on his smurf account.

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The wide match situation has made the game simply unplayable. I used to play in a group of 4 and we all ranged from bottom of gold to top of plat. We weren’t considered wide before but now that we are, we get matches that range from Silver 1 to Diamond 1 in each game! The matches are so low quality it’s ridiculous as it makes them MUCH wider than before.

Between that and the horrendous push maps that are simply an unbalanced joke, I will no longer be playing Overwatch. Literally everything that Blizzard touts as in improvement just makes the game much worse. I finally caved and bought the battle pass middle of last season because we were having fun. Not possible anymore. I will not spend another penny on this game, thankfully, since I won’t be playing it.

6 Likes
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100% agree with you here. Their stated intention was that they want people to be able to play with their friends. I feel these changes have basically done the opposite. Prior to this season, I (diamond 5) could play with all my friends (anywhere from gold 5 to gold 1) regardless without any grouping restrictions. Now I can only play as a ‘wide group’ with a 3 stack and suffer through a 12-15 minute queue, can’t 4 stack, or 5 stack and get an even longer queue.

I honestly wish Blizzard would revert these horrible changes because it has discouraged myself and a lot of my friends from playing the game at all. Even the quick play queues have been atrocious so far this season. Just remove the wide group bs, go back to how it was and give me a match in a reasonable amount of time and I’ll be happy. I’m not waiting 15 minutes in queue to play what is sometimes a 6-8 minute game. It’s absolutely absurd.

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I like how you’re casually outraged by the fact that you can’t just play in gold as a diamond anymore lol.

Come play in diamond like you’re supposed to, bring your gold friends so we can eat. Or is that too much competitive for you ?

Yes you have to wait in a long queue because there’s not that many of you playing these insane wide ranges and you don’t get to stomp around solo games anymore.

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My open queue games today were surprisingly balanced. I went about 50% win rate without any forced streaks and most of the games felt like they could have gone either way. On a Saturday to boot. Time will tell if that is a fluke or if they actually changed something. But so far it seems like getting the stacks out of my games and making them play vs. each other instead may have been a big improvement for solo queuers.

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Low diamond playing with golds is not an insane wide range lol I play in diamond solo queue’d all the time, but used to be able to play with gold friends and the match quality was basically exactly the same. Now this update comes out and I can no longer queue with friends unless I want to wait 10-15 minutes.

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If it’s the same why are your gold friends still stuck in gold? Why don’t they solo queue to diamond so they can play with you with faster queues?

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Because they prefer to play with a group. Idk what to tell you man, I’m just saying that this update has had the opposite of the intended effect for me and my friends. We basically can no longer play the game together in casual or ranked without at least a 10-15 minute queue, and it’s causing most of them to stop playing the game altogether which sucks.

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That’s what Quickplay and Arcade are for. Wide grouping shouldn’t exist in competitive, and if it does it should be with caveats and reduced SR impact as that’s not a competitive environment. Have you seen high school basketball players play with pros against other pros?

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Unfortunately, your metaphor is terrible… because yes, that does happen in basketball. Players that are clearly elite play with mediocre teammates in college all the time, against other teams that are even worse. At least last season the game tried to match my team against teams of similar rank and skill. This season we can’t even queue together

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I used to play comp in a group of four but can’t anymore. It was really fun even if we did get whooped sometimes. Not sure how much longer I will play until they fix this. Sucks that I can’t que with my friends anymore.

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Yeah I think this feature is not good at all for match making quality, I feel it is a step back.

-Effort

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Not sure it’s about “favoring”, more about there being less wide groups than narrow groups (or solos).

They basically traded wide group queue times for narrow group (or solo) enjoyment. Which I think is fine. As a solo I’d rather wait a minute longer and get a decent match than get a bad match a minute earlier. Of course you could also just make a solo queue and a group queue… idk if this current system is unnecessarily complex. Might be, but it’s better than no system at all.