The sad reality that is Role Queue

General Discussion
1

I have never posted on the forums before, but I am now at a point with this game whereby I feel I need to scream about it!

I have played this game since launch across three different platforms, I literally couldn’t get enough of this game. Sure, there were balance issues (what game doesn’t have them?), but they weren’t bad enough that they ruined the experience for me.

Then, eSports came along … since this transition of focus onto this the game has progressively got worse and worse. The balancing has become worse … I mean, how is it balanced that one hero can counter almost an entire roster of characters (Sombra!)?

The forced ‘meta’ changes that have been implemented time and time again, from developers who apparently want us to play the game how we see fit, but at the same time seem to follow instruction from a handful of eSports players that dictate balance changes.

Why is this happening? Money, of course. eSports is what the company focus was on due to the profit it brings into the company. Start thinking about the players instead of your profits.

(Ironic that you lost so much money - share value - whilst trying to concentrate on bringing more in)

The MMR is just, well … I don’t think I need to cover how bad this is.

Then we get to role queue … forcing players to select a role prior to matchmaking. This has had the most awful effect on the game. Queue times are ridiculous, players are being forced to play roles that they don’t usually play just so they can actually play a game. This in turn creates a really negative experience for all of the other players in the match as you have team members who are not competent in the role they select.

Additionally, the skill gap between those who are playing a new role and those in the roles they are competent at is vast. It’s noticeable on almost every game I play in. Not to mention that besides that point, the matchmaking is matching gold players in the DPS slot with master players … at a reasonable time of the day.

Outside of the balance issues, the role queue, matching making fairness and queue times … there are issues with the actual competitive matches. After queuing for 25 minutes to find a game (EU server, early evening on a Friday) a player will leave the match … match cancelled, back to queuing. Entering into a game for there to be a server issue … match cancelled, back to queuing.

I am now at the stage with this game I once loved where I don’t want to play it. I can’t deal with the toxicity of people and the issues outlined above. It’s now no longer enjoyable for me, but I still play it because I want it to be what it once was, the reason we all loved it … it was fun, fast, more balanced and just enjoyable.

Thoughts:

Remove role queue
Add map select
Revert some of the ridiculous balance changes
Add more reward to playing competitive
Start listening to your community
Add a mode where we can play characters in their previous versions.

Yours,

A fan, soon to be ex-fan.

3 Likes
2

Nothing personal just gonna quote few things, and then say few things from myself

Community is pretty split most of the time.
A lot of people asked for Role Q for pretty long time. Just removing it won’t fit “listen to community” part to well.

Again, topic that divides community.
Some people wan’t more rewards from comp for some reason.
Some don’t wan’t that because golden weapons are annoying enough.
I’d rather have them add some rewards for PTR participation for more raw data. Also listen to more feedback (reasonable one) from PTR forums, considering most of the balance problem can be easily predicted.

Map select would be nice but how would it work? Block 2 maps? If 80% of community block same 2 maps, it’d give them good idea what should get reshaped. Just imagine if they add it to the RoleQ and not only will ya wait 15minutes for a game, you’ll never get to play your fav map because community hates it (Hanamure<3)

Some changes were weird, gotta admit that ,but Blizzard ain’t company that’s known for fast balancing and admitting to mistakes and reverting them : D

Some more about the RoleQ.
It’s a system I know mostly from MMOs and it’s like that everywhere.
Is it perfect? No
Does better way to get around the problem exist? Don’t think so.
Are you forced to play other roles? No
Do you do it because your que times are too high? Maybe
Will you improve in other roles and get used to them? Maybe
Is there a way to get around it with at least some basic communication skills? Aye
Does bunch of entitled, self centered snowflakes have these basic skills to do that reliably? Probably not.
Did this system change anything for someone (Me) who pretty much gave up trying to play dps in comp and went with offtank/supp? Well I sometimes get Rewards for something I’d do anyway<3

They’ll either quit or wait in long que, or develop in either way.
They can also just go for lowest que and troll but they’d do it before RoleQ anyway.

In theory the system should get better over time, with more games people will be get into proper rank for each role.