That’s probably the crux of it, yes.
Forum posters don’t make game changes. Blizzard’s game developers do.
So at the end of the day, it’s probably more valuable to look at what Blizzard’s game developers have done, what they’re doing, and what they want to do, if anything meaningful is supposed to be discerned on this topic.
And to me there’s 3 design points worth keeping in mind.
One is the introduction of Communities.
That was Blizzard’s attempt at trying to manage group activities through a player-grown social network. An admirable goal because WoW is an MMORPG, but arguably an effort that has not been very successful.
The second is Blizzard’s consolidation of Mythic+ keys and Dungeon difficulties.
That’s also been an attempt at trying to get everyone closer together in the bus, so that people are more inclined to play with each other. Fewer difficulties, less player spread. But again the result is less than optimal, because players have an array of tools available that allows them to pick and choose who they want to play with – and they use them.
The third is Holly Longdale’s blog (and interviews) about World of Warcraft in 2025.
She speaks of making the game experience more approachable for the newcomer and the returning player, and improving the game so that it better reflects how people actually play it and what they enjoy doing when they play. And then finally she talks about doubling down on social initiatives, and she specifically mentions Group Finder as an example of something to improve upon.
So taking those points into account I feel like change is coming.
And if you look at Blizzard’s other games, and just other games in general, the prevalent design is a form of automated queue or matchmaking system for any repetitive group-related gameplay activities, whether it’s PvE or PvP.
Even World of Warcraft is littered with it.
And whilst there’s a lot to be said for WoW being an MMORPG, and there’s a lot to be said for Blizzard wanting that player-driven social experience that WoW used to be, there does seem to be an admission from Blizzard that World of Warcraft should increasingly be developed according to how people actually play the game and not according to how Blizzard would like them to.
With that in mind, I think a solo queue matchmaking system is coming for Mythic+ Dungeons.
Because that’s always been the only obstacle for it – the design philosophy behind the game direction. That’s going to change, it has changed, and it will continue to. And Mythic+ is such a key gameplay aspect for World of Warcraft, and such a popular feature, that there’s no way in hell that status quo is going prevail for very long. I find that impossible to imagine given the changes Blizzard have already made and the ones they’ve foreshadowed to come.
So with that in mind, I think it’s more interesting to consider what such a solo queue matchmaking system might look like, because many games have many different solutions for how to funnel people into their gameplay activities.
Blizzard’s queue systems tend to be simple in design.
They tend to favor inclusivity over exclusivity.
And they tend to emphasize good rather than perfect.
If I were to guess, I think Blizzard will release a solo queue matchmaking system for Midnight and it will look like this:
- Queue from 0 to +10.
- Minimum required item level for each difficulty.
- Beat one difficulty in order to gain the ability to queue for the next.
- LFG, Communities, and Friends List continues to exist for the (social) purpose of making a premade group or queuing as 2-4 players.
- It costs a “key” to queue and enter a Mythic+ Dungeon. The “keys” can be easily acquired through Crafting, Quest rewards, Fishing, whatever.
That’s basically it.
It’ll come with a need to make some class balance changes and some Dungeon design changes (and perhaps some reward changes) to facilitate a wider array of group compositions. But that’s all changes players would be receptive toward in a new expansion, so it’s par for the course.
I think Blizzard’s major goal for WoW in the coming few years, is to facilitate a game experience where newcomers and returning players can easily get into the game and get a hang of how to play it, and just as easily get into group activities with other players, and all-together have a positive and rewarding experience that isn’t beholden to many hours spent installing add-ons, reading guides, joining Discord channels, or trying to get into groups.
It has to be a more modern game experience reflecting the modern Seasonal design that the game has ultimately opted for. And that design comes with the player expectation that it’s easy to jump into on a whim.
So I think that’s what Blizzard are going to try to facilitate, and a solo queue matchmaking system for Mythic+ Dungeons would be an obvious step toward that goal.