#overwatch role queue

I just need to say somewhere one time that the impending Overwatch Role Queue is a terrible idea.  Like, you may think it’s a good idea, but it’s a really fuckin’ terrible idea.  I get what they want to achieve in theory, but what you’re gonna get in reality is a lot of awful, frustrating games where:

-someone is ‘practicing’

-someone is playing a support as a dps

And just all the other endless ways someone may be getting hard-countered or otherwise not getting the job done - or maybe your whole team comp isn’t working out, IN SPITE OF being 2-2-2 - and, because roles are locked, it’ll be impossible for people to trade out.  So if there’s a problem, congratulations, you cannot compensate for it.  Wanna switch to your best kit bc it’s a close fight?  Too bad!  Want a situational pick to counter a troublesome enemy kit, and your healer/tank is doing just fine solo atm?  Fuck you!  Wanna TRADE roles bc you’re a flex and so are they, but they don’t play X much and you do?  NOPE.  Even something as simple as that last-ditch Lucio/Mei/Winston switch?  Can’t do that, either.

Also, if your, say, tank drops, and there’s not a lot of tanks queuing, that means a longer delay before someone can backfill.  Right?  Which means backfilling is gonna become even more hopeless and frustrating both for teams with leavers and for people getting stuck backfilling.

And last, two personal gripes:  First , I play a lot of Mei, but I don’t see how she’s gonna be a viable pick EVER.  Can you imagine the reaction to wasting a precious dps slot on Mei, when my team can’t do shit about it?  ESPECIALLY when I’d probably have to decide to do so blind, without knowing the map or team comp or ANYthing ahead of time?  So I anticipate just not getting to play Mei much anymore which makes me sad. 

And finally, as a support main, it fucking sucks that if I do wanna play an occasional dps game, I’ll be punished for doing that by getting stuck in lower-level matches (since, besides Mei, I don’t dps much).  I understand being a shitty dps pulls the team down, but once in a while, it’s nice to let them carry me instead of the other way around.  But not anymore!

TL;DR Fundamentally, this will give you less power to influence games on your own than ever before, and this is exactly what makes Overwatch a frustrating experience.

I'm primarily a tank/support main, so the long ass wait to play DPS really doesn't affect me.

That being said, I can understand how it would be frustrating for DPS mains to no longer be able to play their favourite heroes.

I miss playing characters like Sombra and Soldier 76. I get it.

Role Queue is designed to let people get the role they want to play (duh), but of course, this ends up punishing DPS players because there are so many of them. And it's not fair to say something like "try playing a different role" or "try being useful to your team" because DPS. is. an. important. part. of. a. team.

Someone's gotta deal damage. It can't just be Moira all the time...

The problem is, there's just so many people out there who want to play DPS (for any number of reasons), that there's just nothing Blizzard can do about the wait times. And they've done a lot to encourage people to play another role: but that completely defeats the point of role queue, now doesn't it??

Role Queue was made so that people could play the role they wanted. And while it functions perfectly for tank and support, it actually does the opposite for DPS. Those who were DPS mains before Role Queue was put in place and who switched to a healer/tank when needed are likely still the same people forced out of their favourite role just so they can actually play some matches.

Role Queue works perfectly except it severally punishes a lot of DPS plays who don't deserve it. (I mean, there are definitely some who do deserve it, but this is like punishing the whole class because of one idiot.)

My proposed solution?

There's no easy way to fix this. It will take a lot of experimenting.

One way to fix it is up to the player: alternate roles so it doesn't seem as boring as waiting 10 minutes for every match. At least this way, you can get two matches quickly, and one you may have to wait, but take this time to eat a snack or stretch your fingers, etc.

Another way to fix it? Use the old system, except, it's luck of the draw as to who gets which role first. Meaning, you can pick any character (let's say you pick McCree), then there's only room for 1 more DPS hero. Once someone else picks a DPS hero, everyone else has to pick between tank and healer.

Obviously, there's ups and downs to every system, and you'll have to battle with toxic players like usual.