Blizzard – Overwatch Role Queues A Nice but Impractical Idea

Overwatch Role Queues are a nice idea, but just too impractical!

Overwatch is approaching its 2nd Birthday. At this point, most FPS games have run their course and the player base begins to drop off. With this game, however, it is still going as strongly as ever.

I must confess that even recently I have returned to Overwatch. There is something about the game that just makes it so delightfully accessible. For a new gamer, it’s a perfect gateway to more serious online team games.

One of the problems that the game does have however is the team building. Specifically getting a team together that is capable of winning. You regularly see your team of 6 comprised of 2 support, 3 attackers and 1 healer. Put simply with Overwatch, if your team isn’t well balanced, then you don’t stand a chance.

To combat this, one such change suggested is that people can queue for specific roles. As such, they would be placed within teams that have a specific opening for that position. So if you want to tank, heal, attack or support, you can play in a team set to your role.

While it sounds a nice idea, Jeff Kaplan, insists it simply isn’t practical.

Why he thinks it couldn’t work

In a report via PCGamesN, Jeff Kaplan believes that the implementation of a system would be against the nature of the game. One of the main factors of Overwatch is the massive character roster. Each is, generally speaking, well balanced and with their own unique abilities.

To answer the point, Jeff Kaplan has said: “I queue up as a tank, but actually I want to play McCree, and the game lets me do that since Overwatch is very much about fluidly responding to the enemy team’s composition.”

Overall, I tend to agree with him. It is a nice idea, but the implementation of it, I feel, would undermine the adaptation necessary to sometimes deal with the opposition.

What do you think about this? – Let us know in the comments!