Whether the glass is half full or half empty is entirely up to the beholder, but it’s undeniable that Blizzard has at least placed the glass in attempting to fix the DPS queues for their team-based shooter, Overwatch.
We’ve gone in-depth about precisely what the Priority Queue Pass is bringing, but the overall idea is that it will offer shorter DPS queue times for DPS players that are willing to flex for a few games in other roles. Thus, healers and tanks (which have eternally been in scarce supply barring new hero releases and rare patches) would be filled more readily by those that are ultimately wanting to play as a DPS but aren’t looking for a 30+ minute queue.
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It’s an interesting idea that could quell some frustrations: everyone wants to be the flashy damage dealers, as tank play are arguably become far staler with the release of Orisa and Sigma that rely more on shields than other abilities and healing is a lost art that struggles in every MMO and team-based game in recent memory, from World of Warcraft to Team Fortress 2.
The Priority Queue Pass system is currently thought to be dropping during the Winter Update but is as of yet unconfirmed by Blizzard specifically.
There are some users that are looking upon this idea with apprehension, however, and some within the scene are finding that there are merits within the reservations.
The concern is that users that are looking for a fast DPS queue will hop into a game as a tank or healer role and attempt to throw it immediately, in order to get the priority DPS role faster.
If such a player were to flex onto the main tank role, and opt not to play, the match would be over decidedly quick with little chance for the rest of the team to do much other than dying, wasting everyone’s time.
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Some have posited that there needs to be a bare minimum score of some sort to stymie these theorized bad actors from throwing matches; an aspect that Overwatch has struggled with in the past, from Overwatch League players at that.
Users receive more passes for winning than they do for losing, but they’ll still receive passes for losing.
Between users attempting to drop their MMR and smurf in easier ranks to those that throw simply for content, it’s a valid concern that has reared its head more than a few times within the title Overwatch.