Overwatch Role Queue is Finally Coming to Quick Play and Competitive

Published: July 18, 2019 9:34 PM /

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overwatch role queue

The long-awaited Overwatch Role Queue system has finally been officially announced. Rumors of a role-lock feature have been floating around for the last several weeks, and we now know for certain that it's coming to Quick Play, Competitive, and the Overwatch League. Additionally, a patch is on the PTR with some hero changes and something even more special is going to be happening in Competitive.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYYDCFOTSO0

Overwatch Role Queue

An Overwatch Role Queue Developer Update has been released about this new feature making its way to Overwatch. Players will select either Tank, Healer, and/or DPS prior to starting a game of Overwatch and will enter into the queue(s) for that role(s). Once you've joined a game as that role, you are only able to select from those characters. This will ensure a 2 Tank, 2 Healer, and 2 DPS composition throughout the entire game.

Competitive Changes

Competitive is getting some serious changes with the introduction of Role Queue. To start, the days of a single SR (Skill Rating) score are dead. Instead, players will be ranked for each of the game's three roles: Tank, Healer, and DPS. Each of these roles will have their own separate queue and you must now do only 5 placement matches for each of these rather than the previous 10.

Quick Play Classic

Don't like Role Queue? No problem! A special Quick Play Arcade card will be added to the game that will allow you to play the same game that you've always loved.

The End of Season 17 and the Beta Competitive Season

A beta Competitive Season will be starting on August 13, 2019, and will only be running for 2 weeks until September 1, 2019. This will allow the developers to test the Overwatch role queue in a more realistic environment.

You can read more about Role Queue over at the Overwatch website.


Raptor 6 Overwatch Combo

Overwatch Role Queue PTR Patch

The new Role Queue feature is being tested on PC right now in a brand-new PTR patch. Of course, that's not the only thing that's changed — a number of other balance changes are making their way into the game.
  • General Changes
    • Ultimate Cost has gone up 12% for everyone.
    • Slow effects no longer stack; rather, the slowest effect takes priority.
  • Ashe
    • Reload time per round lowered from 0.3 seconds to 0.25 seconds.
  • Brigitte
    • Inspire healing increased from 100 to 130.
    • Self-healing from Inspire is halved.
    • Repair Pack now has 3 Charges.
    • Repair Pack healing reduced from 150 to 120.
    • Repair Pack now heals over 2 seconds instead of instantly.
      • Throwing multiple packs on the same person will add +2 seconds to the heal duration.
    • Whip Shot out-going velocity increased from 60 to 80.
    • Whip Shot retraction time reduced from 0.6 seconds to 0.3 seconds.
    • Barrier Shield health reduced from 500 to 200.
    • Shield Bash stun duration reduced from 0.9 seconds to 0.75 seconds.
    • Rally Ultimate cost increased by 10%.
  • Doomfist
    • Quick melee no longer pauses ammo reload.
  • Moira
    • Fade can now be used while stunned.
  • Orisa
    • Protective Barrier cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 9 seconds.
  • Reinhardt
    • New "Steadfast" Passive reduces knockback effects by 30%.
  • Sombra
    • Hack duration on enemy players reduced from 6 seconds to 5 seconds.
    • EMP activation time increased from 0.5 seconds to 0.65 seconds.
  • Symmetra
    • Teleporter now stays in place until destroyed.
    • Players can destroy their Teleporter by pushing a button, similar to Torbjörn with his deployed Turret.
    • Cooldown now starts when Teleporter is destroyed.
    • Cooldown increased from 12 seconds to 15 seconds.
    • Maximum range increased from 25 meters to 30 meters.
    • Teleporter breaks if the entrance is more than 40 meters from the exit.
      • This means that you can't cheekily put a teleporter on a moving platform to try to get more range out of it.
    • Teleporter re-use time increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds.
  • Tracer
    • Pulse Bomb damage increased from 300 to 350.
  • Hamster Wrecking Ball
    • Minefield projectile speed increased from 10 to 13, causing the Mines to spread out more.
    • Activation time reduced from 0.25 seconds to 0.1 seconds.
You can read more about the Overwatch Role Queue PTR patch on the game's official forums.


And that's all! The introduction of Role Queue represents one of the game's most significant changes ever since Blizzard removed the ability to pick more than one of the same hero. It's sure to be an exciting change for both Overwatch and the Overwatch League!

What do you think of the introduction of the Overwatch Role Queue? Are you looking forward to it or do you think it will ruin the game? Let us know in the comments below!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


A photograph of TechRaptor Senior Writer Robert N. Adams.
| Senior Writer

One of my earliest memories is playing Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I've had a controller in my hand since I was 4 and I… More about Robert N

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