According to Overwatch Chief Designer Scott Mercer, the main question for developers has always been "How do you make Overwatch even more enjoyable for players?" He will tell us about the impact on the game with a new feature introduced by Jeff Kaplan in the latest Dev Newsletter : We're talking about the so-called "Priority Pass", which is currently being tested on the PTR. Mercer hopes that he will help reduce the difference in the number of players choosing the role of tank, fighter or support.
The introduction of a priority pass should have a positive effect on the waiting time for the match for those who choose the fighter role. If such a player agrees to play a game or two in the role of a tank or support, then the system will quickly select a suitable match for him when he wants to play a hero-fighter. But before you head out to test the new feature on the PTR, we encourage you to read the details and read Scott Mercer's story about how it was developed.
Can you tell us briefly what is a priority pass?
In Overwatch, you can play as a tank, fighter, or support hero. In quick play and competitive play, there is a role limitation. This means that in every match there must be two tanks, two support heroes and two fighters. For all these roles to have the same wait times, the number of players who choose them must also be the same. However, as it turned out, almost everyone wants to play as fighters.
Because the fighter role is so popular, players who choose it have to wait longer for the right match. We thought about how to deal with this for a long time, and came to the conclusion that a priority pass may be a good solution. If you choose a universal role (that is, agree to play as a tank, support hero or fighter), then in return we will give you a priority pass. You can then queue up as a fighter and spend your passes to reduce the waiting time in this overpopular role. The more people choose a universal role, the more evenly the distribution of players across all three roles will be, which should ultimately have a positive effect on waiting times for everyone.
Depending on whether your team wins or loses, you will receive several priority passes (we may change the number of them). Once you've played one game in the Versatile Role, you'll be able to use your Priority Passes to cut down on waiting times as a Combatant. In total, you can now accumulate up to 40 passes.
How does the priority pass work for those on a team?
In order for the group in which the player chooses a role with a long waiting time (most often the role of a fighter) to be considered a priority, he will have to spend his priority passes. For example, if you and I are in a group, and you choose the role of a tank or support, and I choose the role of a fighter, then only me will have to spend the passes in order for our group to be considered a priority.
What do you think affects the waiting time for a match for those who choose the role of a fighter?
Part of the popularity of the fighter role was due to the fact that initially there were much more heroes-fighters than tanks or heroes of support. Over the past few years, we've tried to combat this by adding more tanks and healers. Also, players often ask us if we want to make these heroes stronger in order to play for them more interesting? To be honest, they are already strong enough, and those who choose a tank or a healer often get a lot of pleasure from the game. It's just a matter of personal preference.
Overwatch is a first-person shooter game, and many players want to play as heroes with high precision aiming. This is why they came here and will choose their favorite role regardless of balance changes and specific mechanics. We believe that priority pass is just one way to address the issue of waiting time for a match. In this way, we give the players the opportunity to decide for themselves when to play in a universal role (and whether to perform at all).
How is Priority Skip different from other solutions you have used in the past to distribute players more evenly across roles?
We used to try to tweak the matchmaking system and change the lineup, but it was like putting a plantain on a lacerated wound. The main problem is that the number of players willing to play in each of the roles is very different. From a mathematical point of view, it is quite difficult to get around it, so the main task of the priority pass is to reallocate the number of players between roles.
You can choose whether to use the priority pass or not. For our part, we will show players the waiting time in the queue with and without a pass, so that it becomes clearer for them why it is worth choosing a universal role from time to time.
How do you test similar features before submitting them to the PTR?
Through math and statistics. We worked on the matchmaking function for a very long time and in the end we created our own system that emulates the number of players, their skill level
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