Overwatch has been one of the most successful game franchises of Blizzard Entertainment. As of June 2016, the team-based multiplayer first-person shooter has already reached a peak of 20 million players. This is certainly groundbreaking as the statistics was made in just 5 months after its debut. And with the latest Halloween event, it seems that Overwatch has had a perfect run for all gamers.
But from a thread from its official site created by a user named s1l3nCe, has caught the attention of many after its elaborate details of a feature which could've been essential in the game. The thread, which is still active, has now garnered a considerable amount of likes and attention in the site.
Overwatch Feature: Avoid Player
One of the early features of Overwatch is the "avoid player" option where you can simply opt in order to avoid anyone from playing with or against in all of your future matches. This option has been criticized by many due to its loopholes particularly from high skilled players where they're trend to be avoided by the masses. This results in an insane amount of waiting queue. Just think about how long it would take to wait for a game if you're being avoided by half of the community.
Aside from this and other recurring issues, Blizzard has finally removed this feature from the game. Although the "Avoid Player" option definitely has its downsides, it still has its unfathomable usefulness; which a lot of players have now realized.
First is that, you can no longer avoid a player that is toxic during a game or someone that leaves mid-game. You can no longer control those people that are affecting not just your game but the team as a whole. Because of this, a lot of players are stuck playing with an annoying teammate that simply mess around during matches.
Because of this issue, an Overwatch player has made an amazing proposal about an alternative Avoid Player feature which can be crucial for the community as a whole. In his thread, he said:
Seeing we are not having the response we expected on these threads about the "Avoid Player" feature, I thought that a "low priority queue" plus a commendation system could be a better solution. Some DOTA 2 fans probably know these already. This is how they worked:
1. If you disconnected or abandoned matches frequently, the matchmaker put you into low priority with other low priority players and you had to complete 5 matches to exit the low priority queue.
2. The commendation system, although it was cool, had no beneficial effects on the player.
These features are decent but I think they need some polishing. Check out these ideas:
1. Low-priority
- Add more options to the reporting feature; more specific reasons why you are reporting.
- This option will NOT be available for players in your own premade or your friends list in order to prevent trolling/abuse :P
- Only the first report you receive in a match will count. The rest will be ignored.
- If a player gets reported/abandons/disconnects frequently, he will drop to low priority.
- If a player drops down to low priority, he will lose 500 MMR points.
- While in low priority, wining matches will not grant any experience or MMR points and you will only be able to play against bots or custom matches; no Quickplay, Matchmaking or Brawls.
- The report system should be limited to a number of reports per day.
- Monitor people who are frequently reporting other players to see if they are using them appropriately. If they aren't, disable the report option for them for a period of time. May be this wouldn't be required, as stephofni suggested on his comment, since the players shouldn't have too many avoids.
- The number of reports a player has will not be visible for anybody.
2. Commendation system
- Players will be able to commend as many players as they want during a match but only use one commend per player.
- This option will NOT be available for players in your own premade or your friends list in order to prevent abuse.
- Players from the opposing team can also be commended.
- For every commendation you will compensate for reports, making it a little bit harder to fall into low priority.
- Players should be able to see their commendations in their career profile.
3. Disconnecting and abandoning matches
There should be a distinction between the two:
- When you disconnect, you have the chance for a period of time to reconnect back.
- Abandoning should be a two-step process: first you disconnect and then, at the main menu, you have the option to reconnect or abandon the match.
- While you are disconnected, the matchmaker will tag you as a disconnected player and you will not be able to play (not even quickplay or brawls) unless you abandon the match in process.
- After a certain amount of time has passed, the reconnect/abandon option will disappear and you will be able to play again but the system will add a "report point" to your meter. Any report you might have received from a player after you were disconnected will be ignored.
The number of reports required to fall into low-priority should be studied thoroughly; too many might be not enough but to little could be disastrous. May be these features could be implemented for testing purposes first, without punishing anybody for a while.
This feature is much like the Dota 2 Low-priority system that tracks the reports and "abandons" made by each player. This feature is undoubtedly crucial not just in the high competitive scene but also during any match as one might rethink before he leaves a certain game. This makes a player strive for their best in order to win each match they're in. Although it still has some rough edges, it can't be denied that this feature can make a considerable impact to the Overwatch community as a whole.
What do you think of this proposal? Do you think a "Low Priorty System" much like in Dota 2 should be implemented in Overwatch? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below.
