Overwatch 2's Lack Of Support Players Is Racking Up Wait Times, Fans Say
Some people’s Overwatch 2 queue times are getting bad…really bad. And it’s mostly because no one wants to play support, according to a Blizzard forum post with over 450 replies (and approximately the rest of the internet).
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Overwatch 2 has two ways to stand in line as you wait to be let into a game: open queue, which lets you maintain a loose team composition, like one that has two DPS and three tanks; and defined role queue, which brand-new players need to unlock by completing five open-queue games. It seems open-queue players are finding themselves stuck in messy matches with no support, and disgruntled role-queue players, particularly those playing DPS or tank, are sitting through long queue times waiting for healers to float down on a ray of sunshine.
But support players have good reasons to avoid the role. They’re tired of being blamed for their teammates’ inattentiveness.
roadhog is the worst tank to support in overwatch 2, not because he sucks but because you literally get blamed as support for not healing enough when this mf hits the vape every 2 seconds
— Daniel Fenner @ TEAM KIRIKO 🦊 (@DanielFenner) October 14, 2022
“The players can start by not taking out their life problems on support characters,” a Blizzard forum user wrote. “Maybe then more people would be willing to try the role.”
“There are plenty of people who want to play support (I’m one of them),” said another commenter in the Blizzard forum. “But whether or not it’s currently viable to play support in pub matches with the game’s current climate is, I think, the real issue.”
We’re feeling it too. “In my experience with Overwatch 2—as someone who mostly plays support for the XP boost and fast matchmaking—I’ve experienced Winstons and Reapers zooming past me and the other support player, only to wind up dead moments later, putting the entire team in a bad spot,” Kotaku staffer Zack Zwiezen wrote recently.
Some players hope that adding new support heroes, including Kiriko—Overwatch 2’s new ninja healer, who currently lives beneath the game’s fresh battle pass for most people—will help even out support queue times. More likely, players will keep finding things to be annoyed about, and developer Activision Blizzard will keep union busting.
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