Overwatch 2 devs address issues facing GM lobbies: “Message your friends to get online”

In a recent Overwatch 2 Dev Chat, Blizzard addressed issues that have been plaguing Grand Master lobbies of late, and their solution was simply for players in higher ranks to get their friends online.

Overwatch 2’s matchmaking has been plagued with problems since the game’s release. With multiple reports of Bronze players being put into GM matches, Overwatch 2’s devs have tried to remedy the problem on multiple occasions. 

However, the issues still persist to this day despite the many attempts to fix them, and in the latest Overwatch 2 Dev Chat, they decided to discuss the problems head-on. In particular, devs discussed controversy surrounding match quality and queue times.

Senior Software Engineer Morgan Maddren and Lead Meta Designer Scott Mercer said one of the main problems facing high-ranking lobbies is its lack of population. In comparison to the queues for Silver to Plat, it just doesn’t have enough players, they explained.

Maddren offered up a possible solution, saying, “the best way to increase match quality is not any change we can make, it’s to message your friends to get online.”

Conversation about Matchmaking starts at 57:00

Of course, Twitch chat immediately lashed back at the proposition. For one, many pointed out that in the GM to Top 500 ranks, the max amount of players you can queue with is two. This obviously means you can only play with a single friend, going completely against Maddren’s idea. GM groups have been something the community has been asking for, but it’s yet to be implemented.  

Mercer also claimed that the match quality for high GM to Top 500 games “takes a nose dive when OWL players are scrimming.”

Maddren agreed with the statement, saying, “yeah, there’s just nobody to play with.”

But Mercer claimed after OWL players are done with scrims, and they start solo or duo queueing ranked, the match quality in the higher ranks improves. 

Maddren then admitted high-level matches are hard to produce on the whole. “Matchmaking at that high MMR is like this impossible problem,” he stressed.