How To Use Priority Pass Overwatch

In the latest Overwatch Developer Update video, a clean-shaven Jeff Kaplan discussed an upcoming feature for Overwatch matchmaking called the Priority Laissez passer. Designed to help reduce the Impairment queue times in Quick Play and Competitive modes, the Priority Pass is being positioned every bit a reward for players who choose to forego a specific function in guild to encounter demand.

When you choose the Flex option, the matchmaking tool volition select the office for you that will ostensibly help speed up queues for everybody. Once the game has started, whatever role the organisation designates for yous remains the pool of characters you lot are able to select for the unabridged lucifer, be it Support, Tank, or in what I imagine will exist extremely rare cases, Impairment.

What is a Priority Laissez passer?

What you get for choosing the Flex option are the Priority Passes, with multiples awarded each match, with more than coming from wins — half-dozen for a win, and 1 for a loss (downward from the ii the feature launched with). You can currently stockpile 40 Passes at about, to apply when you lot wish. These Priority Passes tin can be used in the future when you desire to cut in line when a desired specific office has a long queue. Equally the screenshot below shows, spending information technology may cutting your preferred queue time by a good amount, although the recent modification that refunds the Priority Laissez passer if it doesn't cutting your queue time from the estimated non-Pass time indicates that it's not always working as intended.

The Priority Pass can also be used in groups, although each fellow member looking to bring together a long queue must use a Priority Pass to gain reward. In other words, if the Damage queue is long and two players grouped together want to advance in the line, they must both use a Priority Laissez passer; if they're choosing dissimilar roles and but the Damage queue is long, only the player selecting Damage needs to use a Priority Laissez passer.

Priority Laissez passer lets you salvage time now to salve fourth dimension after

It'south piece of cake to see why Blizzard sees this system as advantageous to everyone; when a good number of people are choosing the Flex role, everyone gets a shorter queue. I'm non so sure it's going to work as well as intended, though. My main business organisation is that the reward is multiple Priority Passes for a win, non just one. As a result, for every time someone chooses Flex and wins, in that location are several times that they'll use the Priority Laissez passer. Net result for the Damage-only player? Longer queue times equally they're more likely to see line jumpers than they are Flex players.

Plain there'southward a feedback there — every bit the queue gets longer more than players volition cull Flex, but and then that just ends upwards pushing off the line jumping to a later day. I'yard sure Blizzard besides hopes that enough players will choose Flex that the number of pure Harm-merely players will drop; i just has to question why previous incentives to play a non-Damage role hasn't had a similar impact.

Hopefully this new organization will have the desired outcome, but I remain skeptical. This feature is currently live if you wish to check it out for yourself.

Originally published 11/30/20, updated 1/18/21