Overwatch is getting a Priority Pass system to help role queue times

Blizzard is helping damage players out with new Priority Pass system.

For long-suffering Overwatch damage players, a new system is being introduced to help cut down the massive queue times.

Despite hiccups, Role Queue has largely been positive for the game. While hardly a perfect system, it ensures that teams keep a general shape and the overall match quality improves. No more are the days when six DPS players found themselves on a team.

However, the system has massively inflated queue times, at least for damage players. It takes up to, even over, 10 to 15 minutes to find a game, which is hardly ideal from a user experience.

Blizzard is looking at a way to rectify this, and it's announced that its landed on a Priority Pass solution. In a developer update, Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan spoke about the system, saying that it asks players to first be flexible. He says, “Priority passes are earned by entering a flex queue. When you enter a flex queue you are in essence queueing for every role available.”

He continues, “If you win the game while in the flex queue, you'll earn even more Priority Passes.” Kaplan goes on to clarify that you will still win some passes. He also notes players will be able to hold up to 40 at a time.

As the name suggests, Priority Passes will usher players to the front of the line of a queue, cutting down their time in it. With more players picking up the flex queue, the hope is that this will cut downtime for everyone, with a better distribution of players across the roles.

The change isn't quite live yet, but it is coming to the PTR soon. No news on when exactly it might hit, but content on the PTR usually takes a couple of weeks to transfer over to the live-game.