Overwatch 2’s new “wide group” feature, allowing players to group with players at any rank, is a great idea in theory. But the matchmaking times players are seeing tell a different story.
Competitive Wide Groups, added as part of yesterday’s season 10 update, seem to have increased matchmaking times for many players, with some posting their queue times of over an hour long.
Announced in a recent blog, Wide Groups are affecting those in Grandmaster and Champion ranks, by making all players in those skill tiers a Wide Group by default. Players in Bronze through Diamond who group up can avoid the Wide effect if their ranks are less than five apart, and Master players are only put into Wide Groups if their groups are more than three divisions apart.
Either way, matchmaking times are becoming a slog for many. OW2 streamer Aspen posted a screenshot after finishing an entire match in Dead by Daylight as OW2’s queue appeared in the background at over one hour and eight minutes, while another player showed their Fortnite victory overlaid on top of a 35-plus minute OW2 queue.
Blizzard warned against longer queue times in a Developer Update video last week, saying the matchmaking for Wide Groups would be more specific, like attempting to match a Platinum tank and Bronze support with another Platinum tank and Bronze support.
Not only that, but the Wide Group effect is also pitting players against those in much higher ranks, causing imbalanced matches even if someone of a similar rank is on their own team.
“Absolutely ruined the game,” one Redditor said of Wide Groups. “I’m gold my friend is silver. And we are in a wide match vs. a guy who’s diamond destroying us. Game’s no longer fun.”
Whether this is how Wide Groups are meant to work, or there are still some kinks in the system Blizzard may need to tweak it to better suit its playerbase remains to be seen.
