The Overwatch 2 Defense Matrix update provides information on new features for Season 10, including the wide group queue and updated leaver penalty.
Earlier today, we received another developer update regarding Season 10 of Overwatch 2. The update has a lot of information regarding streamer protection, avoiding players, reporting, and more. However, the featured aspects of the Overwatch 2 Defense Matrix update are the new wide group queue and the updated lever punishments for players.
Overwatch 2 introduces wide group queue
The Defense Matrix update's headline feature for competitive gameplay in Overwatch 2 Season 10 is wide group queue. This new queue is for any group of friends who want to play the game's competitive mode together.
Overwatch 2's new queue has three groups. First, and arguably the most common version of a wide group, is any group with Diamond or lower-ranked players that are more than five skill divisions apart. Then comes Masters groups that are more than three skill divisions. Last are any groups that have a Grandmaster or Champion player regardless of how many skill divisions apart they are.
Despite how good Overwatch 2's new queue sounds, there are two notable downsides. Mainly, that queue times are longer as Overwatch 2 pairs wide groups with other wide groups. Additionally, wide groups have a new modifier for competitive matches to prevent boosting. So, don't expect to soar through ranks in wide group queue.
Season 10 updates Overwatch 2 leaver penalty
The Defense Matrix update for Overwatch 2 Season 10 also revealed how both unranked and competitive are going to introduce a leaving punishment. This leaver penalty for Season 10 is a cooldown on queueing into games. The severity of the punishment just increases the queue cooldown. For unranked, the punishment isn't as severe as competitive play. However, a punishment is a punishment nonetheless.
For unranked games, the leaver penalty is based on how many games you leave out of your last 20 games played. While for competitive, the punishments are more severe with the queue cooldown. On top of that, if five or 10 competitive games are left out of your most recent games, you'll receive a competitive queue ban for the rest of Season 10.
Alongside the other announced updates for Season 10 of Overwatch 2, the new season is shaping up to be the best one yet. For more Overwatch 2 content, stay tuned to esports.gg.