Is there anything worse than teaming up with a person on Overwatch who ends up being the wrong kind of person you want to team up with? Well, Jeff Kaplan certainly agrees, because as shown in the latest developer update, Overwatch has added a feature that’s simply called ‘avoid as Teammate‘. As Kaplan explains in the video “Overwatch is a team-based game, that’s what makes playing fun – losing/winning with other people.” Yet that can also lead to some rather awkward moments where you realize that the person you’re playing with isn’t all that great for some reason or other. That is where Overwatch’s avoid as teammate comes to play.
Kaplan explained what the feature actually does and how many players it can currently affect. “When you select someone to be avoided, they will be avoided for seven days – in terms of the game putting them on your team.” This means that you’ll still see this person around as you continue to play, yet the game will make sure that the individual you’re avoiding will not be placed on your team whatsoever. Currently, the number of people that can be avoided as a teammate is set to two. Kaplan explains that the feature was included in the first place due to reasons such as a teammate being particularly obnoxious in a way that isn’t exactly reportable, such as continuously asking on voice/text chat for you to change from Hero A to Hero B. It isn’t exactly notorious behavior, but it can get incredibly frustrating.
Of course, Kaplan also talked about the potential negative effects that this feature would have on matches. He says “this can have potential to interfere with queue times when you’re trying to find a match,” and while it isn’t hugely possible for lower ranks such as Bronze, Silver, and Gold as there is a huge variety of players, ranks such as Grandmaster may be affected. Kaplan explains that the Overwatch team will keep an eye on the feature and how it will affect the game, such as if it raises the chance for unfairness in team composition in competitive games.
To check out the developer update in more detail, please look at the video below.
