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Quick Match Just Keeps Getting Better

by - 7 years ago

Known as “Wacky Match” by some, Quick Match has always been a mode of play where almost anything goes. This is the natural by-product of creating a team from five random people who are playing whichever Heroes strike their fancy. Blizzard has traditionally embraced this style of play and avoided making hard and fast matchmaking rules for QM as a result. However, they do understand that not every combination of five Heroes is viable and over time they have added more and more matchmaking parameters to improve the overall QM experiences.

Community Manager Ravinix took to the forums recently to detail a new set of guidelines that have been implemented into matchmaking for QM.

Greetings, Heroes!

If you’ve been playing Quick Match in the past week, you may have noticed some differences in your recent team compositions. We’ve implemented some changes to the matchmaker to further define some of the role-flexing Heroes to make more consistent and balanced matches. Check out the details below:

  • We’re limiting the number of stealth characters you can have on a team to 1. This includes Nova, Samuro, Valeera, and Zeratul.
  • When creating Quick Match games, Warriors are now categorized as either Bruisers or Tanks. All existing Warrior Heroes will be considered Tanks, with the exceptions of Sonya and Zarya. Varian will also be considered a Bruiser, even though he is not part of the Warrior class.
  • We’re splitting out Tassadar and Tyrande from the rest of the “Healer” support pool. They’re going into a category with Medivh, Zarya, and Abathur as heroes that provide “sustain” to a team, without being a typical solo-support. These roles will be mirrored in games where they are the only “sustain” Heroes, but can also be placed onto teams with healers.

Note: Please keep in mind that you may still rarely encounter games that do not fit these new rules if queue times are exceptionally long.

Once you’ve had a chance to play some Quick Match games under these new rules, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments below. Thanks!

These changes tie in nicely with the recently expanded Hero definitions that were added with the Probius patch and should lead to a more enjoyable QM experience.

Keep in mind that these changes will not affect groups. If three people choose to queue up as Nova, Zeratul, and Valeera there is nothing the matchmaker can do to prevent the team they end up on from having three stealth Heroes. Despite what many people think, the matchmaker is not to blame when people in a premade group pick a poor combination of Heroes.

If you would like to join in on the discussion you can find the official thread here.


JR Cook

JR has been writing for fan sites since 2000 and has been involved with Blizzard Exclusive fansites since 2003. JR was also a co-host for 6 years on the Hearthstone podcast Well Met! He helped co-found BlizzPro in 2013.


2 responses to “Quick Match Just Keeps Getting Better”

  1. Adrian Goodman says:

    Why do I see Varian in a game where there is no other tank/bruiser whatever. Zarya, sonya, varian are all tanks and when you put them up against a team of 4 assassins and an abathur, they go mvp every time. I see this so many qm games that I had to look up the most recent balance update for QM MM because I am done playing it. It is not fun to look at the top of your screen, see they have a warrior and you dont, and play a 20 minute stall to lose.

    • Alebeard says:

      I understand the perception that one team having Varian or another bruiser while the other team doesn’t is a huge advantage but the numbers don’t support that theory. Varian has a 53% win rate in QM, Sonja is at 52%, and Zarya is at 46%. So while there may be some marginal advantage, it isn’t a game breaking difference.

      In the end, none of that really matters though. If you don’t enjoy QM then it isn’t for me or anyone else to try and tell you you’re wrong. Luckily there are five different game modes in Heroes so hopefully, one of those fits what you are looking for. GLHF and thanks for reading!