Getting players together for queued content is a challenging problem, and the developers are always trying to make the experience easier and better. We don’t want the queueing process to get in the way of actually playing the game!  Over the years, we’ve made many small incremental improvements to the queue system, but it finally got to the point where there were more patches than jeans and it was time to sew a whole new pair of trousers! Hmm, my metaphor might have gotten away from me there…

Queue Groups

The biggest change is that you have more control over who you play queued content with. You are no longer automatically queued with your party (though of course if you want to queue with them, it’s easy). You can join a queue alone or you can invite other players, through any player menu in the game, to form a Queue Group.  A Queue Group will play the content together, without the problems of the previous team-based system.

Queueing Solo:

Queueing with a friend:

If your Queue Group is smaller than the number of players needed by the content, then other queued players will fill up the available spaces, but your Queue Group will stay together.

The most exciting thing is that this applies to the big queues too. Previously, you couldn’t be guaranteed a shared game with a group larger than five - the maximum party size. Now you can make a Queue Group with 25 of your closest friends, and fight Tiamat together!

Private Queues

If you really want control of your play experience, then the new “private queue” feature is for you. You can check the “Private” setting and an instance will be created just for your Queue Group.  Nobody will join the instance that you haven’t invited, and certain class restrictions (such as needing one healer and one tank) are lifted.

The Future

Of course, our immediate plans are to address feedback and bugs that arise, but future features may include:

• Easier ways to invite groups of people such as guildmates or the random people with whom you just played an instance
• Queue Group officers, who would have some of the power of the Queue Group leader
• Letting the Queue Group leader arrange the parties in large groups (such as the Tiamat and Demogorgon fights)

Try It Out!

As well as these new features, the revised queue system has a whole bunch of under-the-hood improvements that should make matchmaking, leaving an instance, wait times, and many other things better.  Revisit your favorite skirmish or dungeon with your friends, and with the new queue system in The Maze Engine! 

Amy Skopik

Discuss on the official forums

We're currently working on resolving issues with the queues. For an update from the developers, click here.