New Overwatch social features incoming – Endorsements and LFG

Jeff Kaplan is “super excited” about everything but this week he’s “super excited” to reveal some new Overwatch social features.

First up is a way to let good players know they are playing well and acting as they should as a member of the community. Players will be able to use “Endorsements” to praise players after a match has concluded. There is different ways players can be endorsed staring with  ‘sportsmanship’ which would be given to a player who has been a positive influence in a match. Next is ‘good teammate’ which is a player that is responding to what the team needs to win. Finally, there is ‘shot caller’, someone who is a leader in combat and does it in a respectful way. Players will be able to see how other players have been endorsed which will hopefully encourage more positive play and an endorsement level can change based on both positive or negative feedback from other players. There will also be rewards dished out for giving endorsements.

The second system is a looking for group system which will allow players create groups to specific conditions by the number of character types and more. The idea is to give players more control over their gameplay experience by playing. It’s not a matchmaking system, it’s about finding players with a similar mindset or to fit with your ideal group setup.

Jeff says that the game is now being limited to three roles which will help this looking for group system. Players will also be able to hide their player profiles and in the future they will be set to hidden by default.

More Overwatch social systems will be added to the game in the month ahead and these first two will roll out in the next update.