In Season 10 of Overwatch 2, there have been plenty of new additions and changes to the game, other than a new seasonal theme and Battle Pass. These changes range from hero tweaks, UX/UI updates, and new features to the Competitive Play system.
One of these new features in Competitive Play is the addition of Wide Groups and Narrow Groups, which have been included as part of the brand-new Competitive grouping restrictions. For this reason, knowing what Wide and Narrow Group mean and how they function will help you gain a better understanding of your competitive progression as a whole.
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What Are Wide Groups & Narrow Groups in Overwatch 2? Explained
Previous to Overwatch 2's Season 10, there were restrictions on which players could group up together, based on their rank. To successfully group, every player in the team had to have had at least one role eligible within the same SR range as all teammates. While the intentions for this were to make Competitive matchmaking as fair as possible, this resulted in many players feeling frustrated at not being able to play with friends outside of their Rank range.
Luckily, with the arrival of Season 10, Rank restrictions have been completely reworked, enabling players of all skill levels to group. To help with this massive change, there two new Wide Group and Narrow Group labels have been introduced.
In Overwatch 2, Wide Groups will have a larger Rank range in their games, also receiving less impact on their Rank for both losses or wins as a result. Wide Groups can consist of duos, trios, or a five stack, with Wide Group players only being matched up against other Wide Group Players.
In contrast, Narrow Groupsconsist of solo queue players and occasional groups within a slim rank range, as they have been created to stop these players from going up against enemy groups, who are more likely to have stronger team synergy and coordination, as well as a wider rank range. Much like Wide Groups having a larger rank range in each game, Narrow Groups tend to have much slimmer rank ranges, usually falling within a couple of divisions. As of Season 10, it appears that Competitive Play as a Wide group in a 4 stack does not work, as this new system will not pair a solo queue player (Narrow) in this same pool..
