The only way to defeat long queue times is spend them doing something productive with your life, like beating Minecraft.
Twitch streamer Aspen spent the last week in lengthy Overwatch queues—a common annoyance for high-ranked players—digging her way to the end of Minecraft. In one particularly long queue that lasted over two and a half hours on Wednesday, she was able to gear up and slay the Ender Dragon.
“I never beat Minecraft before!” she yelled after dealing the final blow on the boss. “I can’t believe I beat Minecraft in an Overwatch queue!”
Aspen chipped away at her Minecraft save over 9 hours of waiting in queues throughout a week’s worth of streams. Playing at the highest rank of Overwatch where matches usually take 30 minutes on average to pop—depending on the time of day—isn’t unusual for streamers like her, but while many of them flip on YouTube or talk to their chat, she studied the diamond blade.
After rolling credits in Minecraft, Aspen eventually got into a match 20 minutes later and lost, lamenting the nearly three hours she waited for a 10-minute beatdown. Instead of going back to Minecraft, she spent the rest of her queue times opening Pokémon cards and playing Peak.
Given the frequency of long queue times in competitive shooters, Aspen’s achievement is the best argument for a “queue%” speedrun category I’ve ever seen. It could bring new life to so-called “dead” games as players skim the depths of Steam for anything with long wait times. Admittedly, it would also be the worst category to seriously run, but it would be pretty funny.
Part of me hopes Aspen decides to play Minecraft again to see how much faster she can beat it. Overwatch already has one mode that would give her even longer queue times than regular ranked: Stadium. Thanks to its limited hero selection and your ability to make powerful builds using MOBA-style items and powers, support is by far the most popular role, which catapults that role’s queue into the stratosphere. With even bronze players having to wait upwards of 15 minutes, Aspen would have plenty of time for another round against the Ender Dragon.
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