The Average Queue Times of Dota 2
Dota 2 is a well-known MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) video game, played by millions of people around the world. Dota 2 is a video game in which players select unique heroes to fight in a battlefield in order to destroy the enemy team's ancient. Dota 2 (2013) was developed and published by Valve. Dota 2 has been praised for its variety of heroes and gameplay styles, as well as atmospheric environments and immense replayability. Dota 2 is played by millions of people around the world, and is professionally played by many gamers, being an eSports video game present in many professional competitions and tournaments. Dota 2 is mostly a multiplyer video game, and has sometimes been described as a competitive multiplayer video game. Considering that most game modes of Dota 2 are played online, in multiplayer, players may wonder what is the average queue time of Dota 2.
The average queue time of Dota 2 is approximately 2:57, or 2 minutes and 57 seconds, for Unranked matches. Queue times vary according to many factors, such as time of day or region, and there are ways to have faster queue times.
Which Dota 2 Game Mode Has the Shortest Average Queue Time?
Considering that there is a variety of different game modes available in Dota 2, and that each of these game modes involve different rules and characteristics, players may wonder which game mode has the shortest average queue time in Dota 2.
The Dota 2 game mode with the shortest average queue time is Play vs Bots Co-Op, with an average queue time of 2:15. The second game mode with the shortest average queue time is Unranked Normal Match Turbo, with an average queue time of 2:20.
Which Dota 2 Game Mode Has the Longest Average Queue Time?
While different game modes have quite some difference in the average queue time, players may wonder which Dota 2 game mode has the longest average queue time in this video game.
The Dota 2 game mode with the longest average queue time is Unranked Normal Match All Pick Turbo, with an average queue time of 3:48.
What to Do If My Queue Times Are Longer than Average?
The average queue times presented in this article are meant as a reference. However, depending on several factors, you may experience different average queue times. In this case, there are a number of strategies which you can employ to try to shorten your average queue time in Dota 2.
1. Time of Day
Depending on the time of day you are playing Dota 2, there may be more or less players queueing for the same game mode. In competitive multiplayer video games, which depend on enough players on both sides of teams, it is very important that there are players queueing for the same game modes at the same time. Online video games, such as Dota 2, are influenced by the habits of players. In this sense, there are often surges in player population in specific times of day. Quite often, there are more active players queueing after 6 PM.
2. Game Mode
Average queue times vary according to the game mode of Dota 2 being queued for. The more popular a game mode is, more players will actively queue for it, thus reducing the average queue time for this game mode. Conversely, if a game mode is played by less players, there will be less players queueing for it and its average queue time will be longer. While there are players playing generally all Dota 2 game modes, some of them have shorter average queue times. For example, in general, Unranked Normal Match Turbo has a shorter average queue time (2:20) than Unranked Normal Match All Pick Turbo (3:48). If possible, select the game modes with the shorter average queue times. This article presents a data table of the average queue time for each game mode of Dota 2.
3. Unranked
If you belong to a high rank of Dota 2, and you are queueing for Ranked matches, it is possible that you experience longer average queue times. If your objective at the moment is to play competitively and in a Ranked match, then in this case you have no other choice. However, if you are playing casually and just want to play with other players, consider switching the queue to Unranked. Theoretically, this should make your average queue time shorter and faster.
The Video Game Literate's Data of the Average Queue Times of Dota 2
In order to write this article, The Video Game Literate did some research on the average queue times of the different game modes of Dota 2. More precisely, I queued for each of the game modes several times and wrote my results (how long it took to find a match in each game mode, multiple times). Then, I found the arithmetic average of these results for each of the Dota 2 game modes. The results are shown below. In my research for this article, I queued during non-peak hours.
Play vs Bots Co-Op: 2:15
Unranked Normal Match All Pick: 2:45
Unranked Normal Match Turbo: 2:20
Unranked Normal Match All Pick Turbo: 3:48
In the table above, 2:15 means 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
If we consider these results, we can find the overall average queue time for Unranked Normal Match during non-peak hours. For the average queue time for Unranked Normal Match, I did not consider the average queue time of a Play vs Bots Co-Op match, as Dota 2 is mostly played as a multiplayer video game. The average queue time for Unranked Normal Match I presented below is an average of the average queue times of Unranked Normal Match All Pick, Unranked Normal Match Turbo and Unranked Normal Match All Pick Turbo.
Average Queue Time for Unranked Normal Match: 2:57
It is important to note that the results I found on my research are tied to the time of day I queued and to the region the video game was played in. While in this research I did not test the results for Ranked matches, the results would also vary depending on my Dota 2 account. The higher the rank, in general the less players will be actively queueing for a Ranked match, thus resulting in a longer average queue time.
Analysis of the The Video Game Literate's Results of Average Queue Times of Dota 2
In my queued times, at least regarding the unranked matches and the play vs bots match, there is a clear pattern of queue times of approximately 2 minutes. It is important to remember that these were my queued times during non-peak hours. Queue times during peak hours tend to be shorter.
In my queued times, it is possible to notice a slightly shorter queue time between the Unranked Normal Match All Pick (2:45) and the Unranked Normal Match Turbo (2:20). However, these are matches with some important differences, so it is difficult to draw a conclusion only based on the difference between these two queued times. However, it shows a slight preference of players for Unranked Normal Match Turbo versus Unranked Normal Match All Pick, possibly indicating a slightly larger population of players actively queueing for a Unranked Normal Match Turbo.
It is interesting that the average queue time for Unranked Normal Match All Pick Turbo was much higher than the average queue times for the other unranked game modes I tested. Indeed, this game mode seems to have the longest average queue time of the unranked game modes I tested in this article. And the fastest and shortest average queue time was Unraked Normal Match Turbo, if we do not consider the Play vs Bots Co-Op game mode, which has an even shorter average queue time.
After the tests, the average queue time of an unranked match of Dota 2 during non-peak hours is 2:57, which would mean that a player should except nearly 3 minutes of queue time for an unranked match of Dota 2, depending on the game mode selected, and if playing at non-peak hours.
Concept of Average Queue Time of Dota 2
In Dota 2, every time a player decides to play online, the player is then queued with other players in order to find a match: a combination of players of a similar elo that are seeking to play the same game mode with the same rules applied. The queue time is the time it takes for the system to seek, find and combine these players in this particular match for this particular game mode with the applied rules.
The average queue time, as presented and discussed in this article, is the arithmetic average of multiple queue time results for a specific game mode. When these different averages for different game modes are taken into account, and used to calculate a general average, the result is the general average queue time presented in the article.
Which Are the Factors for Average Queue Times of Dota 2?
The average queue times of Dota 2 vary according to a number of factors. Dota 2 is played mostly as an online multiplayer video game. In this sense, unlike single player video games, the game modes of this video game rely on available players in order to form teams for each match. Considering that queue time is an important information for Dota 2 fans and players, players may wonder which are the factors that compose the average queue time of Dota 2.
The average queue times of Dota 2 are influenced by time of day, region and player population (number of players online at the time).
1. Time of Day
Considering that Dota 2 is mostly a multiplayer video game, this video game is heavily influenced by the habits of players regarding time of day to play video games. During times of day when players are most available to play video games, Dota 2, as well as other multiplayer video games, experiences a surge in player population in this is reflected in shorter average queue times for most of the game modes. In general, this time of day is related to the moment when most people are not working or studying.
2. Region
Queues in Dota 2 are most often organized by region. In general, Dota 2 players queue together with other players of the same region, or of a nearby region, for example, neighbour countries. While this characteristic is most likely present in order to ensure the most stable Internet connection possible for these players, which is an important factor for a fair match in a competitive multiplayer video game such as Dota 2, this also implies that the player population pool available for the queues of game modes will be strongly related to the region in which Dota 2 is being played at. In other words, if a certain region has a higher or a lower Dota 2 player population, this could be reflected in the average queue times of Dota 2 in this region, influencing the game modes across the board.
3. Rank
The rank of the Dota 2 player is also an important factor in the average queue times. However, theoretically, the rank should influence more Ranked matches than Unranked matches. However, considering that high-ranked Dota 2 players tend to have a higher elo related to their account, the matchmaking system may try to queue this players against other high-elo players, and it is possible that this could increase the average queue time. However, this is just a hypothesis, and entirely theoritecal, as it is also quite possible that, in the absense of players of a similar elo, Dota 2 could queue the player with other players available with the closest elo possible. If this were the case, the average queue time, at least for Unranked matches, would not be affected, and in this case, high-elo players would experience average queue times very similar to the average queue times of most players.
However, regarding Ranked matches, mathematically high-ranked Dota 2 players should theoretically experience longer average queue times than if they were queueing for Unranked matches. This is because, the higher a rank is, the lower the player population in that rank. In most competitive multiplayer video games, player population pool tends to decrease the higher a rank is, and this reflects the difficulty of reaching that rank and the competitiveness of the tiers of the video game. In this regard, with less players available to queue in that rank, average queue times tend to be longer. In other words, it is expected that average queue times will be shorter and faster for Ranked matches of lower ranks, as well as Unranked matches, while average queue times will be longer and slower for Ranked matches of higher ranks.
Other Possible Factors for Average Queue Times of Dota 2
While time of day, region and player population are some of the most recognizable factors influencing the average queue times of Dota 2, other factors may impact on it as well. If you are experiencing very long queue times, and you are not queueing for very high-ranked Ranked matches, it is possible that the matchmaking system of Dota 2 is currently at maintenance. In this case, you could try again in a few hours.
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