[Update #2]: Overwatch's newest main tank Sigma has now arrived alongside the long-awaited Role Queue!
[Update]: Overwatch's next hero has been revealed to be Sigma - a shield based main tank with quite an interesting set of abilities. Best of all, he will be coming alongside the 2/2/2 Role Queue!
While it shouldn't come as much of a surprise given that it was leaked and rumored for well over two months now, I'm sure many of you will still be glad to hear that Blizzard has now finally announced a 2/2/2 (2x tank/2x support/2x DPS) Role Lock for Overwatch. Best of all, these changes will be accompanied by a matchmaking update that makes it so each of your roles has a unique and completely separate rating!
Much like World of Warcraft, you will be able to choose any number of roles before queueing up for a match. Since the queue times per role are likely to be wastly different, Blizzard will also be incentivizing the less popular roles with loot boxes and other goodies, so if you're a flexible player, the new system should be quite a fun one.
You can get a pretty good idea of what Blizzard is trying to do with Role Queue, as well as check out all of the details, through the recently posted developer update. Have a gander, it's a rather informative one:
In order to counteract some of the problems that might arise from a 2/2/2 Role Lock, Blizzard will also be releasing a rather major balance update. Hanzo, Orisa and Sombra are getting some much-needed nerfs, Brigitte is being reworked from the ground up, while heroes like Reinhardt, Moira and Tracer are getting some minor but still impactful buffs.
Symmmetra is also getting some significant tweaks, though it seems like they are going to end up being a nerf rather than a buff, so I'm guessing they will be changed in the near future. Whatever the case may be, you can read all of the details over at the official website.
As for Role Queue itself, you can expect it to arrive in full on September 1st alongside the 18th Competitive Season. However, there will be a Beta Season from August 13th to September 1st, so you'll be able to check it out, and help the developers by providing some much-needed data, a little bit ahead of schedule.
You can read more about Role Queue and the upcoming Role Lock over at the latest blog post. Enjoy!