Solo Queue will be called Solo Shuffle in the WoW Shadowlands: Eternity’S End(9.2 version).
Each time you hit the queue button, you’re placed into a cohort of 6 players comprised of 2 Healers and 4 Damage-dealers. The cohort will then play 6 rounds comprising every possible combination of teams made up of 1 Healer and 2 Damage-dealers. Players will have to adapt to a wide variety of team compositions, but so will their opponents. So, in the case above, both Rogues will end up playing with the Mage and both Rogues will end up playing with the Death Knight. After all 6 rounds are completed, players will earn or lose rating based on the results. So, a player who wins all 6 rounds will earn more rating than a player who only wins 3 rounds.
To illustrate further, let’s say there are two healers a Holy Paladin and a Resto Shaman, and 4 DPS Rogue, Warlock, Mage Hunter. The 6 rounds will play out as below:
Paladin, Rogue, Warlock v Shaman, Mage, Hunter
Paladin, Rogue, Mage v Shaman Warlock, Hunter
Paladin, Rogue, Hunter v Shaman, Warlock, Mage
Paladin, Mage, Hunter v Shaman, Rogue, Warlock
Paladin Warlock Hunter v Shaman, Rogue, Mage
Paladin, Warlock, Mage v Shaman, Rogue, Hunter
Of course, 6 rounds of traditional 3v3 Arena has the potential to take a considerable amount of time. When players queue up for an activity, we’d prefer it not to require over 30 minutes of their time. The longer the activity goes, the less likely people are to queue for it and the more likely they are to abandon a match in progress. So, there will be some fundamental differences in Solo Shuffle that force the games to end quicker. Naturally, the lack of coordination from premade groups will likely result in faster kills but to help ensure each round resolves in 2-3 minutes, there will also be some rule changes: