This is legit such a frustration of mine. I have 3 friends who would instantly resub if we could duo queue even.

Every competitive esport allows duo q and group play. These are social games. Nobody thinks LoL, DotA, Fortnite, Apex Legends, etc. etc. are not competitive because this whole 'premade instawin' argument is pure garbage.

If a match has a duo pair in, there must be a duo pair in the other team. It is literally that simple! Suddenly, no more balance issues. No need to split queues, the community can't handle it in ranked, just ensure any duo pairs have an equal number on the opposing team. Job done.

It is a 100% player-driven mode that hilariously is the most solo and lonely experience in the game, is that not just maddeningly stupid?

And as a final point regarding competitive integrity. There is already rampant wintrading, hacking, and people jumping into discord to coordinate when matches start anyway. SE don't seem to care about that hurting the competitive environment. They just care about letting you play with your mates.