First of all, I apologize to EA Mako for being disrespectful in regard to player bans. I was out of line.
Although, banning customers for minor offenses needs to be better addressed. A ban is most definitely required for cheaters. The text chat ban issue is a problematic one. I think one solution is giving players the option to "disable" text chat altogether, similar to the "voice chat option" in Settings (not to be confused with the "communication" options). Currently, players can only disable voice chat. Adding an option to disable text chat "solely" will give players more control of what they can see and/or feel inclined to type negative things. Additionally, this gives the devs more power if a player(s) has to be banned for bad voice/text chat behavior. Because now, the tools have been put in place for players to use (stay with team, disable voice chat, disable text chat) to avoid toxicity. If a player doesn't use the tools, then a ban makes ALOT more sense on the "dev side". Also, a "text chat disable option" will give the devs less to monitor.
My main purpose for visiting the forum today is to applaud the devs for what seems to be a very exciting upcoming season. I'm glad that ranked is evolving and this is the perfect time for change. I'm stoked about the "stay with team" feature being added. This feature is going to change the feel of matchmaking, and if players decide to still solo queue, then that's on them. Complaining about matchmaking or bad teammates will be dramatically reduced, in my opinion.
The new game mode is nice. I will be spending time there when I just want to run around and troll. It's actually better than having a typical "social hub" lobby. Since players will have this game mode to play its probably time to add a "leave penalty" to unranked matches. I always expect great changes to the meta, maps, legends, etc. The devs always do great in those categories.
I will start back investing monetarily into your game. The Wattson prestige skin is nice!!! My wife is still waiting for some good lore. So, make that happen, Captain!!! :-)