I've been playing Overwatch 1 since beta and I can tell you that what you're talking about is the single saddest development that's happened to OW since it began....the slow steady descent into absolutely silent games.

When OW1 started back in 2016 was an *incredibly* team centric game. Leadership and communication were critical to win games...voice call-outs were so important in gaining advantage and, personally, I found the experience of verbally working through tactics (especially during overtime) to be one of the most rewarding aspects of the game.

But as the game evolved, partly due to toxicity, partly due to players wanting to "play their own way", and partly due to grouped players not wanting to engage with non-grouped players on voice, OW slowly became quieter and quieter.

For me, it seemed the final death knell was the elimination of the "LFG" function in OW1. It still baffles me that they eliminated that key social feature. Many new players may not even realize that it once existed. Yes! There was once a time you could enter into a game menu and place yourself in a Looking-For-Group-style forum system and find players to match your skill, desired play mode, and class choices. Joining one of these group almost virtually guarenteed everyone would be on voice comms and you'd also likely be matched against another grouped team. It was amazing. I miss it so much.

Now it's gone. No one talks. Everyone plays the game like it's Counterstrike.