Immediately Blizzard revealed a prolonged Overwatch 2 Director’s Take addressing the Reinhardt-sized elephant within the room: whether or not or not the sequel ought to revert again to the unique sport’s 6v6 format. Written by sport director Aaron Keller, the huge weblog put up traces again to Overwatch 1 and the key modifications made all through its lifetime and up via the shift to 5v5 for the sequel, explaining Blizzard’s thought course of behind the franchise’s largest changes. However by the tip of the practically 4,000-word weblog put up, it’s clear that the group remains to be struggling to outline Overwatch 2, which as soon as once more leads us again to the query: Why does it exist within the first place?
Overwatch 2 was initially meant to exist alongside the unique sport, bringing new PvE components and a shared multiplayer ecosystem throughout each titles. That modified quite drastically forward of its October 2022 launch, a lot in order that Overwatch 1 was utterly shut down and changed by the sequel. The promised PvE modes have been stripped down and was one thing far much less attention-grabbing that we might by no means see extra of anyway, however its largest controversy was the change to a 5v5 group composition quite than the 6v6 construction that outlined the sport for six years.
The Overwatch 2 drawback
As Keller outlines within the weblog put up, Overwatch has undergone three main gameplay modifications since its 2016 launch: Hero Limits, which solely allowed one participant to play as any particular person hero, quite than having the ability to stack a group of six Genjis; Position Queue, which helped stability matches by forcing a 2-2-2 (two tanks, two DPS, two help) format and dropped queue occasions; and 5v5. All of these modifications have led to the place we’re in the present day, a spot that many really feel is stagnant and unenjoyable.
Position Queue ensures you’re not taking part in aggressive matches with no healers (which was extremely irritating within the authentic sport), however Keller acknowledges that this consistency made Overwatch “begin to really feel samey.” I’ve performed lots of of hours of aggressive Overwatch 2, and so a lot of my matches have blurred collectively right into a streak of sameness. “May there be an in-between model that softens the unique issues with out utterly fixing them and in addition isn’t fairly as reactive as our present Position Queue system?” Keller wonders.
Sadly, the shift to 5v5 additionally considerably flattened Overwatch 2’s gameplay. “The world of 6v6 may have actually excessive, highs however reaaaaally low, lows,” Keller wrote. “One of many design objectives of 5v5 was to attempt to increase that ground, although it was on the expense of a few of these excessive moments.” The 5v5 change eliminated the secondary tank function, which helps stop matches from getting stunlocked and drastically reduces queue occasions, but in addition basically alters the best way each single function is performed.
Help gamers, not tasked with maintaining two huge tanks afloat, must be extra aggressive, including their harm to an already high-damage pool due to the twin DPS characters. And the tank, quite than having a secondary, or off-tank, to help them, is now the largest hero on the sphere and the almost definitely to bear the brunt of each enemy participant’s harm and utilities. Tanks now play to exist, to remain alive, quite than playmake.
“Having two [tanks] allowed one to concentrate on defending their backline whereas the opposite held floor or pushed into the enemy group,” Keller writes about 6v6. “The tank function had plenty of depth in understanding the way to work with the opposite tank on the group.” And as Overwatch gamers have identified, so lots of the tanks’ current kits are tailor-made for 6v6 play, which too-often renders off-tank selections like Wrecking Ball utterly unviable, particularly in aggressive matches.
The battle to stability tanks for 5v5 play has endured for practically two years. In June, Blizzard admitted that tanks have been depressing to play after a harm hero passive weakened therapeutic and made them really feel like they have been product of glass, and a subsequent tank-focused patch wildly overcorrected, making them far too highly effective.
“The previous yr and a half has proven us that there are points with balancing tanks for 5v5, as nicely [as 6v6],” the weblog put up reads. No shit.
5 versus six
The crux of what many gamers imagine is the difficulty with the 5v5 swap is that almost all of Overwatch 2’s characters, maps, and modes have been constructed for 6v6 play. Some counsel that Blizzard, quite than making main modifications like nerfing shields (which might render problematic Overwatch 1 metas like pirate ship ineffective), the group simply pulled the second tank. Pulling that second tank removes freedom of alternative for tank gamers and robs us of the number of gameplay types and approaches that comes from discovering the right stability between two tanks.
It additionally places extra strain on the helps to maintain that singular tank afloat, whereas making certain that DPS gamers have to decide on particular heroes to counter the singular, beefed-up enemy tank. To not point out the burden the singular tank participant has to bear—if they will’t sustain with the enemy tank, matches are wildly unfun for them and their squad.
Warring group composition factions throughout the Overwatch neighborhood are practically break up proper down the center, as evidenced by a March ballot from former OWL esports participant Jake Lyon, wherein 51.9% of gamers stated they most popular 5v5 to the unique 6v6 supporters’ 48.1%. That nearly-even break up tells me one factor: that is extra about private choice than what’s objectively higher, as there are downsides to each codecs. As Keller writes within the weblog, “Our gamers have totally different opinions and preferences concerning the excellent variety of gamers in an Overwatch match, and so does our group.”
For extra versatile, top-down gamers, 5v5 is a wonderfully advantageous expertise, as they will simply swap between any character of their function’s roster to make sure the match is successful. For folks like myself, a former Moira one-trick who expanded her help roster to 5 or so strong picks, 5v5 can really feel extremely limiting—and subsequently irritating. As Keller and others have made clear, there are professionals and cons to each variations of Overwatch’s core multiplayer mode. There’s no singular, simplistic resolution to this drawback that Blizzard has inadvertently created.
Now what?
Keller’s weblog put up is evident: Blizzard is “centered on making 5v5 the most effective expertise that it may be.” However, the group can also be “open-minded to re-evaluating our choices based mostly in your actions and suggestions.” As we’ve seen within the final yr or so, Blizzard has experimented with gameplay modifications in its Fast Play: Hacked mode, together with rising the pace of goal captures and payload motion (a change it finally saved within the sport). An upcoming Fast Play: Hacked will experiment with group comps in methods “that aren’t fairly as inflexible as set composition however not as unfastened as Open Queue.” However what about 6v6?
“We’re operating a collection of occasions to check out totally different core group composition codecs in Overwatch 2,” Keller guarantees. He doesn’t define what these occasions can be or what they’ll entail, however I don’t envy the work Blizzard must do if it plans on implementing 6v6 in any kind. As a lot as myself and different disgruntled Overwatch gamers wish to suppose it’s so simple as providing each 6v6 and 5v5 Quickplay and Aggressive modes, there’s a lot happening underneath the hood that would break.
Overwatch 2’s up to date UI and improved graphics may creak and pressure with the addition of two extra heroes in every match, and modifications made to hero’s kits may really feel both completely balanced or wildly off relying on whether or not you’re in a 5v5 or 6v6 match. And Keller voices issues with “opening Pandora’s field” on the subject of queue occasions, which is able to possible improve with the inclusion of an additional participant in your squad. “The group was not in a position to resolve this drawback beforehand,” he admits. However would 6v6 loyalists even care that they’ve to attend longer to get their most popular sport mode again?
This newest Director’s Take guarantees that “this isn’t the final time [Blizzard will] be stepping into 5v5 or 6v6,” so I’m positive the controversy will proceed on for a lot of extra months. I simply wish to get out of gold in help, please.
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