Right this moment 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 large weblog submit traces again to Overwatch 1 and the key adjustments made all through its lifetime and up by means of the shift to 5v5 for the sequel, explaining Blizzard’s thought course of behind the franchise’s largest changes. However by the top of the almost 4,000-word weblog submit, it’s clear that the crew 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 parts and a shared multiplayer ecosystem throughout each titles. That modified relatively 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 swap to a 5v5 crew composition relatively than the 6v6 construction that outlined the sport for six years.
The Overwatch 2 drawback
As Keller outlines within the weblog submit, Overwatch has undergone three main gameplay adjustments since its 2016 launch: Hero Limits, which solely allowed one participant to play as any particular person hero, relatively than with the ability to stack a crew of six Genjis; Position Queue, which helped steadiness matches by forcing a 2-2-2 (two tanks, two DPS, two assist) format and dropped queue instances; and 5v5. All of these adjustments have led to the place we’re immediately, a spot that many really feel is stagnant and unenjoyable.
Position Queue ensures you’re not enjoying 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 a whole bunch of hours of aggressive Overwatch 2, and so lots of my matches have blurred collectively right into a streak of sameness. “Might there be an in-between model that softens the unique issues with out utterly fixing them and likewise 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 might have actually excessive, highs however reaaaaally low, lows,” Keller wrote. “One of many design objectives of 5v5 was to attempt to elevate 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 instances, but in addition basically alters the way in which each single function is performed.
Assist gamers, not tasked with preserving two large tanks afloat, should be extra aggressive, including their injury to an already high-damage pool because of the twin DPS characters. And the tank, relatively than having a secondary, or off-tank, to assist them, is now the most important hero on the sphere and the most probably to bear the brunt of each enemy participant’s injury and utilities. Tanks now play to exist, to remain alive, relatively than playmake.
“Having two [tanks] allowed one to give attention to defending their backline whereas the opposite held floor or pushed into the enemy crew,” Keller writes about 6v6. “The tank function had a whole lot of depth in understanding work with the opposite tank on the crew.” And as Overwatch gamers have identified, so lots of the tanks’ present kits are tailor-made for 6v6 play, which too-often renders off-tank selections like Wrecking Ball utterly unviable, particularly in aggressive matches.
The wrestle to steadiness tanks for 5v5 play has continued for almost two years. In June, Blizzard admitted that tanks have been depressing to play after a injury hero passive weakened therapeutic and made them really feel like they have been manufactured from glass, and a subsequent tank-focused patch wildly overcorrected, making them far too highly effective.
“The previous 12 months and a half has proven us that there are points with balancing tanks for 5v5, as effectively [as 6v6],” the weblog submit 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 recommend that Blizzard, relatively than making main adjustments like nerfing shields (which might render problematic Overwatch 1 metas like pirate ship ineffective), the crew simply pulled the second tank. Pulling that second tank removes freedom of selection for tank gamers and robs us of the number of gameplay types and approaches that comes from discovering the right steadiness between two tanks.
It additionally places extra stress 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 crew composition factions throughout the Overwatch group are almost break up proper down the center, as evidenced by a March ballot from former OWL esports participant Jake Lyon, through which 51.9% of gamers mentioned they most well-liked 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 in regards to the superb variety of gamers in an Overwatch match, and so does our crew.”
For extra versatile, top-down gamers, 5v5 is a wonderfully fantastic expertise, as they will simply swap between any character of their function’s roster to make sure the match is a hit. For individuals like myself, a former Moira one-trick who expanded her assist roster to 5 or so stable picks, 5v5 can really feel extremely limiting—and subsequently irritating. As Keller and others have made clear, there are execs and cons to each variations of Overwatch’s core multiplayer mode. There’s no singular, simplistic answer to this drawback that Blizzard has inadvertently created.
Now what?
Keller’s weblog submit is obvious: Blizzard is “centered on making 5v5 one of the best expertise that it may be.” However, the crew can also be “open-minded to re-evaluating our choices primarily based in your actions and suggestions.” As we’ve seen within the final 12 months or so, Blizzard has experimented with gameplay adjustments in its Fast Play: Hacked mode, together with growing the pace of goal captures and payload motion (a change it in the end saved within the sport). An upcoming Fast Play: Hacked will experiment with crew 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 working a collection of occasions to check out totally different core crew composition codecs in Overwatch 2,” Keller guarantees. He doesn’t define what these occasions will probably be or what they’ll entail, however I don’t envy the work Blizzard must do if it plans on implementing 6v6 in any type. As a lot as myself and different disgruntled Overwatch gamers want to suppose it’s so simple as providing each 6v6 and 5v5 Quickplay and Aggressive modes, there’s a lot occurring underneath the hood that might break.
Overwatch 2’s up to date UI and improved graphics might creak and pressure with the addition of two extra heroes in every match, and adjustments made to hero’s kits might really feel both completely balanced or wildly off relying on whether or not you’re in a 5v5 or 6v6 match. And Keller voices considerations with “opening Pandora’s field” relating to queue instances, which is able to doubtless enhance with the inclusion of an additional participant in your squad. “The crew was not in a position to remedy this drawback beforehand,” he admits. However would 6v6 loyalists even care that they’ve to attend longer to get their most well-liked 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 certain the talk will proceed on for a lot of extra months. I simply need to get out of gold in assist, please.
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