It’s been long enough now. It’s time for Blizzard to give up on the five-versus-five mistake in Overwatch 2 and return to its six-versus-six form in Overwatch.
This weekend, all of Overwatch’s Quick Play Hacked test is all about six-versus-six, using two tanks, two DPS, and two support heroes like the old days, and this is the best form the game can take. It feels like Overwatch again.
Earlier this year, Overwatch dropped the 2 from its title to once again be known as just Overwatch. It’s time for the game to follow suit and bring six-vs-six back in full-time form. It’s been long enough, and I hope that the data Blizzard sees from this weekend backs it up. Because solo tanking just plain sucks.
It sucks in six-vs-six (the current test can convert to 1-3-2 depending on queue times), and it sucks in five-vs-five as it always has. I never truly loved OW2 the way I loved OW1, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that playing as the lone tank in a game has the propensity to be quite miserable. But even with some tweaks, playing a 1-3-2 could feel better than 1-2-2, once healing output and abilities get some changes.
“The In-Combat Healing reduction has been lowered for all heroes to evaluate the impact of increased healing across the board while reducing the effectiveness of several self-sustaining sub-roles,” Blizzard said in patch notes for the current test. “We’re also reducing several Tank defensive cooldowns to improve gameplay flow for these heroes. To offset the increased availability of these abilities, their durations have been shortened where appropriate to avoid creating too many defensive cooldowns with two tanks available.”
After just a few games in this variant of Quick Play Hacked, I feel like the game is healthier and more fun overall than it ever felt in five-versus-five, where it boiled down to a “focus the tank” simulator. Now, with two tanks back in the mix, it feels like home. There’s more to manage for all involved, but I just think it feels so much better and more natural to play. And thankfully, I’m not alone, and it’s not just tank mains, either.
“I’m having the time of my life as a support main honestly,” one eedditor said today. “You just have to play differently than you do in 5v5 and it reminds me of why I fell in love with OW in the first place.”
For a while now, OW has been offering the option for six-vs-six or five-vs-five in different playlists. I can only imagine that it splits the matchmaking pool quite a bit as it is, though, so I feel like a choice will have to be made eventually. My vote on that is clear.
“Playing with another tank is so much fun,” said a fellow tank main. “I forgot how fun it feels to actually play with somebody else and not be alone.”
Unfortunately for me, the returns are still mixed overall, judging by social media sentiment, so I’m not sure Blizzard will ever pull the trigger to bring the game back to its full-fledged six-vs-six roots. But with the game’s next hero coming soon, assumed to be another tank, I think putting a bit more emphasis on the ability to play the role more easily would also be nice.
