After a long period of silence, Blizzard finally wants to talk about the biggest criticism of Overwatch 2 – fans have hope.
When Overwatch 2 was announced, a lot was promised. The big PvE mode is now long gone and just a sad side note of the past. The second big change was to reduce the format from “6vs6” to “5vs5”. Instead of two tanks per team, the format was reduced to one tank per team.
This caused a lot of debate – a lot of pros and cons. Some people thought this change was great because it had a lot of advantages. For others, the disadvantages outweighed the disadvantages and it is something that “ruined Overwatch for them”.
Blizzard has been silent on this topic for far too long and now finally wants to say something about it.
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What was said? Aaron Keller, the game director of Overwatch 2, initiated a discussion on X (formerly Twitter) about tanks. However, the community kept bringing up one topic – 6vs6. This is exactly the topic that Blizzard has always avoided in discussions in the past, which was only “so-so” received by players.
Now Keller has explained that they finally want to discuss and reveal Blizzard’s view on the matter – but only in the next “Director’s Take” or “Dev Update” – whichever fits better.
What is the discussion about? Since the announcement of Overwatch 2, the community has been discussing animatedly – and sometimes angrily – whether the switch from 6vs6 to 5vs5 was sensible and good. The team formation of 2-2-2 (2 tanks, 2 supports, 2 DPS) was shrunk to 1-2-2 – so one tank was thrown out. This was supposed to make fights more dynamic and reduce the team size in general.
Even back then, there was a lot of criticism, especially because even professional teams suddenly had to say goodbye to a teammate.
What are the advantages of 5vs5? With only one tank, the fights are filled with a lot more action. At the end of Overwatch 1 in particular, there was a rather boring meta that was often called “barrier watch” – because you basically only shoot at barriers. While one tank blocks, the other recharges the barrier, so there is a constant change in which the attacking team only has to run at barriers for a very long time.
Smaller team sizes make battles more manageable and the performance of each individual hero can have a greater impact on the entire match. Each person can shine more often than would be the case in 6vs6.
What are the disadvantages of 5vs5? Tanks now have a much greater burden to shoulder. Instead of two tanks sharing the task, one tank now has a large share of the responsibility. If the tank falls, the team usually retreats or abandons the fight in question to regroup. Accordingly, tanks also receive more criticism because mistakes are immediately apparent in a solo role.
Tanks often play “rock, paper, scissors” against each other. As soon as the opposing tank changes his character to counter their own, the tank has to change at the next best opportunity. This means that tanks rarely get to play one character for long periods of time or have to live with the fact that they have a weak counter as an opponent.
In summary, tanks are currently the most frustrated players in Overwatch 2. They have a lot of responsibility and often little fun because they constantly have to change their character and at the same time feel more pressure than other roles.
What does the community hope for? Opinions in the community are fairly divided – there are some who mourn the end of 6vs6, others welcome 5vs5. Finding a healthy solution for everyone is almost impossible. But for 5vs5 to really work, further changes are needed, especially to the tanks – there seems to be widespread agreement on this.
It remains to be seen whether Blizzard will really back down and reintroduce the 6v6 format in Overwatch 2. That would be a bit ironic, though. Because then one of the last big changes that sets Overwatch 2 apart from Overwatch 1 would be history – after the PvE mode died long ago.