I feel the exact same when it comes to why we have 2-2-2. It definitely was because of GOATS. To get rid of goats they would have to destroy a lot of characters to make that comp not playable. But the next issue that comes in is that the player’s mentality change and that everybody will try to find a way to abuse multiple tanks and supports for a new GOATS.
That’s why even after we got 2-2-2 we kept getting GOATS-like comps where the concept was the same. Stack up on tons of sustain and power. Then the next problem that came in after GOATS was shield tanks. Because we are locked into 2-2-2 it’s way harder to get around 2 shield tanks which is how we ended up with Double Shield which again another GOATS-like comp.
How are they going to be able to make more shield tanks if people keep trying to stack them? So their best solution for all of this was make each team only have 1 tank that way they can make more shield tanks and deal with Queue times as well.
My main concern is that instead of attempting to address the problems we know exist with 6v6, we’re going to move to 5v5 which has a whole new set of problems. Some of which the dev team doesn’t appear to be prepared to address.
When someone asked if they were going to increase cover and add flanking routes to old maps for the new 5v5 play, the dev team was caught completely flat-footed. It appeared they hadn’t even considered that. Didn’t exactly give me a warm and fuzzy on this new playstyle.
Hopefully they’ll take that feedback at the very least.
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It’s a question that honestly can’t be answered cause it’s entirely hypothetical…but I will say this…
We have had new tanks added to the game…tanks which I would say are pretty fun: orisa, ball, sigma…I don’t know if they resulted in meaningful upticks in tank usage cause I have like no way of quantifying it…and none of them came out after RQ so it’s even harder to gauge them since…
It would be interesting to see usage statistics for tank additions
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I’m speaking as a tank player who has all but left the game, I haven’t played in months.
Back when 222 was first introduced, Queue times were not the monster for DPS that they are today. Tank and Support levels were about on-par with each other. Over time, we bled tank players harder than the other two roles, which is why they initiated priority pass just to get queue times close to as low as they used to be because we’ve lost so many tanks.
People are going to argue with me on this, fine, but here is the reason we are bleeding tank players so hard: Tanks have gotten destroyed as a class. D.va, Orisa, Sigma, and Ball are particularly brutalized, but Zarya is seeing consistent nerfs now too, and Hog is a bit better after the recent buff, but it still doesn’t change the fact that his nerfs left him pretty awful for a long while.
More than that, spam DPS saw increases in damage, a lot of healing output was decreased (which hurts tanks more than any other role) and the tank experience hasn’t been great because of these changes.
Look, I get you, this problem of “no one plays tank” is a thing. But here’s where I’m frustrated: Blizzard exacerbated this problem greatly by shafting tanks. They have never once put a hard pass at actually making the tank experience feel better in 2/2/2.
So while I agree, the playerbase is stubborn, blizzard is at greater fault. In balance patches over the last 2 years, they’ve made tanks feel like crap. Of course no one wants to play them anymore. I sincerely left after the Ball changes hit, and I no longer had a single tank I wanted to play anymore, when I used to love most of the roster.
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Main tanks have always been unpopular. Playing them is boring so they have to go.
I queue for tank rarely because there is no “off-tank queue” and don’t want to end up standing in a choke point holding a shield. It’s worse than simply wasting my time: it’s like doing chores.
There are a lot of things to like about RQ but my favorite is that it provides a 100% reliable way to avoid main tanking. In OQ I often had to choose between losing or doing chores (as a main tank) for a potential win. That’s why I left the game and returned when RQ was released.
I’m not completely against 122, but I am very skeptical based on what I have seen of it.
As it is right now, even Reinhardt can get burst down in the duration of a flashbang - and that is without throwing a Zen, Mercy boost, Baptiste, or ults into the mix. With the more defensive tanks like Reinhardt getting even less defense, they will largely have to play hard cover lest they explode before even getting into range. You can’t be aggressive if you can’t survive getting around a corner.
The second thing that makes me worry is that in the stream, The devs kept talking about how much more powerful and brawly and aggressive tanks are, while the gameplay footage was mostly the tanks cowering behind the payload and unable to really push forward and getting chunked out any time they did try. This also lead the stream to making it look like the game was largely being decided by the side skirmishes around the tank instead of with the tank. Most fights seemed to be won/lost based on a flanker getting a pick or two.
The third thing that has me worried is how hard various tanks can be countered by certain mechanics/heroes. Things like discord orb, anti-nade, hack, beams against D.Va, Echo in general, ect. If you are the only hero of a role, you don’t get anyone to help cover your weaknesses anymore which means your counters are that much more effective against you.