After playing the game through the betas, and now after completing the first season battle pass, I want to give my opinions on the new 5v5 format. I might be in the minority on this, and may get flamed for this take… but sorry not sorry, 5v5 is not as dynamic as 6v6, therefore not as fun.
You might be asking… what does that mean, it’s not as dynamic? Let me try to give some examples of what I mean.
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In 5v5 there is one less tank to peel for supports that need help. This means that a dps needs to peel, which is something dps do not want to do, and let’s be honest they will never learn to properly fulfill this new duty. When 1 dps does need to peel to go help, this means less synergy between 2 dps heroes on the same team.
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The above point also means that with 1 less tank, there is no longer any tank synergy, since according to the comp gameplay, 2 tanks can not be used. Former off-tank players do not get to play quite the same way. Don’t get me wrong, a D.va and Winston can still dive, but to do so runs the risk of opening their team up to a team wipe. This is less fun, and really puts too much pressure on former off-tank. Also, even the main tanks must play differently and can not be as aggressive without the aid of a backup tank to support them and peel for healers. The days of a Zarya/D.va nerf combo are unfortunately behind us. If any enemy team goes with a widow, it’s like a boring predetermined chess match… a dps on your team must go widow/hanzo to counter that widow. This is less dynamic (previously, a tank could go dive that widow) because it’s simply a case of If A, then your team must do B.
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In wanting to create a system that was less reliant on metas, 5v5 actually encourages more metas than 6v6. In this way I feel 5v5 is somewhat detrimental to the game, and not as dynamic as 6v6. In the current 5v5 format the game basically becomes simply for healers to keep their tank up. Every game is pretty much the same, and there is less unexpected chaos happening. Less synergy. Less dynamic gameplay. In open queue formats… if one team goes with 2 or 3 tanks, pretty much the only way for the other team to overcome that, is to go with 2 or 3 tanks themselves. In 6v6, while it may have been rare… there were absolutely times where 5 dps and a healer could have beaten a 2-2-2 setup. That is dynamic gameplay, and that is more fun that some unexpected setups could prevail. The chances of non-meta comps overcoming the 5v5 metas seem to be lower percentage chance of success. 6v6 simply allowed more freedom, more dynamic gameplay, and therefore more fun gameplay with unexpected surprises. In 5v5, there really are no surprises. Also things snowball out of control. In 5v5, if a team is winning, the vast majority of the time they continue winning, and the other team will not be able to overcome the fight. This is less fun than 6v6.
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Less room for failure. If someone messes up their role, there is 1 less person to back them up, therefore it’s pretty much a guaranteed lost fight. This touches into the snowball effect I just mentioned as well. Typically if 1 person on your team is a weak link, unfortunately it’s obvious that your team is simply not going to overcome the other team. It’s quite obvious within 1 or 2 minutes which team is the superior team, and it’s obvious a match is over when there is still a lot of the match left. This is discouraging and less fun (to know that a match is already over) than 6v6… in 6v6, there was room for some unexpected surprising gameplay to emerge, and therefore in OW1 a fight was never truly over. There is less of this experience in OW2.
I’m probably overlooking some of the other reasons I had, but I’ll add them to this post when I think of them. Again I know I may be flamed for this, but this is my opinion of 5v5 vs 6v6, and I just think 6v6 is superior. It allows more creative & dynamic gameplay, and more room for failure, more chances for surprises to emerge, and therefore it is more fun than the 5v5 experience.
I’m really hoping they open up a 6v6 arcade option in the future. If they want comp to stay 5v5, that is their prerogative, since they want to balance the game around that type of less dynamic gameplay. They seem to want to balance the game around gameplay with less surprises… they want things to be predictable apparently. But for those who prefer the creative & surprising aspect of 6v6, I hope they introduce an option.