So like, I’ve been reading a lot about the soon to come 2/2/2 role lock to Competitive. I’m gonna list out all the stuff that I’ve seen, heard, and have personally researched. I will add to this as things are said, or updates are released.
PROS:
Allows for a base comparison point for each team to fight one another on
Allows for players that aren’t comfortable on specific roles to know they’ll have the one they want at very least
Promotes the base use of team work to make a team composition work
Removes most cheese comps revolved around exploiting specific hero combinations
Separated role SR’s that allows for a better understanding your own rank
Creates a sense of security knowing that you’ll at very least consistently have two (2) heroes for each role
Gives people the ability to learn their ranks with other roles, thus encouraging more flexing in the long term
Makes it easier for Game Devs to balance around hero abilities
CONS:
Increases queue times, DPS being affected the most with a significantly increased time (Tank; 5+min: Supp; 6+min: DPS; 15+min)
Completely eliminates “Meta” comps such as GOATs and 4/1/1 and 5dps
Creates a sense of “Mirror Games” where every game will feel the same, despite being vastly different each match
The occurrence of Mirror-Matches will increase dramatically depending on what heroes dominate the Metas
MY THOUGHTS
Each side has very valid reasons for their stances, however there are a few things that cannot be ignored. Team comps like 4/1/1 and 5dps are toxic for the Overwatch community. These comps are inherently self-centered; reason being is that it puts all of the work of a whole role on a single person, while the job of damaging enemies is split between 4 or 5 people. It makes the job of the DPS easier, while giving an excuse to why they’re under-performing. More often than not when you die, you tend to look for an excuse that isn’t based on your own faults. “Rein put your shield up”; “Ana land your shots”; “Dva use your DM”. I don’t often hear any player, DPS, Support, or Tank, that will admit to their own poor judgments or decisions. While with 2/2/2 you have the secure knowledge knowing you have at least one other player that is the same role as you and is splitting the work with you, or in the worst case they’re picking up your slack and allowing your space to do your job the best you can.
SPECIFIC REBUTTALS ADDRESSED:
“2/2/2 kills creativity!”
No. It does not. It kills cheese comps, such as GOATs and Turret Camps. Sure you have core 2/2/2 comps like Dive, Rein/Zar, and Pulled Pork, but that isn’t all. I give you a suggestion when you get that inevitable DPS Roadhog; Zarya. Fan of excessive damage? Have you seen the damage done with Whole Hog/Grav? Couple that with Ana/Zen or Moira/Brig and the raw damage would be disgusting with just Tanks and Supports.
“Oh DPS’ are finally getting a taste of what it’s like to have the short stick!”
This thought process is in of itself toxic. I will admit I had the same thought, however you should put yourself in their shoes. A majority of their games are being changed, not to mention they’re getting shafted in queue times.
“This panders to One-Tricks and people that can’t flex!”
Mains aren’t One-Tricks. I’m a support main. My friend is a DPS main. My coach is a Tank main. Mains are players that will stay within their own roles, while having an expertise in one or two of the options in their pools. Not to mention One-Tricks aren’t inherently bad…they just make it difficult to work around them. And most of the time, the only bad One-Tricks I’ve seen are Hammond and most DPS. Nobody really complains when there’s a Rein One-Trick or an Ana One-Trick. But it’s painfully noticed when it’s Widow, Reaper, or Genji. Also, you can kill that DPS queue time if you learn to flex to other roles. We could use more Main Tanks.
Actually at least for me, one of the reasons why I want role queue is to get better at other roles. I want to play something else from tanks in ranked but I can’t because I am bad at those roles. With role based SR, I will be able to play more dps and supp in the rank I deserve to be with them and get better.
Gonna add this as a Pro cuz that’s actually spot on, and I didn’t even think of that. I could see my DPS SR and my Tank SR. I know my general SR is Gold>Plat, but what if I’m better at another role and don’t even know it?
What’s your reasoning? I think having the ability to mess around in QP is fair. Comp is for serious, genuine try hard mode, while QP is all about the memes and good times
Biggest pro for me is the role sr(if they actually do it). Sick of seeing people who “just wanna play x hero this game” for whatever reason. No more climbing with support and throwing with dps.
it will create meta heros and actually push the META PLAYER mentality where a specific hero main will not be able to play because his main hero is off meta, whch is my main concern, if we need an ana bcz we have a rein and zarya main but all we get is a couple of mercy mains we’re effed.
it restrics flexing from role to role
No value in learning other roles as there’s no scope to switch to them, even just for clutch plays. So no real incentive at all to flex.
‘Role Tourism’, players might try them out, but with no seriousness as no SR is really at stake; this might give an illusion of ‘more’, but certainly not ‘better’. And will certainly be liable to dwindle.
Does nothing to improve compositions in reality; most compositions I play are 2-2-2, a lot of them unbalanced, terrible, inadequate.
People are still on heroes they don’t like, because the team needs a main tank and off-tank mains will be forced on to them; projectile/close ranged DPS will be forced onto Hitscan/long ranged and so on.
Countering is still important, and you’re limited to two players per role who can switch to the relevant counter.
Not enough heroes/variety in Tank/Support roles to allow for switching.
So what? Are you saying that the vast majority of the playerbase should just stay with 5dps or 4/1/1 because in gm and top 500 they don’t get those comps? Lmao okay
there are pros to flexing like being able to play multiple roles in various matches. knowing each and every role can determine how good you are based on how much you know.
tank positioning is different from support positioning which is different from dps which is different from tanks.
this is valuable information to know as a player and as a community in overwatch. to limit 1-tricking aka, forcing people to play around your preferred role, flexing would really need to be boosted by pros and the devs since being able to play everything makes someone an MVP. and also everybody likes to listen to them.
and from my knowledge, a lot of pros are flex players. people like ryujehong who plays ana also plays genji at the same rank and pace. he (and other flexers) know the difference and knowledge of how to play overwatch at certain ranks and levels unlike one tricks and insalockers.
just because you play everything in one category doesn’t mean you’re special but the point is, being able to play all three roles does. tanks like roadhog, dps like mei and tracer and widow, supports like ana and moira can really help you solo carry until you reach a certain point on the latter and once you get there, then it becomes a team game (around 3600 in my experience)
in conclusion
222 promotes one tricking, discourages learning and acknowledgement. creates more selfish players and just limits the already limited diversity in matches now.
I did have a conversation with a 2/2/2 role queue pro guy.
In a sense, I was talking about how queue dodgers would do in a 2/2/2 role queue, and he said that it would be impossible in a role lock.
And when I talked about how restrictive role lock would be (you can’t change roles if you think you can do a better job at another role), he then flopped back to Role queue.
It is a fine line between role queue and role lock. So weird.
Keep in mind that I could interpret what he meant wrongly cause it was 2 AM in the morning (insomnia lmao) so my brain is not functioning well at that time.