The reason is that they needed to fix queue times.
And with 6v6 it’s really difficult to make Tanks more popular, without causing overly durable compositions.
5v5, they can buff Tanks a lot, and not have overly durable compositions.
Not to mention, even without Tank buffs, you start out with a huge queue time benefit.
It’s gonna take the devs to do everything perfectly, in which case it will be one of the best changes the game has had.
But if they screw up, literally anything, it’s gonna be a complete **** show.
It’s a pretty low bar for most players.
At worst, they just make Rein, Orisa, and Sigma be equivalent.
Which is still better than “Rein or Lose”
I don’t find it to be Rein or lose. The only tank that isn’t viable is Orisa, but even then I would say that she’s just niche, not that bad.
And fewer in number.
Reddit AMA says otherwise
This is misinformation. They have blatantly said they are reducing Tanks’ defensive capabilities
I’m honestly more frustrated by THIS than I am by the fact that it’s 5v5. Tanks have been begging for better survivability because they blow up too quickly, and all their changes point to tanks having even less ability to survive and protect teams.
That’s a opinion.
The stats below Masters, really don’t show that though.
As long as they make tanks TANKY, and not large DPS, then I don’t mind 5v5. But they aren’t looking to do that. Which I find FAR more concerning.
It is not “blatently untrue” - they said they are reducing the tankiness on main tanks, while off tanks are becoming more tanky.
However when you also factor in CC reduction and removal of CCs across the DPS role, that adds to the survivability of all heroes across the board, including tanks.
But when you factor in the removal of defensive abilities AND literally cutting the amount of those abilities a team has (by removing 1 tank), survivability for all roles goes down, including tanks.
Every single pro streamer who has tried Blizzard’s 5v5 has stated it feels like a deathmatch. Survivability is plummeting with these changes.
And reducing the number of tanks on each team also means one less enemy shooting at you.
On top of that, they have yet to make a large number of balance changes yet. For example they specifically stated they want to reduce the impact of snipers.
What you see now in the live stream or what pro players have tested is not going to be an accurate reflection of the final result.
You’re not alone.
I’m totally optimistic. I think it’ll make the game fresh and new.
And I’m looking forward for tanks to feel powerful.
The Devs made overwatch. I trust they can make fun games.
I’m worried the tank changes are gonna kill deathmatch. It’s no pinnacle of balance but I’d rather the hog situation not be made even worse.
Kinda? A few tanks weren’t even playable and balance definitely isn’t finalized. This was pretty much an alpha they showed us, if even that. They’re still reworking part of the roster & balancing all of it
Nerfing a tank is far different from “making them suck”. Please enlighten me as to what the next obvious step is
Not saying you or anyone should say nothing, but “What’s stopping Blizzard from nerfing the solo tank anyway?” isn’t a good question. If something needs nerfing, they should nerf it. That question tells me the person asking doesn’t believe tanks should be susceptible to nerfs, which just makes no sense at all.
What you are saying here makes no sense; if they balance the 2 tanks in 2-2-2 to survive the same amount of time as the 1 tank in 1-2-2, then the game play flow is the exact same. If you balance it right, you die at the exact same rate as a tank in 1-2-2 as you do in 2-2-2.
That’s if most of your tank players don’t quit. No matter how you make the tank role, the people who don’t play tank now and play damage instead won’t change; those players just want to go pew pew as a DPS hero.
I mean that’s what happens when every change the company has made for the last 3-4 years was a bad one.
RQ? bad.
LFG? bad.
New characters? Lot of 'em bad, or at least disruptive to the game.
Patch changes? largely bad.
Why would I have faith that the changes would be good?
So basically, what I’m getting is:
-Yes, they’ve agreed they’re nerfing main tanks’ defensive capabilities in exchange for more damage, moving tanks towards a less survivable midpoint
-Yes, they’re removing 1 tank from the game which drastically decreases defense on the field
-Yes, the live stream they put out and the pro players have tested is very deathmatchy with less defensive capabilities
But I shouldn’t be worried about lack of defense, because they’re not finished yet.
I’m sorry, but if everything they are saying and doing points to less defense, then I am going to worry about there being less defense.
The thing you’re missing is that if there’s roughly 60% of the players are DPS, and 15% of the players are tank.
And if converting a DPS into a Tank, both adds a Tank, and subtracts a DPS.
And you need half as many Tanks.
The math breaks out that converting 1% of DPS players into Tank players in 5v5, would be like 20% more Tank play time in 6v6.
And you’d need to lose 50% of the Tank players, just to break even with the amount of Tanks needed in 5v5, versus 6v6.
That’s not what I said. What I said was that many tanks are getting buffs, and they’ve admitted that their ongoing balancing and restructuring in accordance with the 5v5 changes will do more to tone down excessive damage and CC, which is an improvement in durability for all players, including tanks.
You must also note that offensive capabilities do contribute to tankiness as well - if something is a large threat, it cause people to spend more time behind cover and less time shooting.
I just think you’re focusing too much on raw numbers. 1200<1600, therefore I wont survive as long. It’s not really that simple…
I mean, OffTanks contribute a lot of damage, and those won’t exist.
And healers have 2 Tanks worth of healing they can focus into one Tank.
Not to mention, if Rein can get within hammer range of the enemy a lot easier, then the barrier doesn’t need to be as strong.