I’m about 15 QPs in the Beta and, so far, I’d say that 5 V 5 is not the way to go.
There is too much reliance put on the one single Tank of the team to behave properly, as a Tank, for the team to be effective and for the gameplay to occur “as intended” by the development team. They ‘designed’ OW2’s gameplay (and apparently balance too) for 5 V 5 to be the main thing that distinguishes OW2 from OW1’s 6 V 6.
But… it’s not because it’s distinguishing itself that way and it means it’s good, or fun. It’s just… different, it’s “unique” but OW1’s 6 V 6 is simply better. We’ve been playing OW1’s 6 V 6 for six years (well many of us have, heck even if you started in 2020 with this game you still have 2 years of 6 V 6 under your belt anyway), we’re more than merely ‘used to’ it. It’s the identity of this game.
We have 2 Tanks, 2 DPS and 2 Healers (under the official formula that is, not counting custom types of games or QP Classic, etc; purely talking about QP and Competitive modes). In this regard, any time something happened to one of the two in a specific role, the other can still help a little; things can still happen from that role.
But now, with 1 single Tank, if anything happens to that Tank, the rest of the team cannot rely on a would-be second Tank to keep on the advance or to hold their ground even if it helps them momentarily; they’d still win precious seconds (or minutes) having a second Tank doing the job for that long. Instead, as it is now with the 1 Tank formula, the ENTIRE rest of the team drop like flies in a domino effect AS SOON as their Tank dies.
But the worst part of having just one Tank isn’t even the fact that if the Tank dies crap then hits the fan automatically, no. The worst part is that DEATH, per se, is not even what it takes anymore. All it takes can be anyone of the following situations:
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The Tank trolls? Sorry, you don’t have a 2nd Tank to rely on, your match is over.
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The Tank decides to just constantly rush in without a plan? Your team is dead, forget it.
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The Tank ‘turtles’ and always hesitates to push forward? Might as well stay there and die by attrition until the timer gives the victory to the enemy team.
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The Tank lags? Sorry, it’s over for you.
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The Tank disconnected, oops, now what? Waiting for Matchmaking to find a replacement and have fun with the massacres in the meantime.
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Additionally, the Healers now NEED to prioritize the single Tank of the team ever MORE so than ever compared to OW1; and OF COURSE the two DPS players will ask for Healing ever more so this time around. It’s not even a ‘preference’ or a “play style”; it’s a REQUIREMENT. This puts a lot of pressure on the Healers as well because OBVIOUSLY if the Tank dies (and believe me, the Tank is alone now so the Tank WILL die, often) then where does the blame go? Believe me, it’s usually NOT the Tank (coming from a Healer main lately I know all too well; it already did happen in my few Beta matches). So I hope you DPS mains out there are ready to lack HP points on a regular basis now because our Tank is the lifeline of the entire team.
So far, pretty much all the matches I had revolved around the single Tank we have.
In OW1, all THREE roles in a 2-2-2 team can - at least even just momentarily - rely on the second person of that role in order for that role to be accomplished. In OW2, the Tank is alone, he/she needs to do ALL the Tanking required. If the Tank is gone for whatever reasons then the ‘snowball’ follow up of death and destruction happens VERY quickly.
If there’s one thing I noticed from OW2 fire fights (where all 5 players of both teams engage) is that team fights are over MUCH quicker now than in OW1. If you thought that entire teams could be wiped clean at the speed of sound in OW1 then wait until you see it happen at the speed of light in OW2. It’s crazy. It’s VERY easy for the fights in OW2 to feel more chaotic than in OW1 and the reason is simple: because your only Tank just died and nobody knows where to go and how to play after that.
The very mentality and play styles that’s been acquired with OW1 over the past 6 years NEEDS to be completely re-thought and adapted anew for OW2; otherwise and I almost guarantee it for the majority here: 5 V 5 will be perceived as the biggest mistake ever done in the history of this franchise. The difference it injects and provokes into the very gameplay fabric of this game compared to 6 V 6 is way too significant (and not for the best).
