So about that 321 comment?

General Discussion
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Holy Hell is this a good read. Everything said in here is something I’ve said on the forums or thought to myself, at one time or another, since that big discussion about 222 happened a few weeks before it landed on the PTR.

All in all, if the game went in this direction (and was done well), I would be a happy camper.

As for some of the specifics he talked about, personally, I would like the “Make the ‘Off Tanks’ more ‘Main Tank’ like” option, instead of moving them to DPS. Moving any of them I feel would limit the Tank options too much.

He also mentioned some perspectives that I agree with. Like, being a Support in a one Tank scenerio, I would feel less like “Oh, my God, gotta keep the big guys up” and I would agree that I feel like it would give me more freedom, in that role, with a single Tank set up.

And, on the Tank side, I like that too. Hell, I solo Tanked a lot in the old days and was cool with it then. But, for the game to be balenced around that idea, as well? That sounds awesome.

Ultimately, with a bit of an adjustment period, I think OW would feel better doing this over 222. It would make Tanks feel more Tanky (as they would be balanced around the idea of only having one of them), it would give DPS a break on Q times (as they would be adding another slot), plus it would open up a ton of variety (as was mentioned with the Double Sniper + Genji example), and I already talked about how I would view these changes on Support.

Honestly, as someone who Flexed/Filled throughout pre-222 and someone who likes to play all 3 roles, I find this idea of 321 to not only be exciting and thrilling, but something that would make OW feel like a great game again. I just think if we can’t go back to the way things used to be, than a 321 OW would be the next best thing and would really “jive” with what I want out of this game, as a player.

But, of course, that’s just me…

(Thanks for reading)

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After 4 years I’ve realized that this community would NEVER allow a tank to feel like they could do the job by themselves, even if it was the default comp.

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I personally disagree with it.
Jeff basically mentioned this all in his post.

  1. Pressure on the main tank
  2. Off tanks in general
  3. More stuns directed on the 1 tank, 222 seriously helped the whole stun thing with tanks.

These problems are all too big, many characters would need a complete redesign, and what happens when all the off tanks go to the dps q? Sure 1 more slot, but twice as many players. Many less will play tank as well with this miserable experience. I can’t see it happening.

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You are correct, but he mentioned a lot of good perspectives on it too. And, assuming the game was balanced in this way, it could work.

Like before 222, a lot of us were seeing the game in the state that it currently was in. Obviously, if we went to a 3-2-1 system the balance would be quite different. Which, could mean that they do tone down things like stuns or whatever.

We wouldn’t really know until we tried.

And, I understand that I might be in the minority with thinking that this is a good idea, But honestly, it’s the most excited I’ve been about overwatch since I started playing this game. The idea of this just seems amazing to me. I’m sorry if it doesn’t feel that way to you and that’s okay, but I’m really excited at the possibilities that this could bring to the game

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I mean, I love 222 and all, but isn’t this what they said about 222? Then turned out to be a disaster TBH, they changed like 5 heroes in the big role q patch.

Okay, but im worried if we do it, theres no turning back, the devs are like that, they hardly revert. Otherwise, if they openly said it’s just for a TEST run on ptr then I’d be happy to try it out.

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What I want to know if why don’t they just go with a 1-2-2-flex? You can lock it to 2 supports Max and have the final option flexible to tank or DPS. Not only that, but it can allow the flex player to switch between DPS or tank as needed instead of having to rework all the off-tanks.

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But then it’ll always be 321 regardless since people always pick DPS. I’d rather they just go all out or stay as it is so they can balance it properly.

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I know, man, I totally get where you’re coming from.

It’s just, for me, I was mostly happy when we were in a pre-222 overwatch. There were slight tweaks and things that I would have wanted changed, But I was mostly okay with it.

But, from day one, I was never a fan of 222. I just wasn’t. I mean, You’ve been around here long enough and you and I have gone back and forth quite a bit, you probably remember that I’ve never really been a huge supporter of the idea.

But this? 321? The way that Jeff lays it out and talks about it from the perspective of the other members of the team, is something I’ve had in my head for a long time. Like I said in my OP, it’s just the idea of it jives more with me as a player.

Will work? I don’t know. Will be better than what we have? I really don’t know. But, just the idea that they’re trying this makes me happy. It really does. I haven’t been this excited about overwatch, since I started playing. The possibilities of this just amaze me and excite me and I’m just really thrilled right now.

Yeah, maybe nothing will ever come of it, but just knowing that they tried this makes me feel better, overall.

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That’s not necessarily true. Most of my comp games before goats and 2-2-2 were actually 2-2-2. Sure, you would get the weird DPS heavy comps and such, but most of the games stuck to 2-2-2, for me, at least.

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This is fair enough. I guess now I come to think about it, it’s not really fair on the whole 222 arguments, I like 222, but there are a large amount of people who don’t either. This would be a middle ground.

This would need even MORE testing than 222 IMO though.

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I personally kinda dig the whole 3-2-1 thing…

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I’m worried about what will happen to Zarya.

She’s a decent tank, but I really doubt she can main tank solo. So what are they going to do with her? How many tanks are going to be shoved onto the DPS roster (taking away even more tank mains and adding to the DPS queue times) ? Are they going to change the core aspect of almost every off tank? Is it gonna be a world where only a shield tank is viable because of all the long range pressure now? Does that mean shields will be buffed again because more shield break potential? Are the healers going to change for this too? Are the DPS going to be nerfed now because there are 3 potentially hard hitting DPS? I think balance is going to be flipped upsidedown, and no shade but it’s already taken them ages to try and balance for 2-2-2 after pushing it out with all the GOATS buffs and nerfed trying to balance 3-3

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The balancing of the game was honestly one of my concerns as well - but as Jeff put it in his post ; they’ve been playing with a lot of ideas and provided some clarity on the ideas they’ve been working with. It all sounds like they’ve got the right train of thought and I think I have confidence that they will end up making good changes if they did push to 1/3/2.

I also have played around with the concept of Zarya as a Support - with a small Healing - over - Time effect provided to anyone she bubbles and some changes to how her cool-downs work. She’d also work as a Main tank with a buff - but I’d probably rather see them try to keep pairs like Zarya/Rein together through a 1/3/2 patch. Though that would potentially mean the Tank lineup will suffer 2 losses in such a patch

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As constantly proven otherwise by polls on the forum, 2-2-2 is actually quite successful and the majority of people like it. 3-2-1 would merely be a way to optimize queue times by changing the structure of the game.

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