Okay, gonna get real in-depth here - You asked for it. For context, as this would be moving forward with the heroes we actually know, I will be including Space Ranger. If we’re considering this a ‘relaunch’, it’d make sense to include her, as she’s coming pretty soon anyway.
Sticking with the 5v5 format, as Blizzard will die on this hill, so I’m just gonna keep it as is for convenience.
1 Tank, 2 Damage, 2 Support. Like we have now.
However.
Supports are now split into two sub roles: Healers and Guardians. And all Support heroes now get reworked to be one or the other.
How this would work is you’d queue for Support and would then select either Healer or Guardian; when you load into a match, depending on which you selected, half the roster would be greyed out like they are already.
The Healers would consist of:
- Ana
- Baptiste
- Iliari
- Kiriko
- Mercy
- Moira
The Guardians would consist of:
- Brigitte
- Lifeweaver
- Lucio
- Space Ranger*
- Symmetra
- Zenyatta
Healers would function as Supports tend to now. They’re the backbone of your team - They actively restore HP to allies and have some offensive and defensive utility where appropriate, and have offensive Support ults that either buff their allies or allow them to do their own jobs more effectively.
Guardians, however, are purely Utility oriented. Healing would be little to non-existent on these heroes. Guardians are there to effectively serve as a Backline Tank, providing protection from damage and offensive and defensive buffs to help reduce TTK and keep allies in the fight longer, but also having the benefit of being able to bail out and box with your Tank. If Tanks are about creating space, Guardians are about moving through that space, providing useful and powerful utilities to your front line whilst also having the ability to peel for the back line. To compensate for their low to no healing output, they’d have higher than average Support damage values and have defensive ultimates that provide either a truck load of healing or a big burst of protection, or ways to instantly provide constant and long lasting utilities to your team.
In terms of the Role Passive, Guardians would have the same Role Passive as the Supports as they are still part of the Support Role, so there’d be no need to give them something else.
I should also mention that every single Support Hero would be reworked to better fit their new roles. Mercy would have better ways of healing and more ways to heal, as an example, without losing her core identity. Even with just a single designated Healer on the team, the Healers and Guardians would be balanced in a way that they all work well together and have synergies with each other so your team isn’t losing out on the combined Support impact.