don’t get me wrong, I will always have the belief that the developers were extremely stupid in not leaving the 6v6 at least in the arcade mode (like assault maps). but I can’t help but notice that the 5v5 in a certain sense, “forces” more cohesion in the team compared to the 6v6. being less, it becomes even more vital not to isolate yourself too much from your teammates, and every death is a loss for the objective.
well, I sometimes think that many (I don’t say all, but many of them) complain about the 5v5… because the 6v6 hid their mistakes better in the team. there would have been more margin for error, because another tank was convenient to cover a bad aim, there was still time thanks to his presence, right?
so ok, the game is more frenetic, but it justifies you much less in the mistakes. if you make them… they are noticed. and i also think that THIS is the mistake that the developers are making today: the game has huge problems learning the heroes and their interactions. damn, have you noticed how many “mythbusters” it takes to understand which ability affects another as the heroes increase? quick play and bit mode are not enough, and excessive approximation in the description of the abilities is not good at all. a better growth path was needed for newbies precisely because mistakes today are even less “forgiven” than in the past with 6v6.
5v5 can work really well if everybody in a match is actually try harding and working together. The issue is that most people don’t actually want to try hard, and if even a single person on your team isn’t really trying then they will throw the match, intentionally or unintentionally.
6v6 gives some leeway to those people without giving them as much throwing power. Additionally, it also opens up all the heroes in general to try different play styles which is something that you can’t really do as much in 5v5 because every single player is vital to the team’s success.
I think there’s some truth to your point, but I think they’re genuinely are positives not only within the ability to make mistakes, but just because of the leeway that 6v6 provides to play in different ways.
and it’s fine that that’s exactly the best point of 6v6. but it should at least be recognized that it was, and not necessarily the arguments about “tank synergies”. depending on how you put that argument, both those who demonized and those who appreciated the tank duo typologies are right.
and consequently it helps a lot to understand both the DIFFERENT problems that 5v5 and 6v6 have (not necessarily one better than the other)… and to understand what the developers are doing wrong in imposing this new rhythm without experience management.
as I see it (but I could be wrong)… the formation is the worst defect of 5v5. it’s a perfect system for a tournament context in which there is a better idea of coordination (and in reality, only for them this simplification is a good point to manage the combos), but it discourages a lot the first home approach, and you feel weighed down by the responsibility of every death of a hero.
I’m fine with re-establishing the preference for 6v6 for those who want it… but it can’t be the basic goal that makes us say “overwatch is safe”: 5v5 is a good tournament formula but it has never adopted a way to make gamers grow in teamplay knowledge. how could they? a clan system has never been tested, and hero masteries are extremely out of the concept of “hero knowledge”.
They traded the extra player for better fidelity and new passive mechanics like the sound system that changes how your shot sounds in different locations or when you shoot different health types.
I think “mistakes” is part of it, but it’s also just too much slack to carry when every CC in the game targets the tank at once and you can be hard countered by the other tank.
For me it’s not about skill issues, it’s just not fun to play currently and so many of the problems come down to the way having one tank changes the game. Massive healing outputs to keep the tanks alive, massive damage output to compensate for the massive healing output. Tanks either are the only thing that matters in the match or are irrelevant. It’s not fun.
But since we are talking about skill issues too, there’s a bigger problem in that given there’s only one tank on each team, if one tank is simply a better tank then there is absolutely nothing the other team can do to compensate for that. you can’t swap who your tank is, you can’t compensate with an off tank, you can’t play characters you enjoy because you must play whatever gives you your best chance against the other tank’s pick.
No one’s having fun in these games anymore, I know plenty of people who WANT to enjoy it, but none of them are playing because they’re not enjoying the matches.
I don’t think just bringing back 6v6 will fix it, I think it needs to also come with a pretty big change in philosophy on what the roles are for and how they should operate.
One could argue the ability to have another Tank as a buffer for when mistakes are made by the other Tank is part of that Tank Synergy as well. As OW1 loading screens hints used to say “Team composition matters!”
No, quite the opposite actually. In 6v6 you were far more likely to get ganged up on if you were isolated. Not to mention, that if you weren’t working with your team, you wouldn’t be able to breach the enemy team’s defenses.
I just miss the version of Overwatch that I played for 5/6 years and fell in love with.
I never wanted 5v5 and was vehemently against the switch. OW had its issues, but it was shaping up to have such a unique identity…and then they killed it before that identity could be solidified.
I cannot speak for everyone else, but I can speak for myself here: I am not a good player. I make mistakes, sometimes my strategies fail. These things happen.
But I do not need the game’s format to hide that. When I load into a match and select Reaper I’ll try my best, and that is good enough. If it fails, there is always room to improve, learn and try again.
However, this is a game and it should be fun. I am an avid supporter of 6v6 because I believe my experience with that format (and with OW1 in general) was, and I cannot stress this enough, VASTLY superior to everything I’ve experienced with OW2.
Tanks just had more presence in 6v6. So if a dps or support makes a mistake, the tank role more often would save them from death than in 5v5. But that also requires the tanks to be playing well… so it’s really just tanks having more opportunities to give their team value. I’m not sure why anyone would think that’s a negative thing at all. It’s better for everyone.
Tank mistakes in 6v6 were also more punishable.
You also should consider the most casual element in overwatch doubled in strength in transition from OW1 to OW2. Countering. Countering is now more impactful than your skill. It makes the game very casual and feels unrewarding for skilled players, especially those who main a hero who’s easily countered like ball.
Despite you acting like you uncovered some big secret here, that’s an argument many people have brought up explicitly. 6v6 has fewer stomps because mistakes are spread across more people, so each mistake matters less which ultimately reduces frustration.
Again, this is an explicit argument for 6v6 and has been all this time.
