Tanks are fundamentally a problem in Overwatch

They are the hardest role to balance and it’s not even close.

Tanks have been Very Strong/OP basically their entire existent and I don’t think there is much arguing with that.

Dive, Goats/Brawl and Double Shield are also based around tanks.

Blizzard has been in a pickle because tanks have been OP for so long that tank players are so used to it that whenever they get nerfed which they usually deserve the tanks players become severely unhappy.

What can blizzard possibly do about tanks without people being unhappy.

No one is happy when tanks are OP besides tank mains ofc. But when tanks get a spot of balance tank mains become unhappy.

Basically like when they taste tons of blood they want more but when they get portioned they mald.

It also doesn’t help that tanks want them to be basically unkillable without get shoot at by both dps and the other tanks. Add that on top of some healing and then we get goats and double shield like sustain

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That’s why they are going with 5v5, maybe this will help with balancing/improving the tanking experience.

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Hence why, in Overwatch 2, they’re going with 1 tank per team in 5v5. Hence why they’re also dramatically cutting down barrier health and bulking up offensives for some heroes. If you’re going to have overpowered/borderline broken Tanks and you want to keep them, might as well make them more powerful but limit how many you can have on a team.

Historically, a number of players from as far back as beta knew and understood that Tanks were borderline broken and far more powerful than the rest of the roster and Blizzard seemed largely okay with this. But it’s evident now to Blizzard that Tanks are just too strong to balance in a game like this and it’s better to limit them.

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I just want Tanks to either be premiere CC units, or threat in close-quarters kill potential. The Tank role doesn’t really have a definitive trait in the role: Supports have healing in some form, Damage have hyper-mobility or burst damage, but Tanks have a scattered perception.

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But why is that “of course”?

With Role Limits, why is it important to protect against 3-4 Tanks on a team?

The way I see it, while sure DPS should be able to duel tanks.
Where as the negative downside of “OP Tanks” from objective capture potential perspective, is a minimal downside compared to abysmal queue times.

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They already have this.

Tanks are garbage. They’re not OP right now in all in fact there’s a lot of nerfing in CC and tank busting that needs to be done if we want the game to be in a healthy spot.

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No of them are garbage besides Hog in higher ranks and Orisa in lower ranks.

They just are no longer stupid OP and tank players don’t like that.

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Looks at Orisa who can’t even use Halt! without having it be directly on the hero

For better correction, Tanks should either have harder CC, or close-quarters kill potential.

Then again, I kind of want all heroes to play more into their initial fantasy. I think the game would feel better for it.

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We already have tanks with up close kill potential.

Brawl tanks aka Rein/Zarya/D.va. Also Hog can one shot up close

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They should make them feel better to play.

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Tanks is also one of the most tragic victim of OW’s own physics system.

Tanks are easier to hit than most thin hitbox heroes, and because projectile needs to have around same dps as hitscan on thin hitbox heroes, they do more damage to tanks and basically melts them.

So now we got projectile>tanks>hitscan>projectile vicious cycle.

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Could be better though, Reinhardt changes look promising (though lowering the movement penalty when shield is out would be nice), same goes for Zarya, D.Va’s a weird situation where she gets bursted or has to be on top of the hero to do major damage; I kind of want the Roadhog Hook->Shoot->Melee combo, as that was fun to pull off, and might lessen some of the discontent with the hero (the passive addition was nice though).

This is so true. It also doesn’t help that a decent portion of tank players don’t think they feel good to play unless the tank is very OP which is why we have had meta like Goats and Double Shield because tanks being busted and aoe heals.

Hopefully OW2 fixes this.

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I’d say for 5v5

  1. 50% resistance to all CC besides Charge/Hook/Grav/Flux/Trap
  2. 50% resistance to headshots
  3. Greatly weaken the AntiTank on McCree/Echo/Hanzo
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That’s just silly and you know it. Tanks are in a very weak state, not as much as late 2020 but it’s not that much better either.

FTH still has its goats buff, damage keeps creeping up and TTK down, CC still receiving buffs in 2021 even though it has increased to an obnoxious level already.

Nah they were garbage to play when they were OP too, as Orisa and Sigma were.

Blizz never actually did anything to address why tanks are garbage, power level can shift all they want, it doesn’t matter if the issues of excessive CC, lack of independence, lack of choice, poor feedback aren’t addressed.

Nerf burst damage, nerf CC and then things improve. It’s that simple. Tanks themselves don’t even need changes directly if Blizz has to balls to do what’s required.

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Guess what. The moment tanks weren’t absurdly OP is the time most streamers and players said this is the best meta ever since the early days.

Coincidence? I think not

McCree just needs a wider spread on Fan the Hammer, or less damage; Echo probably needs for Focusing Beam to be percentage based (25% maximum hp dealt as damage?); Hanzo’s Storm Arrows could have the same function as his normal arrows (pull back) but it’s a straightforward shot (no falloff) with piercing instead. Just some thoughts.

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Unless tanks all got thin hitboxes or movement accleration is added so they can finally make projectile consistent and therefore not need too much damage, it’s unlikely.

If a streamer said it must be true.

Fork the meta mate. Been through it all. Once again, Blizz has yet to do the first thing to make tanks better and if you doubt that go queue as DPS and see how much you wait for it.

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