Blizzard already proved you can rework existing tanks to not need a shield (Orisa). Just do the same for Sigma and shieldwatch would never be a thing again.
The removal of CC can already apply to all the DPS and supports in the game. Problematic characters like Doom can be a tank in 6 v 6 too.
Just get a good balance patch going and make it the main mode for a week.
B-b-but muh queue times!
Why don’t we just go back to the way we used to queue without roles but in the character selection screen not let people pick more than two tanks, healers, or dps? Allow players to trade roles whenever they are both in spawn if they want to. That way you instantly get matches and can swap roles with friends if things aren’t working out. MMR would have to use the old system again but it’s at least worth a shot for the casual playerbase.
What if people insta-lock dps and don’t work with the team???
Let people suggest a preferred role before queuing. If they manage to get that preferred role, give them 5/10 seconds of grace period to choose a character in that role if they want. If they don’t get a preferred role, prioritize them into getting that preferred role at the start of the next match.
B-b-but people throwing a tantrum when they trade roles and get rejected
Do your job and ban them. Stop letting toxicity be such an unnecessary design crutch at the cost of a good game.
Current public sentiment if OW2 isn’t overwhelmingly positive like OW1 was. We need to be honest with ourselves. Perhaps it’s not the current changes I’m proposing but there needs to be a drastic shift in design philosophy and hopefully these ideas give some inspiration.
18 Likes
This rigid assignment of roles should be reconsidered anyway. In a running game you should always have the possibility to switch to an empty seat. Example: The tank leaves the game, then it should be possible for a player with a different role to take the place.
4 Likes
They will not change it. It was a major point in the announcement of what changes. Shields were also not the only problem. Tank synergy is stronger than any other role synergy. It makes or breaks games and to balance them is a pain.
Also just because some forum people are mad that does not mean that 5v5 is bad. People joke about it but “well received” does not mean “mixed reception”.
I think you overestimate the people that love 6v6. 5v5 is also a lot better for NEW PLAYERS. The old players are not THAT important.
While I can’t control the bubble I expose myself to, the 6 v 6 suggestion is primarily feedback I’ve seen from other media and from people I know that have played the betas. 6 v 6 felt like the right amount of individual impact with just enough cushion to make up for mistakes, which to me feels like a better new player experience.
As for tank synergy you are correct it is the most effective but then I’d argue Zen + Baptiste isn’t far off either. Should supports be limited to just 1? Of course not. Current OW1 has a general good balance for tank synergy atm. It’s not such an impossible balancing feat that Blizzard makes it out to be where you’d need to amputate an arm just to manage it.
4 Likes
This would be a great idea and tons of players would love it considering that 5v5 is the most hated feature this playerbase has ever seen. Also when it comes to balancing: they already have the stats in the game with OW1 tank numbers. Just use those numbers and if there are new abilities that got introduced then just let them be the new iterations. It doesn’t have to be maximum finitely balanced either since it wouldn’t be the “mainmode” of the game anyways. Similarly; it’s not like Classic mode’s balancing is considered either, but it balances itself out when teams aren’t going into the matches to play modern GOATS
6 Likes
Ask anyone that bought the beta pass and it is the best thing to happen since Swiss chocolate 
Sorry, I am not gonna be to mean, sunken cost fallacy is a very real thing after all and I to have defended bad games coz I paid for them.
1 Like
We actually had this in QP for a short while. When role queue first landed, it was a Comp-only thing for a month or so and QP remained in the open format for that time - except there was a bug that meant the two tank/two DPS/two support role limits were in place.
The forums raged about how rubbish this felt and the bug was fixed fairly sharpish. I’m not convinced that OQ + role limits is a silver bullet. It may ultimately end up being the best solution of a bad bunch, but we have actually seen it before and frankly I’m willing to give 5v5 RQ a chance before we head back to that.
That’s neat, never knew about that. However I feel that with how we’ve had role queue out for so long the public sentiment is probably far different to this now. Plus it being an unintended bug and all doesn’t help.
The new heroes are going to be designed for a 5v5 environment.
It’s not just about one less tank, but the balance around every role to accommodate 5v5. Even the maps have been changed for it.
I speak for myself, but I love 5v5. I enjoy being the only tank. I don’t have to play around my second tank insta-locking Hog.
4 Likes
This is a huge problem I guess, the new heroes are created to a 5x5 environment but in general the others 32 don’t.
To be honest playing as single tank sometimes makes me feel sad cause there’s some mechanical movements missing, specially for me the bubble management with another tank in the frontline of the teamfight.
Not according to a poll of 42k players. Only 9k preferred 6v6.
Do you different data to offer?
1 Like
Tank synergy literally ran every meta in OW1. It’s not coming back.
1 Like
Because one of the primary benefits of RQ was that you would have 2/2/2 (soon 1/2/2) of people who were not only playing that role but also playing it AT the level of the game.
That is ignoring that yo even try 2/2/2 this far in would be a delay of months at minimum to the release date and we have waited long enough to have content again.
Go back to any overwatch update on these forums in the past and you’ll see just as much backlash. These forums just hate everything. People outside of here love 5v5.
4 Likes
Because nobody wants 6v6 except forumers and blizz isn’t going to cater to 1% of the community.
Because the game is balanced for 5v5.
Meanwhile, the majority of heroes and maps on the roster now are completely useless for the new game, and feel like crap to play, because they were all designed around what? 6v6. Terrible design and execution. Game is dead before it even has a chance. They should have taken what they already had and just improved upon it. Less shields, adjust damage, give some existing heroes new abilities to make them feel better to play, new maps, more than 1 new game mode. But instead they took a steaming hot crap all over what made Overwatch what it is, and turned it into an fps you have to be on crack to keep up with.
This was said before OW was even released. But here we are.
Because if they let us try it then they would actually have data that will prove that people prefer 6v6 over 5v5 and they will be embarrassed…