The big Director’s Take blog that the Overwatch community has been waiting for is finally here. Aaron Keller wrote up quite the paper on how Overwatch has adapted since its original launch in 2016. From hero limits to role queue to, of course, the change to 5v5, there is a lot of information in this blog, and if you are interested in seeing how the development team approaches these issues, we highly recommend you read it. With that said, let’s focus on the 6v6 issue in Overwatch 2 and upcoming team comp tests.
Overwatch 2 will test 6v6 team comps, but not for a while
Overwatch 2 will begin the 6v6 team comp tests in some way in the future. While Keller said that the team’s main focus is still to make 5v5 the best experience possible, they will be introducing various events in the future to see how the community reacts. However, this will take quite a bit of time to prepare.
Since Overwatch 2 launched, many aspects of the game have changed from its original days. Keller explained that making sure all older platforms like Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One could still run the game fluently is a very important task for the team. Additionally, they need to make sure all of the quality-of-life changes the game has now would work perfectly in 6v6. Video game development is very hard and complicated. There are many ways moving Overwatch 2 back to 6v6 for the first time in years could negatively affect the experience.
Role changes may be incoming
The most interesting thing that stood out to us in the blog is the mention that there could be a future with a combination of 6v6 and 5v5, or maybe other changes that we’re not looking at. One big reason for the switch to 5v5 was that it drastically improved queue times for all roles because the game doesn’t need to find four people to play Tank, which is the most unpopular role in the game since 2016.
The way we look at role queues may be getting big changes in the future. Maybe that includes switching up the roles or changing how the heroes are organized within the game itself. A Hacked playtest looking at a situation like this is coming in Season 13, but we don’t know exactly what it is for yet. We wouldn’t mind seeing a hero ban test, though there’s no indication that that is one of the ideas they’re looking at.
Overall, we highly appreciate the latest Director’s Take blog. It’s great to get explanations for why the game has changed so much over the years and to hear a plan to improve the overall experience. The group of Overwatch 2 players that want 6v6 back now will probably be disappointed to hear it will be a while before we can see it in the game again, but this is a promise that we will hear more about it in the future.
