The 6v6 vs 5v5 debate has been happening in Overwatch 2’s neighborhood ever because the FPS modified format a few years in the past. The loud minority of the fanbase has been calling for Overwatch 2 to return to its 6v6 roots, a cry that was ignored for over a 12 months till the sport director Aaron Keller introduced that Blizzard could be trialing a restricted 6v6 mode, which has now been prolonged.
Most of the arguments about why Overwatch 2 ought to return to 6v6 and abandon 5v5 are crammed with nostalgia when, in actuality, each variations have advantages and points. The plus facet to 6v6 was that tanks had extra freedom, as one might maintain down the fort whereas the opposite flanked alongside DPS for kills. But the queue instances have been longer, fights typically felt like strolling by means of moist cement as a result of there have been extra enemies to kill, and gamers have been held hostage by metas like double protect, which weren’t enjoyable for anybody.
Even so, Blizzard determined to introduce a sequence of playtests exploring how 6v6 would work in Overwatch 2, a sport that has been designed round having 5 gamers on a staff and just one tank for nearly two years now.
I’ve performed a little bit of this 6v6 mode, and it is alright. It’s every to their very own with regards to 6v6, however I did not discover it notably enjoyable or inspiring. Instead, I simply had another participant to heal or kill—the staff fights have been slower, and pushes relied extra on ultimates than kills or flanks. The tanks additionally felt much less essential—with decrease HP and scaled-down skills, I felt extra like cannon fodder than the keystone of my staff.
But for individuals who do take pleasure in it or have not tried it out but, there’s just a little extra time on the clock for the 6v6 playtest. “We’re extending the 6v6 playtest resulting from continued participant curiosity and pleasure for the mode,” Aaron Keller says. “Starting tomorrow, the 6v6 card will transfer to the Arcade. It can be obtainable till midseason, then transition to a 6v6 Open Queue format – Min 1, Max 3.”
Min 1, Max 3 is the following model of 6v6 that Blizzard is testing in Overwatch and it does just about what it says on the tin. Instead of being restricted to 2 tanks, two DPS, and two helps, you may have extra freedom with regards to creating your staff. You can combine and match heroes so long as you’ve got a minimal of 1 hero in a single roll and a most of three in one other. This means you could possibly have three tanks, two DPS, and one assist, or 3 DPS, two helps, and one tank, no matter you and your staff assume is greatest.
It’s actually an fascinating premise however the identical gamers who’ve been calling for 6v6 to be added to Overwatch 2 do not appear very occupied with these short-term playtests. “Sick, however till it’s in aggressive, it is nonetheless not the total mode, for my part,” one participant says. Other gamers additionally appear satisfied that 6v6 must be added to aggressive play, however that is a monumental activity that sees Blizzard unravel all of the work made to steadiness and improve 5v5 over the previous couple of years.
Nostalgia could be good, however within the case of 6v6, many gamers who need Overwatch 2 to make a return to its previous format have not really performed the sport in years. They additionally do not essentially want 6v6 over 5v5 for any tangible motive—it is extra of a case of wanting issues to be like they have been. I perceive this, however having performed Overwatch since its launch, I believe returning to 6v6 would do extra hurt than good.
6v6 can also be a sluggish, extra muddled sport than the present 5v5 mode. Fights are extra frenzied, and particular person gamers have even much less impression on the result of the sport than they presently do. Instead of erasing the progress remodeled the previous couple of years in an effort to return to the great previous days, which regularly weren’t really pretty much as good as gamers bear in mind it being, Blizzard ought to work in the direction of shifting ahead and enhancing the sport at hand.
