The tank stands alone
We got a big glimpse of Blizzard’s plans for Overwatch 2 in terms of its competitive multiplayer today, including one big change: smaller teams. Rather than 6v6, Overwatch 2 will go to five-on-five for PvP matches.
During today’s stream, Blizzard confirmed that the tank role would be bumped down to one spot per team. Where teams in current Overwatch—at least in role-defined queues—are two tanks, two DPS, and two supports, now there will be one tank apiece.
The team says they experimented with a few different ideas for changes, and it seems like the reduction of tanks is intended to make battles a little easier to read, for both players and spectators. It will also help with supports not having to split their attention between two tanks.
A few hero kit changes were shown off, too; Winston, for example, now has an alt-fire that lets him charge up a longer-range blast, rather than just having his electric shock, and Mei’s regular Endothermic Blaster attack no longer freezes people. Things are still in flux, but game director Aaron Keller referenced a change the team is considering around movement speed as an example for how deeply Blizzard is examining the PvP in Overwatch 2, to consider what could be altered or changed.
Overwatch 2 is still a ways off, as Activision Blizzard confirmed earlier this year it would be skipping 2021. Still, it seems like some big changes are coming for both the single-player and multiplayer Overwatch experience.