Many Overwatch professionals are worried about their jobs. Because Blizzard is cutting half of the necessary tanks – and thereby their jobs.
Yesterday, Blizzard announced that there would be some changes to the hero shooter with Overwatch 2. The old format of 6v6 is being eliminated. Instead, both teams will be reduced to 5 players. One of the two tanks will therefore no longer be needed. This poses existential fears for professional players. Because their job could simply be eliminated.
This is what happened: With a more accurate idea of the PvP, Overwatch has dropped quite a bombshell. Instead of 2 tanks, 2 DPS characters, and 2 supports, the game will now only feature 1-2-2 – meaning one less tank.
This may please some fans, as the game is expected to become more exciting, but it poses a significant threat to professional players who have tank positions in eSports teams: Half of their positions will become obsolete and most likely eliminated.
The tank Blake Scott is likely known to many Overwatch players. He plays under the name “Gator” for the Atlanta Reign team and is partly responsible for the popular (or notorious) GOATS meta. He expressed his dissatisfaction on Twitter and revealed:
Imagine investing 5 years to perfect your role… only for it to be deleted while knowing that your role doesn’t fit well with another. You are expected to give your all until the end of the season (:
Gator on Twitter
Thus, he addresses two major problems that tank professionals in the Overwatch League face. Because not only is the number of necessary tanks per team being halved. The role of the remaining tank players is also changing significantly.
Tanks are being drastically reworked: The developers have announced that tanks will no longer be an insurmountable wall in the future. Instead, tanks will be reworked to play much more aggressively and fulfill more hybrid functions. They are expected to lose some of their tanking abilities while simultaneously becoming more lethal.
This is exactly what Gator criticized as well. Anyone who has trained tirelessly for 5 years to protect their team from enemies as a tank and suddenly has to fulfill the role of a semi-DPS character must make a significant adjustment. A large part of the experience gained in the past is thus rendered obsolete. “Simply” learning a new role and also gaining access to a team that has not yet filled that role well seems nearly impossible.
It’s still unclear what changes will occur
What changes are those? Although not all changes are known yet, Blizzard has released some details. However, everything is still in development and should therefore be taken with caution:
- Reinhardt will have 2 charges of Fire Strike and his charge will be stronger.
- Winston can charge a shock attack with alternate fire that hits at long range.
- Mei’s primary fire no longer completely freezes opponents, but only slows them down and deals more damage in return.
When will the changes come? The adjustments will only go live with the release of Overwatch 2. Since Overwatch 2 is not a completely standalone game but uses the same player pool for PvP modes as Overwatch 1, this will also affect all players of Overwatch 1. There is no release date yet – fortunately for some professionals – so no one should expect the title before 2022.
What do you think about this change? Can you understand the discontent of the professionals? Or is it just part of games changing over time?
