Overwatch 2 is opting to reduce its team sizes from six to five, casting aside the traditional six hero composition used in the original game, according to the lead designer for the title, Geoff Goodman.
The announcement comes via a 2-hour live stream event on YouTube, where Goodman, associate art director Dion Rogers and game director Aaron Keller discussed the PvP aspects of the game while showing off live gameplay of the upcoming competitive first-person shooter. "Overwatch has always been played with two teams of six players," states Keller. "Overwatch 2 will be played with two teams of five players, consisting of two support, two DPS, and one tank." Keller went on to suggest that the game has changed constantly over time, referring to the original state of Overwatch where players could choose the same hero as others on their team to the implementation a role lock to prevent teams in Quickplay and Competitive from having anything but an even split among the character classes.
"We feel like this is the next step in the way that Overwatch ought to be played," continues Keller. "Sometimes it's just hard to track what 11 other players are doing on the battlefield. Removing two of those simplifies everything -- it allows players to understand everything that's happening around them, and to be able to make better choices because of it."
Keller goes on to explain that while the reduction in team size may be restrictive for tank players, the tank role, in general, can be "problematic," suggesting that the disruptive abilities of tanks can be very "oppressive" to the opposition. With one less player on each team, players will be able to take on more impactful roles in their games.
However, the decision to reduce team size was not met without criticism. While some comments on the video's live discussion on Reddit echo a sense of hope that a singular tank may benefit the Overwatch meta in the long run, others cited being concerned about the radical changes in playstyle that may come about with less defensive, high HP heroes. A majority of commenters discussed conflicting feelings about the change but remained hopeful nonetheless.
With the upcoming changes in PvP as well as the inclusion of a dedicated PvE mode, Overwatch 2 continues to prove itself as a radically different sequel to the hugely successful 2016 shooter. The game, which was originally announced at Blizzcon in 2019, is still in development and isn't likely to release anytime soon, according to a developer statement back in February. As more details are released, the game continues to become something unlike fans have seen thus far.
Source: YouTube