God, I stopped playing Overwatch ages ago bc of the Skinner box principles, but I want to bitch about Overwatch's structure, the implications on Overwatch 2's design, and Blizzard's business practices. Under a cut because this is a lot.
TL,DR – 5v5 and 1 tank is such a mistake. In and of itself, it's not a problem. However, I feel it is highly indicative of Blizzard's approach to game balancing. It also showcases their disregard to addressing quality of life issues in their games, and a symptom-first method of problem solving that leaves issues unaddressed.
Buckle in, folks. And for full disclose: I'm a D.Va/Moira main. This will be important later.
My theory on why this came to be is because people just don't play Tank. Problem is, I strongly believe people don't play Tank because Blizzard did so much to make universal support (Tanks and Healers, not the classic Support class) unappealing and limited. Like, both self/team healing and shield is hilariously common among the Damage class. Moreover, mashing Damage and Support together into the Damage class 1. guaranteed it was the class with the most variety in play type, and 2. encourages everybody – including those best suited to defense – to go for hero plays. Torbjorn can be great for point capturing, but that's because he offers such mobile defense.
And that's exactly the problem! Public lobbies are miserable and teams dissolve so frequently primarily because character builds encourages vigilante play. Why stick close to your team when aggressive plays heal you, or you can throw down a heal whenever you need? Why be the suppression half of Damage when you can rack up kills instead?
Conversely, Healers:
Are limited in their support capabilities. Lucio can speed up or heal; Zenyatta has a single target debuff; Brigitte has a stun and some temp armor. Ana has maybe the most support abilities with both a sleep dart and heal block, but her healing isn't the best and her charge time is abyssmal.
Get weirdly encouraged by mechanics for aggressive plays. Moira and Brigitte both need enemies to be able to consistently heal. Half of Zenyatta and Ana abilities go unused without active targets. Hanging back is just a bad play, but teammates will try to dissuade, insult, or interrupt you from attacking.
Don't have robust healing. It doesn't feel great as a Healer to either be split giving subpar heals between the (increasingly dispersed) team, or functioning as a pocket medic for one player. Mercy offers the best sustained healing, but she's been nerfed to hell and lacks the speed/cooldown for real full map support. The vitriol she gains for letting anybody die is miserable. Being Mercy is not fun.
Possess awful DPS. If you want to dissuade Healers from being Attackers, great! But with the three above points, this just becomes a punishment.
Tanks are a little strange in Overwatch. They largely fill two rolls: shield & suppression, or distraction and DPS. They run into some similar issues as Healers, including:
No distinction between Tank types. Teams often fall apart because two people are vying to be DPS Tank. Meanwhile, two Protection Tanks can take a team dangerously close to camping. A Protection Orisa and Reinhardt on Numbani is miserable to counter if you're on the attack.
Poor support abilities. This runs into the same issue Healers have of not offering much outside of shields and annoyance to help your team. You can herd, and you can absorb attacks. That's about it.
Failing to showcase the heart of Overwatch's gameplay. Look, if you're a good tank, you're missing out on a lot of the action. You're mostly protecting the defense/maintaining the line, or doing map patrol and luring. In a game that prioritizes max dopamine output, you're doing the thankless, often disliked work. Nobody likes a D.Va or Roadhog taking POTG. Teammates don't like more players being prioritized over their one-man push. Unless you're a very specific kind of person, it's boring and unpopular.
Are built to give others aggressive plays. This is striking when compared to Healers having the opposite problem. Tanks in Overwatch can thrive in the middle of battle. There is not a lot of benefit to being there, though. Reinhardt is a master at line pushes – but the team needs to be rallying behind him for that to have a point. D.Va is a great bullet sponge and distraction – but depends on the rest of the team to coordinate a push into the ensuing chaos. In the all-for-one team play style Overwatch encourages, Tanks more immediately fall apart.
And when you take all these things in conjunction? You start to realize Overwatch itself is not meant for supportive play. It feels bad trying to be a good Healer or Tank. You're both inadvertently punished for your gameplay, and given a less robust toolkit at rip.
I like being a support player in games. I find cooperative play fun. I picked up Moira after struggling through healers from launch onwards because she, ironically, offers some of the best healing for Overwatch's meta. Chipping away at enemy health, having an invincibility sprint, and both a short and long range heal give a lot of flexibility to her character. D.Va, meanwhile, excels as a DPS Tank in Overwatch's structure. Great mobility, fast shielding, burst damage, and a low health form with a (once upon a time) deadly pistol can throw an enemy team into mayhem.
There's a few things in common between both of them. What it all comes down to is being Damage class-lite. Their strengths lie in working with the vigilante play style, and providing fast support to a cast full of an alarming amount of mobility. Both would either be the worst of their classes, outright pared down to Damage in any other game.
And that's a problem with Overwatch. The gameplay is not built to encourage support. The character builds don't incentivize strong teamwork, nor make filling different roles equally interesting. This not seeming to have changed in the slightest for Overwatch 2 is disappointing, to say the least.
Obviously, things are still in development. Things might change. I'm not holding out hope, nor do I really want this mass-scale reworking to happen for either Overwatch 1 or 2. Quite frankly? Blizzard's businesses practices just aren't conducive to thoughtfully designed, well-balanced games. The company itself cannot be trusted to make an attempt, either – especially if they've yet to do so despite their massive economical success.
Their treatment of employees is absolutely horrifying. There is no room for real player engagement outside of what drives sales. That's ultimately why support is not a robust option in Overwatch. It does not offer the same power fantasy or dopamine rush that being a lone wolf soldier does. Encouraging this chaotic play greatly increases the likelihood of failure and poor team cohesion, but it sure does secure all that fun Ulting and 2HKOs!
Expecting a solid creation from a business looking to exploit both employees and players? That's ignorance.
