The Long Game
Progress reports on the games we just can’t quit, featuring a now firmly locked down Overwatch
There comes a time in every living game’s life when it gets too big for its roots. Now it seems it’s Overwatch’s turn. The days of being able to switch freely between any of the heroes on the roster are over: a ‘role lock’ system is now in place. Before starting a match, you queue for the role you’d like to play in it – DPS, tank or support, with higher reward incentives for the latter two – and are restricted to heroes in that role for the duration.
The change comes as a response to the stagnation of the Overwatch League. The ‘Goats’ meta (three tanks and three healers) ran rampant in the esports scene for many months, and none of the new heroes were challenging it effectively. It got boring – worse, it had trickled down to the casual scene, leading to toxicity towards those who weren’t picking ‘optimal’ teams. A solution was needed. And so Blizzard hit the nuclear button, role queue was introduced midtournament, and Goats was officially dead.
Casual Overwatch’s two main modes, Quick Play and Competitive, now guarantee a balanced 2-2-2 structure, and restrict you from swapping roles mid-match. The majority of players are delighted, and we understand why. One’s chances of being screamed at for picking a DPS character when “we need another tank” have been eliminated, with a resultant uptick in the amount of people willing to enter voice chat to talk tactics. With the baseline of a balanced team, much of the uncertainty, friction and spittle-flecked ire that comes of a constantly shifting team structure has disappeared.
And yet, for us and our fellow killjoys, role queue is a heartbreaking inclusion that rails against the original intent of Overwatch. Its defining mechanic was allowing the player to switch heroes and roles mid-match to counter opponents’ picks and pull off bonkers strategies – it was designed around it. But there is no more Zarya switching to Tracer in the last minute of a match to quickly back-cap an objective, nor a Zenyatta becoming a Sombra in order to keep contributing to team healing while hacking the enemy Reinhardt’s shield – in casual play, or in esports tournaments, where thrilling creative plays could turn the tide of a match. And woe betide you if anyone decides you’re not doing your job properly, or your DPS decides to troll and you can’t switch to make up the shortfall.
The game’s flexibility has paid the price, so that Overwatch may toe the same line that League Of Legends once did: balanced, fair, predictable. The short-term benefits are clear, and gratefully received – but we can’t help but feel it’s another step closer to making Overwatch like every other firstperson shooter, and eroding its core magic in the long run.