Overwatch League’s latest big change is great for viewers

Picture this: FIFA decides to bring in a rule that changes how every team, from World Cup squads to US Youth Soccer National League orgs, plays. They’re forced to field two strikers, four midfielders and four defenders at all times, even though many top teams prefer to have more midfielders supporting one main attacker.

But the demands of an evolving game and a widespread desire for change helped bring about the formal demise of GOATS. Blizzard says the role-lock system had been in the works for over a year and that killing GOATS wasn’t the main goal. “We’re in the middle of [a big shift] anyway that’s happening very naturally through hero balance,” Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan said in a video announcing the move “We don’t believe that a rule like this is intended to target any one specific [strategy].” Regardless, even if GOATS wasn’t the direct target, role lock has eliminated it for good.

Tanks and support heroes are extremely important to a balanced team. But more damage dealers means there’s more scope for flashier plays. DPS players who’d largely been forced to ride the bench or take on an unfamiliar role for much of the season were able to start playing heroes more suited to their skills, which inevitably made matches more exciting.

Blizzard brought in the 2-2-2 change for Overwatch League stage four at the end of July and players on public servers at around the same time. It’s not entirely a positive move, because it means we’ll lose some of the wilder strategies, such as London Spitfire opting for a quad-DPS crew or Vancouver Titans tank player Sangbeom “Bumper” Park switching to archery master Hanzo. There’s also the chance that we’ll see teams rely on the same lineups, but for now, at least, there’s a lot of diversity in hero selection, particularly on the DPS front.

In stage four, fans saw a lot more use of snipers, dual-shotgun wielder Reaper, cybernetic ninja Genji and high-flyer Pharah. In particular, OWL teams used Mei much more than in the past, when she was often selected to stall on an objective. Her icy, crowd-control abilities pair well with those of Orisa and Roadhog’s to quickly eliminate an opponent — or counter a similar combination from opponents. With a wider array of characters making it into OWL matches, fans are getting to see a broader variety of playstyles. That kind of flexibility and diversity in strategies is supposed to be a core part of the game.

We also saw OWL damage dealers switch heroes a little more often to counter an enemy. Let’s take a quick look at a match from the final weekend of this year’s regular season. Once Atlanta Reign got a glimpse of Dallas Fuel’s defensive setup on King’s Row, Andrej “Babybay” Francisty swapped from Reaper to Symmetra.

While long considered a sub-optimal character among pros (she was the only hero not used at all last season), she was enormously effective here. The damage output of her Photon Projector beam ramps up the longer it’s focused on an enemy target. With the Fuel clustered so close together, Babybay and his teammates ripped through the opposing Mei Ice Wall, Orisa shield and the Dallas team to capture the first point in no time. The broadcast team also suggested Symmetra will be featured more in the next dominant playstyle (or “meta”), which seems likely to be oriented around shields.

The Fuel’s Dylan “aKm” Bignet then switched from Reaper to Pharah, who can easily dodge Symmetra’s beam and slow projectile attack with her jetpack. In response, Babybay switched to McCree and shot aKm out of the sky with the cowboy’s revolver. Both switched a couple more times to try and gain the advantage.

That’s classic Overwatch, which hadn’t been on display in OWL too much this year prior to stage four. With Babybay and aKm’s deep knowledge of the game, ability to play so many heroes at a high level and knowing exactly when to switch, it made for an enjoyable one-on-one duel.

The re-emergence of damage heroes is good for fans for another reason. The Command Center spectator option on Twitch had plenty of teething problems at the beginning of the season, though it proved to be an effective way to switch between pros’ perspectives and help fans see more of the big plays. A replay system on PC goes even further, allowing devotees to observe matches from any angle and in slow motion. That’s especially useful for kills that happen in a flash.

Big upsets, like those we’ve seen in recent weeks, have added some excitement to matches too. Washington Justice went 2-19 through the first three stages as they endured a torrid time in the GOATS meta. When star DPS player Corey Nigra (who simply goes by Corey) was freed from playing Zarya with the role-lock switch, that all changed. With the help of his incredible accuracy on snipers Hanzo and Widowmaker, the Justice had a 6-1 record in stage four. That included a stunning 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Titans, one of the league’s two best teams this year.

Florida Mayhem had an equally bad record until stage four, then they went 4-3, including a win over the Spitfire, last season’s Overwatch League champions. The Reign thrived too, with a 7-0 record in stage four.

On the flip side, the New York Excelsior struggled to adapt. Some consider NYXL the best team overall throughout the league’s two seasons and they’re this year’s Atlantic Division champions — but they suffered a pair of 4-0 losses, their first ever, as they went 3-4 in stage four.

The fan-favorite Shanghai Dragons also floundered after their fairy-tale rise from an 0-40 season in 2018 to win the stage three title, beating the league’s three strongest squads one after the other in the stage playoffs. They squeaked into the postseason after a dismal 1-6 stage four, and might struggle to make much of an impact there.

However, OWL airs on other streaming and TV networks — including Disney XD, ESPN and ABC — so Twitch figures don’t reflect overall viewer numbers. In fact, fans in China (which now has four OWL teams, up from one in 2018), watch matches via other means and accounted for much of the league’s viewership last year.

Meanwhile, the meta could be about to change yet again as the postseason gets underway. There’ll be a new element in play as the latest addition to the hero lineup, gravity-defying tank Sigma, will be available in Overwatch League, bringing his projectile barrier and gravity-defying abilities into the mix. It seems likely OWL teams will frequently pair Sigma with Orisa to run double-shield compositions — which is why heroes good at busting through shields, like Symmetra, might come into play.

Blizzard has tweaked the effectiveness of other heroes too. with major changes for Brigitte that make her less self-sustaining and more of a primary healer. Pros didn’t use her much during stage four — her changes hadn’t hit the OWL version of the game yet, but they will for the postseason. As a more effective support, she might actually return to the fore.

Ultimately, Overwatch League is in a somewhat healthier place than it was just a few weeks ago. The matches are generally more exciting and through stage four, there was a real sense any team (at least those not named Dallas Fuel or Boston Uprising) could beat any other squad. That increased competitiveness bodes well for the league going into the playoffs, though it remains to be seen whether the arrival of Sigma and a different meta will ensure matches stay exciting for viewers.

Outside of OWL, the role-lock move is unquestionably a positive for all Overwatch players, as it resolves one overarching complaint about what’s supposed to be a team-based game. With fewer restrictions, many players chose whichever heroes they wanted to play regardless of how their abilities worked in concert with teammates. That meant you’d often see teams with too many DPS players to be balanced, and less-selfish players who’d rather play in that role often resigning themselves to a support or tank position.

Because you get to determine your role in advance now, and there’s a fixed two heroes from each class, that should reduce some of the game’s toxic aspects. Teammates won’t be able to pressure each other to switch roles to something they aren’t comfortable with, and there should be a stronger focus on teamwork.

Role lock certainly doesn’t fix all of the issues players have with Overwatch, including imbalanced characters. Over the last year, Blizzard reduced the effectiveness (or “nerfed”) some heroes who were key components of GOATS, such as Lúcio with his Speed Boost, and boosting the strength of others like Reaper and Mei. Perhaps as the 2-2-2 landscape takes shape, Blizzard will re-balance those heroes.

Overwatch and Overwatch League aren’t the only competitive game and eSport that struggle to find a balance that suits most. Fortnite‘s hated mechs had a huge bearing on a $400,000 tournament for Twitch streamers, in which some quit in anger after feeling the wrath of the hard-to-kill machines (developer Epic Games weakened the mech soon after). Still, Blizzard’s role-lock decision should go a long way towards resolving concerns about Overwatch and, thankfully for viewers, help make OWL much more fun to kick back and watch.

Images: Robert Paul / Blizzard Entertainment (1,3); Stewart Volland / Blizzard Entertainment (2)