5v5 Rant as a tank enjoyer
Hey, little rant here, but I’m also genuinely curious if other people feel the same way or if I just never adapted to the new format, especially as an off-tank main.
For context, I’ve played Overwatch since day one. I’ve hit GM multiple times, but realistically I spent most of my time in high Masters. I’ve got 1.5k+ hours on PC alone, plus whatever I had on console during my first year of OW.
I pretty much dropped the game when OW2 released. I lost interest, and none of my friends liked the game. But with the recent update and the “2” finally gone, I started playing again. I love the new heroes, and within about 3 weeks of playing 6v6, I hit Masters again, which honestly feels like a huge accomplishment now that I’m an unc and not 18 grinding this game for 10 hours a day anymore.
Now that some of my friends are getting into the game, we’ve been playing 5v5 again, and as a tank main... man, it feels horrible.
Most off-tanks feel like throw picks, all the responsibility gets dumped onto one player, and I won’t even get started on the rock-paper-scissors counter swapping. If you play tank, you already know you’re not seeing D.Va's second perk unless Zarya is banned.
Meanwhile, DPS and supports will instantly type “tank diff” while running double healbot comps. My Moira + Mercy teammates can type it faster than the speed of light.
Tank just isn’t fun in 5v5, especially in lower elo where everyone one-tricks and if you even suggest swapping, they politely tell you to end your life.
The queue times say a lot too. I’ve seen 10+ minute DPS queues and 6+ minute support queues while tank is 1< ALWAYS.
And honestly? DPS and support feel easier in 5v5. Obviously there’s still skill involved, but the game feels dumbed down compared to 6v6. It’s like they think the playerbase couldn’t handle the concept of main tank/off-tank synergy anymore.
As DPS, you can almost turn your brain off and shoot whatever’s in front of you because there’s only one tank to stop you. Support is still really fun, but sometimes it feels way too forgiving. Fewer people to heal means more time dealing damage.
One of my latest games basically convinced me to stop queueing tank in 5v5 unless I’m with friends.
Ana, D.Va and Mauga were banned, so it was Hog time.
(Plat 2 - Dimond 2)
My team:
- Hog (me)
- Soldier
- Vendetta
- Moira
- Mercy
Enemy team:
- Hog
- Genji
- Bastion
- Juno
- Kiriko
We lost first point HARD. Everyone was negative and their supports literally didn’t die once.
Nobody was using comms, but I suggested maybe going Zen to help with Hog and pressure the flying Juno a bit more. Complete radio silence from the double healbots, but whatever.
Next round I swap Orisa to try countering Hog because doing the same thing over and over clearly wasn’t working.
First fight: team wipe.
Immediately Soldier types:
“tank just press W”
Alright man, let’s try it.
Next fight I hard engage as Orisa and actually manage to kill the Juno first for once, but we still lose the fight.
Before we even respawn, Moira types:
“ggs tank diff”
The enemy team didn’t even have 60% capture yet.
We lose the game badly. It happens. Suddenly everyone has a mic and my poor mother is getting insulted from beyond the grave.
At first I thought it was funny because hearing an entire lobby rage is peak Overwatch, but then I realized:
Why am I even playing this role in 5v5?
I can just play tank in 6v6 where it actually feels fun.
Since then I’ve only been queueing support. I might actually try for GM there this season. In one week I went from Gold 5 to D1 only playing Kiriko and Wuyang (super fun hero btw).
Sorry for the long rant, but I’m genuinely curious if the new format just isn’t for me, or if other people also think the game fundamentally worked better in 6v6 considering the entire roster was originally designed around it.
(Also please remove Flashpoint from the game. Thank you.)