Overwatch 2 devs agree too much pressure is put on Tanks & are testing solutions

In an interview hosted by Overwatch 2 streamers Flats and svb, Lead Gameplay Designer Alec Dawson revealed that counter-swapping is something the team is looking to nerf in an effort to make Tank more enjoyable.

The rock, paper, scissors approach of Tank counter-swapping has been a hot button issue in the Overwatch 2 community, with 6v6 being posed as the solution for this problem by the community.

However, as was outlined by Aaron Keller, queue times would drastically increased because of how few players are willing to play Tank, which is a huge part of the reason why the team is so hesitant to make the change.

So, Alec Dawson revealed that the dev team have been testing some alternate solutions internally to try and crack down on swapping in 5v5, but that the issue isn’t an easy one to solve.

“It’s not just that the Tank is swapping for you, the DPS is swapping for you,” Dawson explained. “That part can definitely be frustrating, I think that there are ways we want to look at alleviating that. We want to look at some of those hard counter still and try to make those a little bit softer.”

Dawson claimed that keeping hero swapping alive is a priority for them, and that, though counter-swapping is a problem, they’d never want to lock people into playing one hero for the whole game.

“We’ve tried some things internally. We’ve looked at limited swaps, we looked at maybe having to earn your swaps, we’ve definitely gone through some experiments and we’re still chatting about it right now. It’s kind of crept its way up the list of things that are top-of-mind for the team and things we’re looking at,” he claimed in the on-stream interview.

“We understand it’s a frustrating experience.”

Overwatch 2 devs admit Tanks may be under too much pressure

Flats pushed back on Dawson, claiming that there may not be a solution within the current format, and that the pressure of the Tank role being put solely on one person is too much for the average player to handle.

“I think it’s genuinely hit the point where it’s unhealthy,” Flats claimed. “Not even high level players, the average player legitimately can’t handle how much pressure is put on them by higher ranks.”

The veteran OW streamer and Tank main explained how the role is expected to do everything, even admitting that he overreacted to the controversial Tank buffs and that those playing the role are expected to 1v9: “That pressure is so immense that I don’t even know if it’s sustainable.”

Dawson, without much protest, agreed that teams expect too much of their Tank players.

“It’s something we talk about a lot. Are there ways we can better educate the player base as a whole? Like, they have a role too in the way the team is composed, right? Your support players can also switch, they can also play different positions. But I think you’re correct, Flats. The team expects their tank to kind of do everything.”

The social stigma around Tank and its importance to the team isn’t something that’ll get changed by a few balance changes, but Dawson and the team are working on long-term solutions to try and make Tank more enjoyable and less make-or-break when it comes to winning matches.

After all, queue times wouldn’t be a problem if more people wanted to play the role.