Overwatch 2 players claim 6v6 brought back the “magic” 5v5 took away

Overwatch 2 players are enjoying the new 6v6 playtest experiment, with many saying it has brought back the magic of OW1.

Overwatch 2 has finally started the highly requested 6v6 mode in a new Role Queue experiment with the launch of Season 14, allowing players to temporarily test out a standard 2/2/2 role format with many of Overwatch 2’s overall system changes. So far, reactions to the test have been largely positive.

The 6v6 test has only been active for a couple of days at the time of writing, but players are already calling the test superior to the current 5v5 format. 

People who never got to try Overwatch 1 have finally seen the “magic” of the original game, with many hoping this version of OW they’ve tried will stick around for good.

Players say 6v6 is how Overwatch was “meant to be played”

6v6 was the original format of the game, but it was changed to 5v5 for the sequel. This came with a ton of other balance adjustments and Tank reworks to try and make the game work in this structure with one tank.

According to Aaron Keller, the team moved to 5v5 with some key goals in mind, such as reduced crowd control and improved carry potential for Damage heroes.

Primarily, however, the team wanted to improve Tank gameplay and reduce the “ability to stack a very defense-heavy lineup” that often resulted from 6v6, allowing for more room to “take angles, flank, and duel other players.”

Players have sounded off on social media with positive praise for the experiment. Several posts across Reddit have highlighted how much better the game feels with a second tank.

“Picking Tank in 6v6 literally feels better for my mental health. You would think the extra chaos would add to the anxiety of it all, but it’s actually the opposite,” one player explained. “It hasn’t felt this good in years.”

Even outside of the Tank role, players in general are heaping praise onto the mode for going back to the way they feel Overwatch should have been all along.

“It just feels so much better than 5v5: broken characters feel less oppressive, there’s more action and less stress, and strategy and teamwork feel a lot more important. THIS was the way Overwatch was meant to be played,” another Redditor said.

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OG Overwatch players who have been with the game for almost a decade are even feeling some nostalgia for the game they originally fell in love with.

“As a player who played since beta I feel a tingle of the old magic back,” said one Overwatch OG.

The new playtest isn’t flawless, however. Some players have noted how there is a “[poor] understanding of a tank’s role” and that a lot of relearning is necessary for the reintroduction of 6v6. Others have noted how the Support role feels like it requires more of a healbotting playstyle, as healing an extra tank didn’t allow for “a ton of time to shoot the bad guys.” 

Still, the new experiment doesn’t seem to be just social media hype. Morgan Maddren, Server Engineer for Overwatch, revealed that queue times are also impressive for the game mode, with players only waiting about a minute or less for games.

The current Overwatch 2 6v6 experiment is only temporary and will run until January 7, 2025. This will be the first of two 6v6 playtests for Season 14, with the second running from January 21 until February 4, 2025.

The second playtest will allow players to have a maximum of up to three characters per role, but a minimum of one per role. It remains to be seen if players prefer that take on 6v6 to the one they’ve had a a taste of in this preliminary test.