During an Overwatch 2 PVP livestream today, Aaron Keller, the new Overwatch game director taking over for Blizzard veteran Jeff Kaplan, announced that teams in the PVP of Overwatch 2 will be reduced from six players per team to five.
Instead of a 2-2-2 format consisting of two Damage heroes, Two Support, and two Tanks, the team composition will now comprise of one Tank class, two Damage classes, and two Support classes. Keller said that the change will help clean up the combat and create a more fluid gameplay style.
"Overwatch has changed over time. We've gone from having no hero limits...to having a hero limit. We ended up introducing a role lock over the course of the game. We feel like this is the next step in the way Overwatch ought to be played," Keller said.
According to Blizzard, the change to 5v5 will update the game's classic roles. Starting with Overwatch 2, Tanks will change significantly and become more front-line brawlers than stationary shields, each role will get a passive role bonus that will complement each hero's unique ability.
Damage heroes will get a movement speed bonus; Support will have automatic self-healing; and Tanks will get knockback reduction and reduce ultimate charge gain when receiving damage from enemies.
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The livestream also revealed new gameplay footage from Overwatch 2. Blizzard has been tight-lipped about Overwatch 2's progress since it's announcement at Blizzcon 2019, but the developers have given us a glimpse about the game's progress.
In addition to the team composition update, Blizzard also revealed the new game mode called Push, which was first introduced at Blizzcon 2019. In the new game mode, two teams battle for control over a robot that will push special barricades depending on which team is controlling it. Each round lasts eight minutes long, and the team whose barricade has been pushed the furthest wins.
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