Overwatch Confirms Role Lock For Public and Overwatch League
Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
In a blog post and video, Overwatch game director, Jeff Kaplan, confirmed that the 2-2-2 role lock is officially coming to Overwatch. The change will lock team compositions to two of each role in the game (Tank, Healer & Support) and will apply to both the public and Stage 4 of the Overwatch League.
The move comes at a time when the games’ community has been clamoring for major changes to be made to the game in response to a stale meta. The change already had been alluded to by former Seoul Dynasty player, Baek “Fissure” Chan-hyung, on his final stream as a OWL player. The shift looks to cut down on toxicity in the game as well as encourage players to learn all three roles.
In the developer update video, Kaplan says the changes will do more than just implement Role Lock. Its an entire overhaul of Overwatch’s competitive mode. Your ranking will now be split by role. Meaning you could easily be a Bronze-level Support player, but a Gold-level Tank. Instead of the usual ten placement matches, players will now have the option of doing five placements per role. Players would receive cosmetic bonuses for completing their placements on all roles and will earn more competitive points for the more roles they play. Kaplan also said that there would be a “bonus” for players who queue as in-need roles to cut down on wait times.
Because of the massive nature of the update, the game will host a beta competitive season with Role Lock implemented on August 13th through September 1st. For those who are still on the fence about Role Lock, Kaplan says that there will be a “Quick Play Classic” mode for those who want to experience the game as it is today.
Role Queue is currently available to play on the Public Test Region server now.
Related Stories:
Fissure Retires From The Overwatch League
Reports Say Overwatch To Institute A Role Lock For Stage 4
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