Overwatch 2 tank mains fear one Season 13 change will ruin the role

Season 13 of Overwatch 2 is implementing a game-changing hero swap feature, but experts are concerned that it’ll ruin the tank role.

Counterswapping has been a huge issue in Overwatch 2, with players, primarily tanks, constantly switching heroes to get an advantage over their opponents.

In an effort to fight back against this problem, the devs announced a new change in Season 13 that will make it so that when a player changes heroes, their new selection won’t show up on the scoreboard for fifteen seconds.

As the developers explained: “This change adds more friction to counterswapping, especially in the extreme case where two players on opposite teams are both sitting in spawn with the scoreboard open and rapidly switch their heroes in response to each other’s choices.”

However, top-level players and analysts are not too fond of this update and fear it could make the flow of the game much worse or even hurt the ever-important tank role even more.

Top 500 tank main and streamer Flats was adamant that this change wouldn’t be effective at combating hero swaps, claiming it’s an “insane” decision.

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“Instead of fixing the counterswap issue, they just said ‘f**k it, you won’t know what they’re swapping to, so you can’t counterswap back.’ Holy sh*t. That is the most insane change I’ve seen in a long time. That is the biggest bandaid. It’s now gonna be a mind game.”

According to Flats, tank players are just going to end up playing a game of chicken when it comes to who they’re swapping to. This wasn’t the only issue the community had with this change.

“It’s going to feel so weird when the information provided to you via scoreboard doesn’t align with a new hero showing up in front of you,” former pro Reinforce said. “Hopefully this doesn’t reduce team fight quality too much with scoreboard not preparing you accordingly.”

This is such a unique change in S13, it's going to feel so weird when the information provided to you via scoreboard doesn't align with a new hero showing up in front of you.

Hopefully this doesn't reduce team fight quality too much with scoreboard not preparing you accordingly pic.twitter.com/6U9IctbVrd

— Jonathan Snowden (@Reinforce) October 14, 2024

OW2 pro Durpee also chimed in, noting that this change will be powerful for players who make a quick swap to Widowmaker: “Won’t know enemy went Widow until one of your teammates get headshot.”

Others felt that this change only aids counterswapping and doesn’t do anything to actually address the issue.

“Exceptionally funny that they straight up buffed counterswaping and claimed it’s a nerf,” another said.

“Doesn’t this just make counterswapping better as well LOL,” echoed someone else.

We’ll have to see how this new gameplay mechanic impacts Overwatch 2 when Season 13 goes live and if players’ fears are warranted, but, if it causes more harm than good, expect to see it modified a touch in a future update.