After rumors of a potential role lock overshadowed the final few weeks of Stage 3, Blizzard Entertainment officially announced on July 18 that a two-tank, two-DPS and two-support hero lock would be in place for the remainder of the Overwatch League.
Now, each team must run two of each type of hero in its lineup at all times. Players can change roles, but this must be done in between maps, similar to substituting players in and out of a starting lineup.
It's a dramatic change that is significantly greater than a new hero introduction or any type of hero balancing, and erases not only the possibility of a triple-tank, triple-support (GOATS) composition, but also quirkier offerings such as putting four DPS or tanks on the field.
Yet unlike major, game-breaking updates that have earned the ire of staff and pros in other competitive esports games, Overwatch pros have ranged from accepting to enthused, particularly the DPS players who have spent the majority of their 2019 season on heroes such as Zarya or Brigitte.
One of the loudest proponents of the change was Los Angeles Gladiators DPS player Lane "Surefour" Roberts, who said he enjoyed the stability the role lock brought to predicting compositions.
"There's always going to be DPS, there's always going to be tanks, there's always going to be supports, and no one can pull a one-comp-fits-all kind of thing," Surefour said. "It kind of reminds me of old Overwatch with no hero limits where the DPS would just have a lot of opportunities to outplay the other DPS. I'm a player that's really good at finding angles and finding times to flank and get kills or take one-on-ones because I'm confident I can kill them. I think you can really do that a lot more in 2-2-2."
The role lock brought players to the stage at Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California, who hadn't seen much time through the first three portions of the season. That included Vancouver Titans DPS player Kim "Haksal" Hyo-jong, who shined as his signature DPS hero in a 3-1 victory against the Shanghai Dragons.
"In three-three composition, it's really hard to play Genji," Haksal said. "I like the current meta, and I'm going to practice other DPS heroes so I can show them onstage."
Haksal was one of the standouts during the debut Thursday of the role lock in the league, with the Gladiators and Titans emerging as the two most confident teams on the day. The Titans ran an Orisa/Roadhog/Mei combination seen by many teams to beat the Stage 3 champion Dragons but also defaulted to a dive option around Haksal's Genji.
"On Junkertown, Genji is actually really good. He's good at dealing with an enemy sniper," Haksal said. "And also because we have one of the best Genjis, that's why we used that comp."
Mobile heroes such as Genji and Tracer were a big part of the meta in the early portion of Season 1 of the Overwatch League, when teams relied on their ability to hit backline supports and also threw Winston into the mix to catch those support players out of position. That style of play became less viable against triple-tank, triple-support lineups but might make a comeback this stage.
"I think dive is still around and definitely still playable," Paris Eternal main support Harrison "Kruise" Pond said. "Teams just have to figure out how and where to run it."
Kruise and the Eternal found success in the Orisa/Roadhog/Mei combination, using it and Terence "SoOn" Tarlier's Widowmaker to beat the Houston Outlaws.
"I'm going to be honest with you, we're just kind of experimenting right now, seeing what fits best," Kruise said. "It's almost impossible to predict the best meta in the beginning of the season, so it's a lot of just testing things out, and this is what felt good in the moment."
The Mei addition is another interesting wrinkle to the start of Stage 4. Her crowd-control abilities defined teamfights throughout the day, and the ice-loving hero saw nearly as much playtime Thursday as she did during the first three stages of the Overwatch League.
"I think that will be the default comp for the most part," Guangzhou Charge DPS player Charlie "nero" Zwarg said of the Orisa/Roadhog/Mei's popularity in Week 1. "Maybe dive, what you saw them run with the [Wrecking Ball], D.Va, Tracer, Sombra, I think that can be second-best. We just didn't play well, I think that's why we lost to it. Because Mei is definitely better than that comp."
While teams continue to play each other this week in scrims and onstage, trying to figure out the best composition, Surefour said he thought the true strength of 2-2-2 is in how deceptively flexible the role lock allowed teams to be.
"The cool thing about 2-2-2 is that you don't have to force a meta," Surefour said. "Say a team is really good at double sniper but the other team has a really good Genji, and they play around their Genji a lot. A lot of teams are running Mercy/Baptiste or Ana/Mercy, and Genji blade is really good against that because they have no defensive ults to stop it, so 2-2-2 allows for a lot of teams to find their own style.
"There's not going to be one clear meta that fits everything. As long as team is confident in their comp, I feel like they can run it."