Following the announcement of Chan-hung "Fissure" Baek's retirement from the Overwatch League, the star tank popped onto Twitch to stream, promptly confirming the rumored 2-2-2 role lock would be coming to the League in Stage Four.
The former main tank for the Seoul Dynasty seemed to throw caution out the window on his personal stream, surely breaking Overwatch League NDA. According to a translation provided by Reddit user cepirablo, Fissure said, “I’m retired now, so I’ll say it: Next stage, [Stage] 4, 2-2-2 lock is decided.”
Implementing a 2-2-2 lock would mean that every team would be required to have two tank heroes, two damage heroes, and two support heroes. Gone would be the days of three-three (aka GOATs). Gone would be the face-melting triple DPS comps. Gone would be outlier picks, with a true need to maximize each of the two selected for each role. Goodbye, forever, Symmetra and Torbjorn.
Most likely, this will herald the immediate return of Dive Comp. If you watched Season One of Overwatch League, you will recall it typically as Winston, D.Va, Tracer, Genji, Lucio, and Zenyatta (or sometimes Mercy). In this meta, it’s all about getting quick picks. Jump in, get a pick on a support or low hit-point target, and get out. With Winston’s Leap and D.Va’s boosters, not even high ground is safe.
While no confirmation has been issued from Blizzard regarding the lock or addressing Fissure’s statement, rumors of the 2-2-2 lock being implemented have been circling for quite some time now. Many even thought it would be dropped at the start of Stage Three to shut down the less-widely enjoyed spectator experience of GOATs. If it does arrive in Stage Four, however, we expect to see some major shifts within the standings, with teams that fared very well with GOATs—such as the Vancouver Titans—having to find new footing.
For those who entered the competitive Overwatch scene only recently with Overwatch League, you may be surprised to hear that when the game launched, there were no hero restrictions in competitive play. A team could have six Roadhogs if they wished, or three Tracers. The decision made by Blizzard to limit heroes obviously helped the game become more watchable and interesting. So perhaps a 2-2-2 lock will provide the same.
What do you think about the potential of a role lock in Overwatch League? Would you like to see it applied in the Ranked mode of Overwatch as well? Let us know in the comments below!
(Cover photo credit: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment)
