They should ban character double picking

To me the worst part about Overwatch right now (at least on PS4) is that every single game sports 2-5 (yes, fucking 5!) people playing the same character on the same team.

I just played three quick games. First game had 4 Tracers, second game had 5(!) Meis and third game had 3 Soldier 76s. There's so many damn characters, why can't everyone pick someone different?

All this shit leads to, is either a total loss (or win if the other team is really bad) or the other team counter-picking and thus ending up with 2-5 of the same characters also.

That's just dumb and terrible. Blizzard should just disallow picking the same character (or at the very least not allow more than 2 of the same character on the same team) or give those kinds of players another playlist akin to Hearthstone's formats or something.

The way things are right now, I just immediately quit out of at least 50% of games again, after seeing 3+ of the same hero in my team.

Anyone else think this needs to get changed too or are there people actually on board with this nonsense?

edit: After reading some responses another question: If you don't agree with me, do you really not even want them to reduce multiple pickings to no more than two of the same character? I don't see what's fun about playing with a team of 5 Meis. (God, I hated that game.)

Perhaps they should try to give incentives to play as other classes?

Telling a player they can't do something should be an absolute last resort for preventing a player from doing something. If they implemented something like you're suggesting, you'd have several threads popping up everywhere saying something along the lines of "I paid $60 for this game and can't play the class I want to because someone else has already picked it!" It's a pretty good way to watch your player count drop dramatically.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 had some limits on how many people could play as certain classes and it always pissed me off when I couldn't play as my preferred class. Most of the time I would just go with someone else until the class I wanted became available, but there were quite a few times where I just turned the game off and played something else.

Well honestly it's the biggest flaw in the games design, you have a team based game but all characters are different and unique which leads to people having favorites. Sometimes when i was in the beta i would pick a character that somebody else had just because i was tired of playing other characters or having to be the healer. If anything they should ad a mode for that where you have to pick a certain class and no dupes, or add a team deathmatch(unless there is one in the full game?). But if you force people not to dupes then a lot of people may stop playign the game as if they don't hit x fast enough they never get to play as the character they want. Only way i see around it is get a group of friends and play together

TF2 has had years of people requesting a limit on class choices, to stop say 8 people playing sniper.

But it's never going to happen because these games are so casual and easy going, it would just be too limiting. It goes against the fun and breezy nature of Overwatch to stop people playing as their favourite character just because someone else is.

Maybe in a future competitive mode they will do it.

Yeh. Picking the same character and swapping whenever you want is part of why i dont enjoy that game. Every moba out there has different play queues for different play modes exactly like this so i dont see anything stopping Blizzard. The ones where everyone can pick whatever they want is always the least popular queues...

@justin258: That's why I suggested that they just create different playlists or something of the like, even though I'm not generally of the opinion that the devs shouldn't be allowed to drastically change the game in a competitive online game (especially in one going the E-Sports angle, and this one will) if it would drastically improve the game just because it would piss of some percentage of players.

The only other way I see would be to implement dailies (play 5 matches as x and so on), but that would lead to different problems.

I agree but I think it's better suited for a ranked mode, which I believe they are looking to add

Outside of actual MOBAs are there any class based shooters that stop you picking a class because someone else already did?

To the best of my knowledge, TF2 doesn't do it and neither do any of the recent Battlefield games.

Maybe later on in ranked? Definitely not in quick play.

@ssully: Wasn't aware of that, but if that's going to be the case, that would be great.

@jesus_phish Yes, TF2 had the same problem, BF honestly doesn't because with that games player count it doesn't matter much (also the classes aren't as different in that game anyway).

Glad to see I'm not the only one. I don't mind the same character on different teams, but a more MOBA-style system of character picks and bans would add a whole new level to the game. I hope they implement something like that as a game mode.

@sessh: The thing is though if you start saying "no you can't play" people will get annoyed. They'll quit the game either to find another match or they'll just get fed up that every match they join already has someone on the team being their character.

I'd put it down to growing pains right now, but really 5 people playing the same character should get rolled over unless that character is inherently broken.

Different playlists might help.

Perhaps tie unlocks and achievements to certain classes? Or give fewer unlocks the more you play as a certain class? Or give more unlocks to people who are playing classes that no one else is playing? I'm trying to think of a way to positively reinforce playing as different classes and it's not really working.

Note that I haven't played Overwatch so I don't really know if any of these are there in any measure. I have played some TF2 recently and that game doesn't seem to have this problem these days.

I just don't think it would be a significant amount of people dropping out, so it really shouldn't be an issue for Blizzard, but okay, I see your point though.

Also, yeah, no shit. Just guess how well that match with 5 Meis went. (Note: Not one of those idiots ever switched to another character.)

@justin258 Unlocks are solely based on what you get from loot boxes and are completely random, so that's a no go. I could see something like an exp bonus for character's that aren't played often, though.

I think Paragon's solution to this problem is pretty great, that you pick your character first and then matchmake. I've very rarely run into a situation where the teams had terrible balance. Best of both worlds, play the character you like and are comfortable with, but still have good teams.

On the other hand, it takes like 5 seconds to matchmake in Overwatch, and 10 minutes to matchmake in Paragon. Could have more to do with player count and match length, but still.

On pc the most ive seen is two of a character but maybe i was lucky. Two bastions once was a bit frustrating.

This is one of the most frustrating aspects of this game so far. Granted, I've been lucky enough to not come across it too often, but when it does happen it stands to ruin all of my enjoyment. I would love to see this limitation implemented, which is why I can't wait for the ranked mode.

I mean, it seems like a fairly obvious choice that should've been included from the get go. I don't care if not being able to play the exact character you want upsets people. Fuck those crybabies. There are 21 goddamn characters to choose from. There's not really any excuse to not have an alt. The players who would quit over that reason are likely all the yahoos I always get matched up with who don't understand the concept of teamwork nor the objective of the game. If there's less of them, that's for the better.

Not in quick play I think, but it should be so in ranked I feel.

You will pull my 6 Reinhardt strat from my cold, dead hands

I don't know 6 Tracers vs 6 Winston's is pretty fun.

Yeah, I agree that whenever someone else on your team is a character, that character should be locked off from anyone else picking them. I don't think it needs to go full Dota and have 10 unique characters across both teams, but at least among the five people on your team, I'm pretty fucking sure you don't need a redundant-ass team where like 4 people are Soldier 76.

Worst? Did you mean best?

This isn't actually something I see very often to be honest, unless it's in the Arcade mode where everyone just picks Mei.

I think they should just leave it in as an option for custom matches and restrict it for quick play. It basically turns the match into a gimmick match, which can be entertaining at times, but it shouldn't be forced onto people that don't want to take part. That's why the custom playlist exists.

At most limit it to two max. Two of certain characters can be annoying, but still manageable and doesn't completely disrupt the entire flow of the match. Two Torbjorn's is annoying, but 4 or 5 camped around a capture point is some grade A bullshit. (I've been on both sides of that equation.)

They should probably just make a 6 Bastion, 6 Reaper, 6 Soldier 76, 6 Torbjorn mode so that section of the fanbase (like 95% of players apparently) can have their fun and all the sane people can play regular without having to deal with the silliness.

I don't mind it at all, some of the most fun matches I've had in Overwatch have been those that had between two and six of the same hero on a team.

@bisonhero: A full team of S:76 is amazing. Did a full Torb team earlier and it was hilariously fun.

I don't think they should limit anything on the hero selecting unless it's something like a competitive playlist, and even then that's a maybe.

EDIT: as others said too, doesn't happen often at all.

Definitely agree on the different playlist route. Telling the players they can never ever have a team of say, six Bastions isn't good.

In fact, that's shenanigans I want to take part in. Sounds insane.

There's fun to be had with a team of like 6 Meis or whatever, and they shouldn't block that from regular play. That said, playing against a team of 6 Torbjorns is just frustrating and tedious. I think it depends on how the community embraces it as time goes on that'll determine how common (and annoying or amazing) it'll be, but I'd say a ranked/specific playlist would be the only place I'd impose actual restrictions on that stuff.

Had an awesome time where my team just kept picking the same hero. It led up to the other team also doing the same. I mean it wasn't about winning or competition just fun. 12 Winstons in a small area is hilarious.

I think it's fine to be honest. People picking the same heroes can certainly be annoying, but it hasn't come up frequently enough for me to think Blizzard needs to enforce unique heroes as a rule. Occasionally two of the same hero can actually be pretty effective.

I was on a team with 5 Winstons and a Lucio. It was fun as hell for the first round, but eventually the other team got smarter and brought out more long-range heroes.

Also, from the esports Overwatch tournament on Twitch a couple nights ago, the current ideal team comp seems to be 2 McCree, 2 Lucio or Lucio/Mercy, and 2 tanks. I'm sure it will change later, but even at the "competitive" level people are getting a kick out of it.

I guess if you don't want people to pick clones, set up a custom game/tourney and forbid that?

i only worry if they create a mode with this, and more modes in general, that that's just gonna end up fracturing the playerbase, and/or some modes will have low or zero population. Granted the playerbase is pretty huge now so maybe that won't be a problem.

I am also sharing jeff's fear. Seems the git gud crowd is gaining momentum. Hopefully my few coworkers that are playing keep playing, as i don't have a crew to roll with otherwise and i may start to lose interest.

That's interesting. I also play on PS4 and I almost never see 2 people playing the same character at the beginning of the match. Occasionally I'll see 2 Widowmakers or 2 of one of the offensive classes (mostly Mcree and Reaper) but that's not often. I do see more duplicates later in matches but it tends to be in response to how the game is going. For example I'll start seeing double Reinhardts later on in some games if the team is getting pounded near objectives.

I see a lot of sniper stacking on the attacking team (for some reason), and there are often at least two McCrees in most matches.

It's also quite irritating when the defending team starts stacking tanks on the last capture point.

I'm not sure I would want to disallow multiple players picking the same character, but I do admit it's incredibly irritating. I enjoy feeling like I can go into a match and pick who I want (even if 99% of the time I end up playing support or tanks anyway because no one else wants to play those and you sort of need them...).

I've actually never seen this (on PC) except for one game where the team as a group decided to go 5 Torbjorn 1 Symmetra on defense, and utterly dominated that round. If people are going all Tracer and dying horribly with noone willing to switch, that's a problem, but I don't think banning double picking is the way to go. Sometimes, doubling up or more on one hero can be a very powerful choice.

We should also disallow free speech because some people misuse it.

Clever.

Give the player base some time and it'll all get figured out. This exact same situation happened with TF2 and it eventually resolved itself when people realized class stacking can be countered and there were in fact options available to explore. OW has been out for less than a week. I imagine balance changes will be coming in the future, anyway.

Well in Overwatch it's important to switch the class you're playing to fit the needs of the current situation. Certain heroes are better for certain parts of maps than others and a team being able to change their makeup is important to the flow of the game.

Nah it makes for dumb fun. Was playing with a couple friends and saw that the other 3 team members all picked Soldier 76. So my buddies and I did as well, and we just had a great time "HEAL UP SOLDIER" and getting the enemy in our sights. Another game we ended up doing all Genji, that did not work out so well as we all suck with Genji. But even then having a team of 6 robo-ninjas dashing around the map was cool.

While the main objective is to win the game just play it for fun. Don't judge the team too early, I have won and been beaten by plenty of teams that have 3 or 4 of a character, only offense, 3 tanks, etc. It just depends on the skill of the player. Even if you end up playing a game where your team is getting wrecked just go with the flow and try to enjoy the madness of having a team of 6 Mei's, ICE WALLS EVERYWHERE SON, or 6 Tracers in the Weekly Brawl, constant teleporting and rewinding is great.

Personally I've rarely experienced having more than 2 of a character on a team. In general also the teams I've been on have been pretty good about making a diverse team that fits the map and offense/defense.

@gkhan: So another Blizzard game does this, which is Heroes of the Storm, but this isn't a very good solution either. Since the game itself cannot differentiate what role you've picked, you'll end up in a game where there's an Illidan and four other assassin characters, or in my case, pick Murky and get teamed up with an Abathur and a Cho'gall, thus rendering any chance of me doing my thing irrelevant. In Overwatch I just imagine it working the same way since hey, since one team hasn't figured it out under their development house, how could another.

They certainly shouldn't ban it brcause it adds another layer of fun to the game, and offers even more possible strategies. I haven't had a problem with this in pubs at all.

Yeah, it requires that there are good rules for what makes good teams and that the matchmaker is aware of them.

Funnily enough, it's almost easier in a pure MOBA like Paragon, where it's like "bring one carry, one tank, one supports, and then two more random dudes", and you're probably at least going to have an OK team. But in Overwatch is more like, "most teams kinda work, some teams kinda don't, some teams are awesome" with no easy rules for which is which.

Can't say I've seen more than two of the same hero on a team so far.

I can't say I'm a fan of trying to make this game more like a MOBA. I wouldn't be opposed to a playlist where characters are limited or maybe locked in but I think it would just make people more critical of everyone else. Like "Oh you don't know how to play Reaper you should have picked someone else"

Its really not as bad as some of you make out. I rarely get more then two of the same hero on pc, and even then they often change quite quickly.

I don't mind the randomness of player matching and sometimes playing with more of the same character can be fun. I suppose if it ever annoyed me I'd just try another team.

I'm not sure how to deal with the issue effectively. On one hand it's a fun gimmick for a single match, on the other hand it sucks when you don't want to partake in a gimmick match but I guess it's super easy to just quit out and join another one so no big deal.

I think double picking is fine in pubs. Even if you dislike gimmick stack matches, they are usually short and the gimmicks tend to lose if you know partially how to beat it.

However I think they should consider banning stacking in competitive games. Duo or triple picks of a hero has consistently broken the meta game over and over again, and the stale as hell picks you see are so boring. If pros couldn't stack anymore, then maybe Symmetra/Zenyatta could get some small buffs without fear and McCree would still be in every game, but at least only taking up one slot lol.