In the wake of Stadium’s death, Overwatch’s Quick Play Hacked weekend makes me hope 6v6 returns permanently

Overwatch 2 (now just Overwatch again) was my first experience with Blizzard’s hero shooter, so I never quite understood the fuss about how the developers killed 6v6. 5v5 was fine! Sure, it all skewed a bit toward everyone dealing as much damage as possible, but I enjoyed it. After this weekend’s Quick Play Hacked: 1-3-2 event, though, I get it. Make it permanent, Blizzard.

Blizzard uses Quick Play Hacked events to experiment with tweaks to the game’s standard, non-competitive formula — sometimes for future use, sometimes just for the fun of shaking things up. This version of it kicked 5v5 out the door and put 6v6 back, with a twist. Each team had a third slot for a damage hero, which you could use for a damage hero (obviously) or for a second tank. The other two slots are designated for supports, as always. It’s less of a nightmare than 6v6 open queue, where you get five people playing damage and a lone Zenyatta praying the orbs can save them all.

My initial big takeaway was that the format lets heroes lean into their specialties. On a two-tank team, Zarya gets to be the support tank tossing shields out, or has enough leeway to push forward into the enemy line without suddenly having five enemies all targeting her at once. Wrecking Ball and other dive tanks can do their job and not leave the back line defenseless. (And you have room for Balls or Winstons that are Just Okay without making the match miserable for everyone.) Even if there are three DPS and one tank, that’s still one more hero to stay behind and keep the squishies safe. And there’s room to take a flanker DPS along for extra damage. Usually, if you get D.Va flying off with Tracer or whoever, you better hope that A) the remaining damage hero is nearby and paying attention and B) the supports know how to play defensively. Game director Aaron Keller told Polygon during our oral history interviews that he doesn’t think sub-role passives live up to their potential currently. I’d say this seems like a way to fix that.

Blizzard axed 6v6 in a bid to make matches faster and more exciting, but the Quick Play Hacked matches were some of the best I’ve had in ages. Having that extra person, whether it’s a tank or a third DPS, creates room for so many more combos, for pairing off in little sub-squads that go try a thing. And maybe it works, which is cool. But if it doesn’t, no one else suffers for it since the team still has enough players left to carry on.

When I’m defending on Circuit Royale, I like playing Anran and using that little room at the start to dash out, ignite enemies, and run away. It’s risky. The rest of the team typically stays further back to guard the objective, so if my timing is wrong, the enemy team can stomp me before anyone can react. This time, a friendly Sigma peeked out to put a shield in the doorway, making a safe escape route for me without exposing anyone else to damage. The team’s other tank was there to take hits if need be. Another time, when I played Domina and my barrier was on cooldown, the team’s Reinhardt walked ahead of me with their shield up while I popped off laser shots. The pressure made the enemy team fall back, while our damage dealers pushed ahead unscathed. It was a win for everybody! Well, except the opposing team.

The choke points you reliably get in 5v5 matches — the same blockages Blizzard introduced 5v5 to address — were much less reliable. Fighting was more fluid, with a constant rhythm of push and pull. And if there ever was a bottleneck, someone can just swap to that third DPS and get things moving. Two tanks might be able to manage the onslaught, but it’s enough to push them back and make things interesting again. One of the things people enjoyed about Stadium, and something Blizzard built it for, was the thrill of the comeback, where nothing is predictable and your team pulls off an impossible coup at the last moment. That’s how most of these rounds played out. I had push matches where one side got the ‘bot within five meters of the goal, only for the other team to rally and push it back within a few meters of the other goal. The added flexibility seemed to make people more daring, and every match was better for it.

I know Quick Play Hacked isn’t always a testing ground for new features. But I hope this one is. With Stadium effectively dead — queue times since the end-of-support announcement were twice as long over the weekend even in unranked matches — I’d love to see Blizzard shake up the main game with the same kind of excitement and unpredictability Stadium matches had.