One solution to the GOATs meta comes from an unlikely source

We’ve discussed what the GOATs meta is in Overwatch and some probably causes. The quote I’d like to focus on from our previous article is, “damage characters deal near-instant-killing damage — especially when played by pros.”

Overwatch is an expansive game with many modes of play and levels of skill. Some players enjoy the casual experience of Quick Play. Others thrive off the competitive nature of Ranked. Modes like Mystery Heroes or Free For All give yet another experience. Even within Ranked play, Bronze plays like a different game from Silver. At the highest levels of play you have the best of best, the Overwatch League.

Balancing all these various modes and skill levels provides a huge challenge to the developers. The solution they’ve communicated is to balance the game around the pro players in the Overwatch League. This has worked well so far, but the one size fits all approach hasn’t brought about changes to the GOATs meta.

I’m a big fan of the KISS principle: Keep It Simple Stupid. We’ve seen how small changes can have a big impact on the game. A possible model for a solution to the GOATs meta comes from an unexpected source — the game of American football.

There are various levels like high school, college, semi pro, spring leagues, etc., right down to the casual gathering at a local park to play with friends. The highest professional level is the NFL, which is analogous to the Overwatch League. Each level has slightly different tweaks to the rules of the game. For example, to make a legal catch in the NFL you have to have two feet in play, but in college and high school, you only need one foot in bounds.

It doesn’t impact my enjoyment of college football because they have different rules in the NFL. The backyard game of two hand touch football isn’t less fun to play because we don’t play by NFL rules.

I’d like to see Overwatch adopt different rule sets for the various levels of play. The GOATs meta is mainly an issue at the highest level of play. With different rule sets, the developers could iterate on changes as they apply to the specific population of professional players. If damage dealers do too much damage in the hands of a skilled player, but not enough in the hands of less-skilled players, nerfing their damage in only the Overwatch League makes sense.

They could start with different health pools and damage profiles for heroes in the different levels of Overwatch play. Take a hero like Bastion for example. This plucky little omnic can dominate Quick Play matches but he’s easily countered in organized play, so maybe he should get a higher health pool or damage buff for the pros. Besides health pools and damage profiles, Blizzard could also tweak payload speeds, checkpoint placements, and respawn points. This could make the game more enjoyable to play and watch at all levels of play while still allowing them to preserve the balance at the top.