The Experimental Card is a fantastic idea that Blizzard has pushed out to the team-based shooter Overwatch, allowing developers and fans alike to see what could be if drastic changes were made. The first and most recent Experimental Card saw triple DPS being employed in an effort to stymie atrocious DPS queue times, which worked well enough for the first week or so; after that, tanks were becoming frustrated at being absolutely melted in every team fight, and the queue lengths went back to standard: over ten minute queue times for DPS, with a desperate lack of support and tank roles in the Card.
It was an unfortunate result of the experiment, with many stuck pondering the inevitable ‘what-if’s’ in regards to balancing a bit stronger in favor of tanks, but it mostly seemed to fall upon deaf ears. Regardless, we’re now looking at the next Experimental Card, and users are finding themselves rather curious about what it may entail.
Jeff Kaplan took to the official Overwatch forums over on Blizzard’s website to announce the next Experimental Card is looking at crowd control reduction across multiple heroes. He finishes his short post by stating that they aren’t looking at changing Bastion currently, which may cause heartache of its own, but we’re instead going to look at the crowd control.
One of the most frustrating experiences you could possibly have is simply not being able to control your character, in any video game, since the origins of Pong. Whether it’s a controller that suddenly has its battery die, or being chain-stunned in DOTA 2, it’s a horrible experience to simply have to sit there until your character inevitably dies with no counter-play.
Maybe DOTA 2 isn’t the best example as you could opt for a BKB, but that’s a digression.
Overwatch has crowd control in spades, and it can become tremendously frustrating to simply be subjected to the whims of other characters for however long you’re taken out of the action. Whether it’s Mei and her frustrating ice-beam that freezes your character completely after roughly two seconds of channeling the primary fire at an enemy, to McCree who lobs a flashbang and then clicks your head until you’re able to move, it’s a frustrating experience for everyone except whoever is playing the CC character.
The next Experimental Card might be the most playable one yet, as an Overwatch that allows you to stay in the action rather than rotating around in an odd dance of cat and mouse always sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately, we’re not entirely sure when this next card will take place as of yet. It’s also frankly difficult to ascertain how well this will work, as a large number of heroes now have various CC abilities, from Ana’s sleep dart to Orisa’s halt. Still, fans of the title are finding themselves exuberant at the idea of a CC-less Overwatch for however long it will last.
