OW needs a content explosion
Right now it feels pretty rough for OW, like theres nothing that can be done to revive the game fully or recapture its audience & bring in new players faster. However I think this is very doable with one big juicy content bomb. Yes, take a page out of the Rivals playbook, who cares if it’s ”copying”, if it makes OW better, do it & do it even better. Some of the things included in this content bomb could be the following:
Multiple heroes:
This would probably be the tallest order of the bunch, but a big multi hero drop for a special season would be awesome. This is probably unrealistic but 6 new heroes, 2 for each role would be sick. 3 new heroes, 1 each role would still be great , but I assume even that would be difficult. Then continue on the regular cadence of 1 hero every other season for the rest of the year.
6v6:
I used to be a hardline 5v5 defender, but I’d be a liar if I couldn't admit that 6v6 feels pretty amazing. I know they mentioned the possibility of 6v6 coexisting with 5v5 but I dont see that being very realistic, especially considering queue times were one of the issues that sparked 5v5 in the first place. I honestly think a full reversion to 6v6 would be great for the game. I’m not sure how willing they would be to do this, but if there was a time to rebrand, it would be while bringing back 6v6. Pair this with a humble & genuine apology for the missteps of OW2’s launch & PvE, I think it could bring some people back.
Hero Bans (Competitive):
Bring in the hero bans to comp! I was initially hesitant about hero bans in comp & even for all ranks, but I think its warranted at this point. It will help alleviate annoying comps & heroes that are busted, especially if 6v6 is brought back. This will also bring another distinction between Quickplay & Competitive, which is needed at this point in my opinion. Plus its another thing that would drastically shake up gameplay for everyone.
Revive PvE (Hear me out):
I 100% believe vaulting PvE & focusing on PvP was the correct choice. Now laying off pretty all the PvE staff…. That was a mistake imo & very unfortunate. I believe PvE is still wanted & can still be salvaged. However, it would need to be significantly higher quality than the 3 missions we received. Also, dont release them episodically… i get the idea of stretching the content & getting more money, but at this point its more important to release that content as a brand builder & “marketing” tool to bring more people in for PvP. Make it a 1 time purchase for like $30-$40 with all the content. This is all assuming it can be done without taking away resources from PvP which should be seen as priority.
Animated Series:
I don’t think I meed to explain much about this one. We all know how strong of a tool a good animated series is for marketing even to a game with a damaged reputation (Cyberpunk). Even better would be if this animated series either tied into or supplemented the PvE in some way. That would help capture players in a way that I think Arcane misses out on considering it has no story mode.
Competitive Rewards:
Go all in on competitive rewards, give players more reason to grind out comp! Special name plates, titles, skins, emblems all purchasable with the competitive currency. This allows for earnable content outside of the battlepass & shop. It rewards the more diehard players in comp who imo are usually more likely to pay for the shop cosmetics anyway.
I honestly think a 1 time content explosion like this would do wonders for the game. i believe the current cadence is fine & probably healthy for the most part, but man would this type of content release do wonders. It would essentially be making up for the extreme disappointment that the previous PvE failure left us with.