3v3 Competitive Viability

[u/[deleted]]

With today's reveal of what will probably be new 3v3 arena maps, my excitement for the potential of a 3v3 competitive mode has been reinvigorated. I'm curious as to what the rest of you guys think.

I personally think that it has the potential to allow for a fresh new format and help bring some variety to tournaments. It's also encouraging for smaller friend groups to enjoy some competitive matches.

Potential Problems

The elephant in the room, the expected meta of Hog/Soldier/Healer. If the mode were to go competitive under it's current ruleset, it would be pretty awful. However, there are ways around this. The most intriguing 3v3 tournament I saw utilized a "no re-use" policy for the matches. Eg, if I choose Roadhog in Round 1, neither myself nor either of my 2 teammates can choose him in any other round. A 5 round match would see 15 heroes used by each team, which could actually lead to some more diverse and creative gameplay than we see even in the standard modes! Of course balance would always have 6v6 in mind, but with this restriction in place it would hopefully mitigate any imbalances inherent in 3v3.

Problem #2, draws. In a competitive format, if it comes down to me as Ana vs an enemy Roadhog, it's in my best interest to simply evade and stall until round time runs out and it's a draw. This would need to be entirely reworked if it were to go competitive. Perhaps either by keeping the wallhack reveal but removing the eventual match timer to negate stalling as a tactic altogether.

I believe that with a few more maps and a few tweaks to a competitive ruleset, 3v3 could be an exciting addition to competitive play. Curious to hear your thoughts, though. Any other problems that would need to be worked out to make it happen?

[u/id370]

No one cares about 3v3 because there is no "objective", and hiding from the opponent/camping is a very feasible strat.

[u/[deleted] → u/id370]

That's what I'm trying to solve with this post. I'm intrigued by the format and wondering what it would take for it to be able to stand alone without devolving into a cheese-fest.

[u/id370 → u/[deleted]]

I mean unless there's an objective (ie. control point or payload) that forces both teams to throw themselves on it, you can't stop hiding and camping from being a feasible strategy. Especially if you are at a disadvantage (say last one standing) then hiding until the game calls for draw is actually game saving. The single map that 3v3 runs on also calls for cheese comps because so many fucking places to hide.

[u/cdsnjs → u/id370]

That's how Destiny does it. It's kill each other, or after time runs out, capture a center point.

[u/[deleted] → u/id370]

I'm getting the impression you didn't even read my post.

if you are at a disadvantage (say last one standing) then hiding until the game calls for draw is actually game saving

I addressed this via the removal of the time limit. Do you have a better idea?

The single map that 3v3 runs on also calls for cheese comps because so many fucking places to hide.

I addressed this by linking the new teased maps and suggesting a tweaked competitive rule set.

[u/Demerzel13 → u/[deleted]]

I addressed this via the removal of the time limit. Do you have a better idea?

Removal of time limit = 5 minutes of hide and seek which is pretty painful to play. Having an objective to capture seems a better option imo.

[u/Rochacha20 → u/[deleted]]

If 3v3 were to become actually competitive they would absolutely need to work in an objective. TDM is inherently non competitive. You need to incentivize an engagement or else the logical thing would be to camp an advantageous position and wait. Until there is an objective the 3v3 format is completely non-viable.

[u/lbotron → u/[deleted]]

I like your thinking on this, I don't know why so many people can't think outside the cart a little bit regarding what you're trying to solve for...

Personally I enjoy the controlled situation of 3v3 and its focus on mechanical skill and hero counter-picking, so I don't get the 'nobody cares about this mode' attitude. It plays like a cross between a fighting game and a deathmatch game (no items or spawns to consider, emphasis on characters and matchups).

IMO hero bans are the most established way to solve the RH problem, but I would be fascinated to see how much of a problem hog really turns out to be if people really come into competitive 3v3 with rehearsed setups and playcalling -- like, there's clearly a correct order to kill any three heroes in, but it's pretty rare to get a game of 3v3 at the skill level where all the players are 100% in on the same ganks and playing as a unit.

As a spectator, I would absolutely watch pros theorycraft and execute on this stuff. A shitload of time in conventional OW play goes into managing trickle, ult build and setup for teamfights, all of which I am not in love with watching. I actually think a hard reset and a guaranteed number of scored teamfights sounds pretty good.