Jeff Kaplan, lead developer for Overwatch has just confirmed on the official Overwatch forums that there is in fact a developer update scheduled for later this month - and by later this month he means next week. I want to make note that this is the first developer update since July last year, which was the Sigma announcement. 

The Overwatch rumor mill has been buzzing lately about changes to the competitive mode with in Overwatch. Since the death of "GOATS" with the introduction of the 2-2-2 format. Things have been kind of stagnate in Overwatch. While lower SR has seen some interesting team comps, higher SR has been nothing but double shields - usually an Orisa and Sigma (even after his nerfs). 

Jeff has also made mention that the developers are thinking about doing a 1-3-2 role lock. One tank, 3 DPS, 2 Healers. The changes to role lock would help to alleviate the issues of the DPS queue times, which are staggering. During "peak times" DPS queue times could run into 10 minutes if not more. The issue however are the tanks. There are currently 3 "main" tanks in the game. Tanks who have shields, while the rest are "off tanks" used to mainly displace & disrupt the enemy team while also supporting the "main" tank. Characters like D.Va, Zarya, and Hammond (Wrecking Ball).

Then you have Roadhog, who is basically just a fat DPS with sustain.

This is the issue that Kaplan also addressed in a forum post 8 days ago. In a very large post on this subject, he went into detail on the developers thought process. 

Boy does Jeff love to talk. This was just a screen shot of the post that went on for 11 paragraphs. It's really insight and if you're into the thought process of what happens behind the scenes. I suggest reading it.

Here is where I would like to make note that in the past - 2016 - Jeff Kaplan himself has said that he doesn't want Hero Bans.

 "As for picks and bans, I am personally not a fan of this type of system. If the meta settles down into a static picks always, we have other solutions. But picks and bans cause a lot of issues that we'd like to avoid.".

But he did add "I'm not saying we'll never do picks and bans, but what I am saying is that we would rather explore other options first.".

Sorry, I don't have a screen shot for that.

The problem with just having one tank character is what if that tank doesn't pick a shield character? Or they don't pick the right shield character? On some maps this could work, but on others it would be a mess. Also, that player would be pressured to pick a shield and he would be subjected to being focused every single team fight. Personally, I play an off-tank role, but if need be. I will play a main tank. I don't enjoy it, but for the betterment of the team I will.   

Now it gets really interesting. 

Popular Overwatch streamer "Emongg" has mentioned that "things will improve with Overwatch. I don't know how I know this *wink*. You can view the full clip of this here.

While Emongg has had insider information before, it was confirmed in another forum post that he isn't a representative of Blizzard it self. So anything he says should be taken with a grain of salt - even though he has been right in the past on changes. 

Then we have the leaks. Popular Overwatch Twitter poster "Metro" has said, just 2 days ago that. 

Metro has been right about a lot of things is in the past, including the Blizzcon Overwatch 2 announcement and several characters. 

So where does this leave us? The only thing we know for sure is that there is going to be a developer update later this month. Everything else is just hearsay and speculation. It's been 6 months since the last one, and the player base wants changes to the current system. While I don't like the idea of a ban system, the idea of a 1-3-2 role lock is even worse. Yes, DPS queue times will be lowered, but tank queue times might increased. There already isn't a lot of tank players and with the limited number of tanks in the game, that's going to make queue times for it even worse for that role. 

Personally, I don't know. But we will see in a week or so. 

As always, this is James with Game Fix. Game on everybody!