Overwatch 2 Support role players are feeling a lack of love at the end of their games. Thanks to some changes to the Overwatch 2 end-of-match screen removing the cards that highlight their contributions to the team, some Supports have been left feeling a bit forgotten.
It has already been hard for Overwatch support players to get any kind of thanks from teammates and the old "on-fire" system from the first game. For Overwatch 2, Blizzard removed the end-match screen that inconsistently, at best, highlighted the contributions of one of the four supports in Overwatch 1. The game's algorithm for giving players a "Play of the Game" highlight was already skewed against supports, and the removal of match cards has left support players feeling underappreciated at the end of games - causing them to vent that frustration on Reddit.
Overwatch 2's Match Card Removal Continues The Trend of Support Players Being Undervalued
Redditor u/ClumkerSlim strongly vented their frustration with the way Blizzard has shifted even more of the opportunity for post-match plaudits away from support players. Unless it's an environmental kill or an overwhelming offensive play from a Zenyatta or Moira, support players are relegated to being a part of another hero's Play of the Game moment, at best. There is an air of disappointment from other players that there were no changes made in Overwatch 2 to specifically highlight the support role's contribution to the match. The overall weight of Healing to the highlight algorithm is still undervalued.
There are some comments that claim the original poster is wrong because they've seen a few Support Play of the Game highlights in Overwatch 2. However, the argument is not that there is no Support PotGs, but that they are infrequent, inconsistent, and undervalued. As one person arguing for making improvements to the value of Support plays, a Genji player uses their ultimate to swipe at the air for most of the clip, gets 2 kills, and get nominated for PotG. On the other hand, a Support character will make a clutch play to save a team member's life and the team fight, while also getting one or two kills in the same sequence, yet get nothing.
If the Overwatch Support role was a member of a professional sports team, commentators would rave about their "intangibles." They do many great things that don't show up on the stat sheet, even with the improved scoreboard in Overwatch 2. But support players have egos, too. They want to get praise for their plays, but the plays they make are the inverse of what the highlight algorithm scores. The Cards were the last decent way of showing their impact on the match for everyone to see. Fans can only hope that there could be an update in the calculations that will value support plays more.
Overwatch 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
