Highlights
- Overwatch 2’s upcoming Season 9 will bring significant changes to the sport’s heroes, including a less powerful version of the Support class’ self-healing passive ability for Tank and Damage heroes. This modification could drastically shift the sport’s meta and potentially impact teamplay.
- The developer’s apology for announcing this transformation without proper context suggests that it is an element of a bigger set of balance changes coming in Season 9. The sport’s development team is specializing in addressing issues like damage spikiness, the role of DPS in securing kills, and the strength of healing.
- The brand new healing ability for Tank and Damage heroes may lead to a stronger emphasis on individual playmaking and fewer reliance on Support teammates. It stays uncertain how much the gameplay will shift, but players can expect noticeable changes from game to game.
The Overwatch 2 game director apologized after announcing controversial latest changes coming with the sport’s next seasonal update. Overwatch 2‘s Season 9 is anticipated to launch on February twentieth.
Recently, Overwatch 2 announced big shakeups to the sport’s heroes. Starting with Season 9, all Tank and Damage heroes will receive a less powerful version of the Support class’ self-healing passive ability. It will likely shift Overwatch 2‘s meta quite drastically attributable to Damage heroes, particularly, not needing to depend on the healing abilities of their Support teammates. Some fans hope that the change will help revitalize Overwatch 2‘s gameplay, while many others worry that the change will devalue the importance of teamplay and teamfighting, that are among the more unique features of the hero-based FPS game. In response to this community outcry, an Overwatch 2 developer shared his thoughts.
Aaron Keller, Overwatch 2‘s game director, explained that “it was a mistake to speak about this lone change out of context, since its a component of a much greater set coming to Season 9. Sorry for that, and I look ahead to more discussion around S9 balance changes after we drop more details.” Keller further detailed that with the Season 9 update, Overwatch 2‘s development team is attempting to deal with facets like “damage spikiness in game, the role of DPS in securing kills, and the strength of healing.” While Overwatch 2‘s surprising change to Tank and Damage heroes will likely play a giant part in addressing those topics, it’s apparently just considered one of the multiple changes coming to the sport with Season 9.
Some fans have speculated that the Tank and Damage class’ latest healing ability will allow Overwatch 2‘s best Support and Tank combos to play more closely, while Damage heroes may be somewhat untethered from needing to depend on their Support teammates’ healing abilities. This may lead to a stronger emphasis on individual playmaking reasonably than Overwatch 2‘s typical deal with teamfighting. It’s still unclear how drastically Overwatch 2‘s gameplay will shift following the Season 9 update, but it surely’s likely that players will feel a noticeable change from game to game.
It was a mistake to speak about this lone change out of context, since its a component of a much greater set coming to Season 9. Sorry for that, and I look ahead to more discussion around S9 balance changes after we drop more details.
Overwatch 2‘s Season 9 will bring other changes as well, like a brand new Competitive division, the return of placement matches, Emerald Weapons, and more. While Overwatch 2 will receive some major additions on Season 9’s expected release date of February twentieth, fans won’t must wait that long for another interesting updates.
An Overwatch 2 developer recently shared his plans for future balance changes regarding Mauga and Orisa, two Tanks who’ve struggled to seek out a good place throughout the meta recently. He explained that Mauga could also be made right into a more aggressive Tank, while Orisa might see changes to her power budget. It isn’t yet clear when exactly these changes will likely be implemented.
