New Overwatch 2 Dev Blog Addresses Balance Considerations, Supports Character Changes

Overwatch 2 PvP Beta has officially ended with incredible support and excitement for the new game. Overwatch 2 Game Director Aaron Keller had a message to share with players and fans: “Overwatch as a world, as a universe, is deeply personal to the team; something in which we devote our time, our creative energies and our passion. It can be scary to put something that means so much to you for other people to watch. Especially when you know it’s not over and you’re asking people for real, valid reviews of what you’ve done.

Keller goes on to say how imperative these early steps and testing are, and how important community feedback is to keep moving forward and creating something amazing.

After the Overwatch 2 PvP beta ended, the Week 2 dev blog was released as a continuation of their first dev blog. This report focused on supporting characters and balance considerations. For starters, after increasing Zenyatta’s health, the Omnic Monk’s win rate increased by 5% and his kill rate was reduced by 7%. Ana received a small nerf to her Biotic Grenade which decreased, but her overall healing ability remained on average unchanged even after tweaks.

Mercy’s mobility is currently being reworked as most average players have difficulty performing her “super jump” technique which is vital to playing the character to her full potential. Additionally, Junkrat and Summetra are also being revamped. Currently, the team is trying to explore better ways to direct punches as a form of skill expression with Junkrat. The dev team also recognized that the reduction in shields cast on the battlefield makes Symmetra’s Photon Projector harder to value and the hero also suffers from increased overlap with heroes like Mei, who have better tools. for close survival.

In other news, a big change has been made to wait times, which has always been an issue in Overwatch. Since the last patch, players have lost 48% of time spent waiting for a match. Luckily, for damage and support players, beta wait times have improved dramatically without sacrificing match fairness or quality metrics. To read the full report, be sure to check out the post on Overwatch website.

To note: Activision Blizzard is still being investigated by the State of California for serious harassment charges. CEO Bobby Kotick allegedly knew of such actions within his company – and committed some of them himself – and protected the perpetrators from the consequences.