Say what you will about Overwatch 2, but Blizzard Entertainment isn’t afraid to experiment with the core gameplay. Fresh off Quick Play: Hacked, game director Aaron Keller confirmed that features like Spawn Together would receive a tuning pass. Party Frames, the on-screen health bars for teammates seen in PvE, are also likely to arrive.
However, the biggest new feature in Season 9 is Tanks and Damage Dealers receiving the Support passive, which grants self-healing. Before hitting the panic button, Keller said this is “a modified, tuned-down version.” The idea is to give “Support players more options in terms of sustaining themselves” while also removing some of the pressure of healing everyone on the team.
“In Overwatch, there is a constant tug of war between the power of a team and the power of an individual hero or player. A change like this shifts that balance a bit. This is something that we are constantly evaluating. We still want Overwatch to be defined by team strategy and mechanics, but we feel this can be pulled back a bit now and possibly more in the future.” Of course, how much self-healing it will provide remains to be seen.
Keller also notes the benefits of Quick Play: Hacked, like faster matchmaking and challenge completion. “Based on the reception to these changes, the team might use the feedback to improve the game. That’s what these Quickplay: Hacked events are designed to do – quicken the feedback loop and allow for swifter implementation of improvements into the game.” He confirms another such event will be coming later this season, so stay tuned.
Overwatch 2 is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Check out our review for the base game here.
