Summary
Overwatch 2announced that in Season 9 all Tank and Damage heroes will receive a self-healing passive ability. This will likely cause a significant shift inOverwatch 2’s meta. Its development team further explained this new change.
Historically,Overwatch 2has emphasized the teamplay aspect of its combat, with players needing to synergize the strengths of Tank, Damage, and Support heroes to create successful pushes or defenses. While team fighting has usually been a core aspect ofOverwatch 2, its development team has proved that it’s not scared of trying out drastic changes, likeBlizzard’s new limited-time Quickplay modethat went live on January 12. As its latest experiment, Blizzard is implementing a major change that might make the game more individually focused.
InOverwatch 2’s Season 9, Tank and Damage heroes will have a nerfed version of the Support class' self-healing passive ability.Blizzard explainedthat this change is intended to make non-Support players less reliant on teammates when it comes to healing, while also taking the pressure off of Support players to tend to every team member. Blizzard acknowledged that this change will likely alter the gameplay ofOverwatch 2and that it plans to constantly evaluate this new mechanic following its release. The game developer also explained that it might further shiftOverwatch 2towards the power of individual heroes in the future. Season 9 is expected to launch on February 20, but this hasn’t been confirmed yet.
Changes Coming to Tank and Damage Heroes in Season 9
In addition to this rework,Overwatch 2’s Season 9 will bring more changesincluding a significant update to the game’s ranked system. This overhaul will add instant rank progression updates, Emerald Weapons, the new Ultimate division, and placement matches.
Season 9’s new self-healing ability might allowOverwatch 2’s Support and Tank duosto focus on each other more, while Damage heroes are given slightly more freedom. The healing abilities of Support heroes will still be a powerful tool to quickly replenish teammates' health, but Damage heroes in particular likely won’t be as reliant on them.
It’s still unclear how drastically this will affectOverwatch 2’s gameplay, but it’s possible that the game will become increasingly focused on individual play over the coming months and years, based on Blizzard’s latest announcements. Mostpopular FPS gameslikeCall of DutyorCounter-Strikeallow a single player to make a huge difference if they make the right decisions. While this is certainly already possible inOverwatch 2, the game might be aiming to emphasize this aspect in the future to maintain its popularity.
Overwatch 2
WHERE TO PLAY
Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. Power up your railgun and disrupt the battlefield as Sojourn, or yield your axe and command attention as Junker Queen. Battle to take control of a robot and move it toward the enemy base in the new Push Mode. Bring the fight to new destinations across the globe in iconic locations like New York, Rome, Monte Carlo and Rio. Daily challenges and frequent updates mean there is always something new to play.
