These changes have created a new framework of gameplay in which Overwatch 2 operates, which of course has necessitated post-launch tweaks and balance changes to ensure fairness across the title’s playable hero selection. With this being said, the current approach to balancing in Overwatch 2 appears to be quite counter-intuitive, opting to fix imbalances after they occur as opposed to preemptively identifying them.
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The Changes Made To Overwatch 2
While the heroes of the original Overwatch were left in a good state of balance, the massive changes made to the franchise’s core gameplay in Overwatch 2 have created entirely different parameters in which balancing needs to be considered. One of the largest changes is that Overwatch 2 opts for 5v5 teams as opposed to the previous franchise standard of 6v6.
With each team now only having one tank hero, every character in the game needs to be balanced in a different light to compensate for this. Additionally, many pre-existing heroes received huge changes in Overwatch 2, such as Doomfist being changed from a damage hero to a tank, or Orissa receiving an almost entirely new kit. Of course, this also impacts the new lens through which hero balancing must be considered, with the constant addition of new heroes to the game only further adding to the risk of imbalance.
Overwatch 2 already has three new heroes in Junker Queen, Sojourn, and Kiriko, with a new tank named Ramattra also coming to the game in Season 2 on December 6. Considering that some of these new heroes are already at the core of the game’s balancing debate, it is clear that a change is needed in Blizzard’s approach to balancing for Overwatch 2.
How Blizzard Could Improve Overwatch 2’s Balancing
One of the main issues with Blizzard’s current balancing system for Overwatch 2 is that patches are only released at the start of a season and during its halfway point, meaning players are stuck with overtly overpowered or underpowered heroes for a disproportionately long time. In this way, an obvious improvement can be made to balancing by simply increasing the frequency that balance patches are released for Overwatch 2.
On top of this, Blizzard needs to start taking a more proactive approach to ascertaining whether a hero may be imbalanced prior to releasing said hero, as opposed to simply waiting for community feedback after a hero has already gone live. By privately testing new heroes and how effective their combat roles are prior to full implementation, players will no longer have to wait for so long for any needed changes to be made.
While some teething problems are to be expected given the influx of new changes and heroes to Overwatch 2, the highly competitive team-based nature of the title means that it is unacceptable for certain heroes to remain imbalanced for so long. By implementing more rigorous pre-release testing of newer heroes, and by greatly increasing the frequency and transparency of any balancing changes that are made, Blizzard would greatly improve upon the current balancing system of Overwatch 2.
Overwatch 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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