In its latest developer blog post, Blizzard detailed its “current thinking on hero balance and gameplay”, including map rotation and player ranking. “While some heroes are performing better than others, and there are differences across player skill levels, we have been happy to see that no hero’s overall power level is far out of line with our goals,” Blizzard said. Watch on YouTube Overwatch 2 Animated Short - “Kiriko”.
As the team intended, each hero has a win-rate between 45 percent and 55 percent. As such, no immediate balance changes are planned (except a tweak to Zarya in Total Mayhem, due live with the next major patch on 25th October). “Instead, our team is planning to make a series of balance changes for Season Two that are in line with our design goal of ensuring the overall game feels balanced and fair while giving each season a more distinct identity,” said Blizzard. That said, the developer is keeping an eye on the popularity of certain characters and the impact of win-rates. For instance, the change to 5v5 has put extra pressure on tank characters and while D.Va is one of the most talked about heroes, others actually have a higher win-rate. The post also notes the popularity of new hero Kiriko as an instant favourite in the community, and how her win-rate has increased as players get to grips with her moveset - something Blizzard will watch carefully. In addition, the development team will be rotating maps in and out each season to allow for any adjustments. A list of current maps is included in the blog post. Blizzard also apologises for ranking some players too low in the first week of the game, due to a bug impacting player skill ratings. Finally, Blizzard recognises some players have concerns with input responsiveness on PC, with such suggestions to improve. “Thank you to all the players who were a part of the first week of Overwatch 2. While this time has been incredibly exciting for the community and our team, it’s also come with many challenges that we’re looking to address quickly. We will continue to listen to player feedback as we strive to make Overwatch 2 the best game it can be, and we are looking forward to sharing more in the coming weeks leading up to Season Two,” said Blizzard. Overwatch 2 has been plagued with issues in its opening week, from DDoS attacks and bugs to SMS controversy. It will soon offer a double XP weekend by way of compensation.