There are things in the works and Blizzard is taking notice of the feedback so far.
Overwatch 2’s launch saw a record-breaking viewership on Day 1. The FPS game has seen revolutionary changes in its second iteration with some of the Major changes yet to come. The move to 5v5 and lesser focus on crowd control has made the game enjoyable for many players, old and new.
There have been some mixed reviews about the beta launch and Activision Blizzard has been keenly listening to the community. Today, the developers released a blog highlighting the roadmap and some plans for the future.
The first Overwatch 2 beta introduced 5v5 matches. This will also carry over to the Overwatch League that kicks off on May 5.
“Because this beta test focuses primarily on gameplay and balance as well as stability, several other features and aspects of the game that you are seeing in this test are still a work in progress. For example, elements like menu screens, player profiles, multiple time of day conditions for classic maps, and the full set of hero 2.0 looks are areas our team has been working hard on that we are not yet testing publicly.”
When will Ranked mode arrive in Overwatch 2?
One of the best features in Overwatch is the competitive nature of the games. Reaching checkpoints and changing your gameplan depending on the portion of the map is something that makes Overwatch unique.
Activision Blizzard launched Overwatch 2 beta without any ranked mode and that has been a focal point for the criticism surrounding the beta. The other criticism has been about the game being very similar to Overwatch 1, which, as it’s the same game, is slightly confusing.
We made the choice to only run quick play in this Beta test for two primary reasons: first, because in a test with a limited number of players, we generally want to prioritize making matches more quickly over splitting players into multiple queues; and second, because we’re planning some significant overhauls of our core ranked and competitive mode systems, and those are not yet ready to test publicly at scale.
However, to combat the long queue times for tanks and DPS players, Activision Blizzard said they are working on enabling quick play classic with open queue in the near future.
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The plight of support heroes in Overwatch 2 and Blizzard's plans to fix
Playing as a support in Overwatch 2 is not fun. That seems to be the general consensus. With tanks and DPS heroes getting more mobility and they are able to flank supports more consistently in Overwatch 2.
We observed support heroes feeling too vulnerable to diving and flanking attacks with fewer shields and no second tank focusing on protecting them. We made a significant adjustment to their role passive heading into Beta, allowing support heroes to recover more health faster and improve their survivability.
In the short term, the Overwatch 2 developers will be looking at making small adjustments and changes. In the long term, Overwatch fans can expect new support heroes that will add more variety to the support queue. They are also working on changing the abilities of some existing support heroes.
In addition, Blizzard is also workingon some changes to the UI and design in the game.
Here are some of the changes players can expect in Blizzard’s FPS:
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- We'll be adding a new “Damage Mitigated” statistic that will reside next to Damage Done and Healing Done in the scoreboard. This statistic will cover things like damage blocked and damage reduced by other abilities such as Ana’s Nano Boost, Baptiste’s Immortality Field, and many others!
- The team may also look at reworking the Fire system sometime in the future to complement the scoreboard system as we believe it can provide excitement for high-performing players.
UI and Design
- The team is seeing a lot of feedback highlighting certain elements of the scoreboard and how they can be more effectively communicated in game, like evaluating ultimate abilities and hero pictures to decide where on the scoreboard those things can live.
- Please keep in mind that this reworked scoreboard screen is a work in progress and the team will continue to iterate and improve this feature as we progress through testing. We’re already exploring multiple concepts for different layouts.
Blizzard also announced some changes to the scoreboard including the addition of a damage mitigation statistic that will cover damage blocked and damage reduced by other abilities such as Ana’s Nano Boost, Baptiste’s Immortality Field, and many others!
The future of Overwatch 2 looks bright with a new PVP mode and more new features coming in the next few months. Overwatch 2 beta will be on prominent display during the Overwatch League as the world’s best teams fight it out on the server.
The Overwatch 2 PvP Beta is now available for PC from April 26 to May 17.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Overwatch news and updates.
