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"It was a mistake to talk about this lone change out of context."
Image credit: Blizzard
The world of Overwatch 2 was shaken recently when Blizzard announced a new passive ability that raised many brows, so its game director had to chime in and slightly clarify what was happening.
In case you missed the news, the company declared that the passive self-healing skill available for Support characters only would be given to everyone in Season 9, regardless of their role, although Tank and Damage heroes will get the tuned-down version of it.
"This should give non-Support players more options in terms of sustaining themselves. It should also take some of the pressure off Support players to keep everyone alive since individual players now have more control of their own health pool. 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."
If you're an Overwatch player or just know something about competitive shooters, you can imagine the fans' reaction. No, this change wasn't met with a round of applause, I'd say most players criticized it harshly, and I hope the developers anticipated such a reaction because, let's be honest, it was quite predictable.
There are two things that ruffle fans' feathers: first of all, every role has its own passive, and making Supports "share" theirs with others is a questionable move that might reduce the impact they have on the game (and will probably make players avoid seeking out health packs even more.)
Secondly, Blizzard seems to be trying to turn Overwatch into a less team-dependent game, which negates the impact of different roles altogether (and will possibly create even more DPS players crying about how they carried the game single-handedly. But this time, they could be right.)
After the players expressed their feelings all over the internet, Overwatch 2's game director Aaron Keller went to X/Twitter to shed some light on the situation. He said it was "a mistake to talk about this lone change out of context since it's a part of a much bigger set coming to Season 9."
Apparently, we have something bigger coming, although I'm not sure it will be a happy change.
"Internally we're talking about, and targeting some of these changes at damage spikiness in game, the role of DPS in securing kills, and the strength of healing."
We'll see what Overwatch 2 becomes when Season 9 is launched, presumably on February 20.
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