On the heels of Overwatch 2‘s first major balance patch notes, lead hero designer Alec Dawson teased that future seasonal updates may see more dramatic changes to some heroes.
“This is our first balance patch since the game’s been out,” Dawson said on a recent Twitter Space stream (opens in new tab) held with Overwatch League associate director Matt Morello. “The way we’re approaching this is in sort of a minor and major cadence of patches, and this one would be considered one of those minor ones. Those are gonna be usually in the mid-cycle patches. They’re going to be reactive, looking at the first two weeks of a meta, seeing what’s performing at the top, see how we can make some adjustments along those lines. And a lot of those are going to be slight nerfs, tuning, numbers tweaks. Not a lot of reworks or anything like that.
“For major ones, there’s gonna be many more changes in there,” Dawson continued. “I think we’re going to be entering some seasons where you may see a lot more buffs associated with heroes. Something that changes their rhythm, their gameplay loops, things of that nature. Possibly even some reworks down the line. And if we’re doing four changes here, I think what you might see in a major patch is going to be around 10, and a lot of those are going to be proactive. Those are gonna be things we’re working on not just in the short-term reacting to the meta – and there’s gonna be some changes like that – but also some changes for things we see down the road of how we want to maybe change some of the ways a hero may feel.”
The latest patch notes (opens in new tab) outlined nerfs to Sombra, Genji, Zarya, D.va, and Kiriko, which will arrive in-game on November 15. In a Twitter Q&A following the stream, Dawson clarified (opens in new tab) that Blizzard “did want this patch to come out earlier” but ran into issues. Going forward, players can expect mid-season balance updates “about four weeks after a season start.” That said, he was also quick to note (opens in new tab) that “if anything were very out of line we’d step in ASAP.”
As Dawson said, the changes in this patch are basically just numerical tweaks for ammo and damage. However, Blizzard is already actively considering more far-reaching changes to some heroes. Dawson speculated about the long-term health of Brigitte’s ultimate ability, for example, as well as ongoing plans to define a new play style for Doomfist that helps him compete with other tanks. In addition to buffing the game’s worst tanks, Blizzard is also looking at, well, supporting supports as a “long-term focus.”
In a Twitter reply, he also confirmed that the team is still watching feedback and data on Mercy, with no major changes planned for her at this time. Symmetra, meanwhile, is due for some minor tweaks to help with her pick rate despite solid performance, whereas Tracer may be buffed in the future if her performance doesn’t improve after changes to other heroes.
Here’s our updated Overwatch 2 character tier list to help you navigate the meta.