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Marvel Rivals might be dominating conversation in the hero shooter sphere, but Blizzard is making pretty massive moves to put Overwatch 2 back on top with some drastic changes coming this year, including perks, a massive third-person Stadium mode, the return of loot boxes, 6v6 competitive queues, a new hero, and much more.
Overwatch 2 Season 15 begins on February 18, and it's working overtime to finally bring in some sequel-worthy features. Top of the list is the introduction of upgradeable perks coming to almost every game mode. The way it works is that every hero starts the match at level one; once you upgrade to level two, you choose between two minor perks, and once you hit level three, you choose a more game-changing major perk. As you might expect, minor perks give a hero a pretty small stat buff or cooldown reduction or passive boost, but it's those major perks that remind me of that roguelike Halloween mode that absolutely slapped.
Hanzo's old Scatter Arrows, for example? They're back as an optional major perk, as is a Protective Barrier for Orisa if you give up the Javelin Spin instead. Other major perks include a secondary fire option for Winston that lets you chain lightning damage to multiple foes and a passive ability for Baptiste that'll finally activate the little turret that's been idly sitting on his shoulder for years, turning it into an automated healer whenever you use his ultimate. Most of the perks sound like a chaotic good time, while others, like Orisa's barrier, seem like situational boons for certain maps and a disaster for others.
Season 15 is also bringing back 6v6 competitive queues, and if you're not a fan of the new changes, you can reminisce with Overwatch Classic: GOATS, which is another mode throwing it back to "one of the most notorious and memorable periods from Overwatch's history" - namely, the meta that often had three supports sweating to keep three tanks alive.
And, finally, Season 15's list of changes ends with the return of loot boxes, once controversial, now missed because of how damn extortionate microtransactions have gotten in almost every live service. Refreshingly, this time around, Blizzard is being very transparent about loot box drop rates, though. "We are guaranteeing that a Rare or better item will drop in every single box," Blizzard says via a press release, "with an Epic item within five consecutive boxes and a Legendary item within twenty consecutive boxes."
Overwatch 2's most aggressive (or aggressive against Marvel Rivals) addition is coming in April with Season 16's new Stadium mode. Stadium is a best-of-seven mode that has each player gaining in-game currency via eliminations, before spending it on stat buffs and ability upgrades at the start of every round. Also a bit like the Halloween event, then - which itself was a bit like the scrapped co-op mode - but this time without the random, roguelike-ish elements. What makes Stadium particularly dramatic is that it's a third-person mode by default. You can switch to first-person if you wish, I should add, but it's a pretty blatant attempt to kneecap one of Marvel Rivals' most distinguishing features while letting players actually see the cosmetics they've sunk money into during matches.
Season 16 also sees the introduction of a new, crossbow-wielding DPS called Freja who you'll be able to try out soon one weekend and a Hero Ban feature, while a water-bending 44th hero and a handy Map Voting feature are both coming later in the year.
