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I recently dove back into Overwatch after a nearly two-year break, and it's never been more clear that it's time for Overwatch 2.
Don't get me wrong: Overwatch's core ideas are still rock-solid. It remains a top-tier hero shooter with a good variety of heroes and plenty of brilliant gameplay moments. There are few things comparable to winning a tight competitive Overwatch match with a clever ultimate ability pop or a moment of teamwork so in-sync it's like six players are sharing one brain.
But I was shocked at how little had changed when I returned after two years away from Overwatch. Blizzard has continued to make tweaks and adjustments to the original game since starting production on Overwatch 2, and seasonal events still offer some new items when they come around. But there's been only two new maps, no new heroes, and no major gameplay changes for the last two years, and there's a staleness that's hard to ignore. A beta for the sequel is coming April 26, and it couldn't come any sooner – we're ready for Overwatch 2 and the broad changes it will bring to the franchise.
The state of Overwatch
Booting up Overwatch on my Xbox Series S for the first time is incredibly bizarre. The vibrant colors look great and my new headset only improves the audio, but it feels like I've opened up a time capsule. On the home screen stands Moira in a skin I worked so hard to get back before COVID-19 was even a thing, an eerie representation of a time long gone. I open up a loot box and two out of the four objects in it are things I already have.
Jumping into competitive placement matches, I'm pleasantly surprised that there's an option to play either open comp or role queue, the latter of which requires players to choose one of three roles: healer, tank, and DPS (damage per second). Only two of each role can play on a team, and my unfortunate inability to play any other healer as good as Moira meant I struggled when the role queue was established back in September 2019. It was actually part of the reason I stopped playing Overwatch, so the open queue option is a blessing.
But aside from an ability to dig my heels deeper into Moira one-tricking, Overwatch feels entirely unchanged. Certain comps make sense on certain maps, certain heroes need certain counters, certain combinations of DPS and healers make for incredibly frustrating matches – it's all the same as it was before. My teams get stuck in the same chokepoints, struggle to cap the same points, and angrily chide each other over voice and in-game chat. The players know Overwatch hasn't changed – and Blizzard does, too.
The studio recently admitted that focus on Overwatch 2 left the original game struggling. In a long-awaited Overwatch 2 developer update, game director Aaron Keller admits the team got it wrong when it all but abandoned Overwatch content updates in favor of working on Overwatch 2. Keller promises the sequel will far exceed Overwatch's "previous rate of content release," which should alleviate some players' worries about Overwatch 2. In a developer livestream that took place a week after the blog update, Keller explains that attempts to ship both Overwatch 2's PvP and PvE modes led to a crisis of core values.
"Should we get Overwatch 2 out as fast as we possibly can so we can support the live game more, but before we think it's ready? That goes against everything Blizzard stands for," he says. This quandary ultimately led to Blizzard deciding to "decouple" PvP and PvE, which will give players a chance to enjoy the PvP modes sooner. And we're gonna need that, because Overwatch 2 is boldly shaking up a formula that can become rather volatile if improperly mixed.
Overwatch 2: Electric Boogaloo
Overwatch 2 will be a far cry from where Overwatch is right now, so players should expect a drastic difference. Even though Overwatch has been relatively stagnant for over two years, Blizzard believes it's currently in its most balanced state yet. "When we pulled focus away from Overwatch 1 as we were developing Overwatch 2, we stopped releasing heroes to the game. And there was this consensus that Overwatch was maybe in one of the best balance places that it had ever been, but people still wanted there to be changes to the game," Keller says. "We're in this really awkward position where this game is in a really great spot, but people want changes to it."
And Overwatch 2 won't make small changes like adjustments to a specific cooldown for a specific hero, because Blizzard is overhauling the whole damn thing. The 6v6 format that is now synonymous with Overwatch and OWL will be replaced by a 5v5 structure, which will drastically change team compositions. Teams in Overwatch 2 will have two healers, two DPS, and one tank, which will only make matches even more fast-paced and frantic as the loss of a slow-moving, strong character will open up maps for more chaos. And Overwatch's iconic cast of heroes are all getting reworks as well, some larger than others, that will seriously shake up player's benches.
The sequel will also introduce an extensive ping system that will help players communicate with even more specificity – as well as give players who don't like or aren't capable of speaking on voice chat a chance to communicate, too. That ping system will drastically change the way Overwatch matches – particularly competitive matches – play out, and will take some getting used to when added alongside an already extensive chat wheel.
In short, there's a ton of changes coming with Overwatch 2 that most players will welcome after two years of stagnancy. But those changes involve upending a rock-solid formula, which means there will likely be a rather lengthy adjustment period as players jump into the new game and provide feedback. Balance will be a thing of the past, heroes will likely get frequent adjustments, and metas will emerge that will challenge players and developers. Players need fresh new content and snappier gameplay, but they also need time to get used to an entirely different version of their beloved game. Getting the Overwatch 2 beta in the hands of players who aren't OWL pros or Blizzard employees will be good for both player and dev alike. April 26 can't come soon enough.
For more exciting games in your future, check out our list of new games for 2022 and beyond.
