After years of waiting, fans of Blizzard's popular hero-shooter franchise now have the chance to check out Overwatch 2. The Overwatch 2 PvP closed beta is in full swing, giving those invited to participate the opportunity to try the new 5v5 set-up and check out the various hero reworks on display. The Overwatch 2 beta lets Blizzard figure out what's working and what isn't so it can apply changes accordingly. Some of those changes are being made while the beta is still live.
Blizzard recently released a new update for the Overwatch 2 PvP closed beta. The update made a number of tweaks to the hero-shooter based on fan feedback and issues that have come up, but the most significant changes have been made to Tank hero Roadhog and Support hero Zenyatta. In Roadhog's case, Blizzard noticed Roadhog wasn't performing up to his usual standards, and so it is testing a change with his Ultimate ability.
Blizzard noticed that Roadhog was dying a lot in Overwatch 2 when using his Whole Hog Ultimate ability, and so the update makes a big change to how the Ultimate works. Blizzard has changed Whole Hog from a Channeled Ultimate, meaning that it just shoots constantly after players activate it, to a Transform Ultimate. What this means is that Roadhog's Whole Hog weapon doesn't fire unless players want it to, and they are also free to use Roadhog's other abilities while the Ult is active. Furthermore, stunning Roadhog will no longer cancel his Ult. Needless to say, this should make Roadhog significantly more powerful, as he will now be able to keep using his Ultimate while he heals and the like. Click here for the full Overwatch 2 beta update patch notes.
As for Zenyatta, fans of the Support hero will notice that he now has a new Passive ability called Snap Kick. The gist of the Snap Kick is that it lets Zenyatta kick enemy playerrs away from him. Since Zenyatta is more effective as a ranged hero and extremely vulnerable when enemies get close, the theory is that this will help him survive longer in battles. Dropping from six Tank heroes to five means Zenyatta isn't able to hide as effectively as he once could, and so a change like this seems to be a step in the right direction.
Of course, it's always possible Blizzard will make even more changes to Zenyatta, Roadhog, and the various other heroes on the Overwatch 2 roster as it learns from people engaging with the new 5v5 setup. Buffs, nerfs, and other entire reworks could very well be in store for the Overwatch 2 heroes, and fans can count the game evolving significantly between now and when it finally launches.
Overwatch 2 is in development.