Overwatch 2 has proven to be extremely popular since its Early Access launch on October 4. With many fans revisiting the shooter franchise and reliving the experiences they had with its predecessor, discourse surrounding the core gameplay and current state of the title's heroes is predictably dominating online circles.
While it is expected that fans will continue to engage with discourse surrounding the balance of Overwatch 2 heroes, it may be some time before a truly meta can be inferred. Given the early state of the game combined with freshly added heroes and significant tweaks to pre-existing ones, players may have to wait to become fully accustomed to the intricacies of the title's roster, especially given many are gated behind unlocks.
The Basics of Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 is a free-to-play sequel to the massively popular 2016 online shooter from Blizzard Entertainment. The new title maintains a lot of the core gameplay framework from its predecessor, boasting many of the same characters and maps for its online experience while offering a handful of new heroes and locations to explore.
With Overwatch 2 rewriting the franchise's monetization strategy by implementing a seasonal battle pass system that has become the norm in contemporary online gaming, the title also hopes to stand out via an ambitious PvE mode. Offering a more story-driven environment to accelerate character arcs and the lore of the Overwatch franchise, this PvE mode is set for release in 2023, and will offer the largest amount of unique content to the title.
Overwatch 2's Hero Balance
One of the biggest allures for Overwatch 2 is the presence of brand-new playable heroes that the game launched with, as well as tweaks to previously established characters. Currently, there are three new heroes in Overwatch 2, covering the three class types: tank, damage, and support.
These new characters are Junker Queen, Sojourn, and Kiriko, and many fans are already opining on the current state of balance that these additions bring. Comprehensive changes have also been made to many fan-favorite older heroes, such as Doomfist, Orissa, and Bastion. For example, Doomfist has changed roles from a tank to a damage hero in Overwatch 2, while Orissa has been completely reworked from a defensive tank to a decidedly offensive one without shield capabilities.
Outside of direct character changes, Overwatch 2 has also lowered the PvP team sizes from six to five, fundamentally changing the core gameplay framework of the franchise. This early on in Overwatch 2's life, many long-term fans are still approaching the idea of hero balancing with the same frame of mind as the original Overwatch's six vs six gameplay. Considering this, it becomes apparent that the wider Overwatch community may have to wait to form solid opinions on the state of balancing, as many will have to get used to the new roles all heroes play in a more close-knit team
Of course, the addition of aforementioned new heroes and such sweeping reworks fo older characters will foster a longer teething period for the community to understand the state of Overwatch 2's hero balance, especially considering not every player has access to every hero. While it remains that even in these early stages some of the more glaringly imbalanced heroes are obvious, it will still require more time before a fair consensus can be made.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.