Overwatch 2’sintroduction of Perks this season has changed the game in a fun way, but some heroes are having a bit too much fun while others need some help in its next update.
In a new Director’s Take blog forOW2, associate game director Alec Dawson detailed Perk changes coming in the season 16 update less than two weeks away, explaining how Blizzard decides what to do when it comes to balancing Perks moving forward after their debut.
“We look at a combination of what we’re seeing in the data—like pick rate gaps—and the amount of influence Perks have in moment-to-moment gameplay,” Dawson said in theblog post. “If we feel a hero has a less impactful perk set overall, we also wanted to offer them new options. There’s also constant iteration going on behind the scenes to dream up bigger and better options for future seasons.”
Some of those “less impactful” Perks, for example, are Mercy’s Angelic Recovery, Sombra’s Stack Overflow, and Juno’s Re-Boots, which are all being replaced. And that’s just the beginning of what the patch will entail, according to Dawson.
Here are some of the new Perks coming in season 16:
Dawson also teased that some Perks are a bit too strong, like Tracer’s which allow her to triple Blink, and that will likely be nerfed or “dialed back,” while the team is also aware that players have responded well to Perks that bring back old kit abilities like Orisa’s shield and Hanzo’s Scatter Arrow.
Elsewhere in the update, new hero Freja will receive some buffs in light of her playtest a few weekends ago. Dawson says that her Revdraw Crossbow will now shoot 12 shots before max spread, increased from eight, and her ultimate’s damage over time is getting an increase along with an increase to its max radius.
These changes and more will go live inOW2’sseason 16, which is set to drop on April 22.
