Overwatch 2 update will reduce reliance on teamwork

From its inception, the Overwatch series was developed with teamwork in mind. Unlike other multiplayer first person shooters, the hero-based nature of Overwatch required teammates to take on certain roles, including tanks and healers. In a massive change for the shooter, Overwatch 2 will soon heavily reduce its reliance on teamwork.

Making the announcement on their blog, Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller shared the major news, saying:

“Overwatch is a team-based, hero-based, multiplayer competitive shooter. Heroes, maps and game modes are all designed to require teams to work together in order to successfully win a match. When a team works together – each player using their hero to their fullest potential while relying on each other to execute a strategy – the game feels magical. There’s really no other FPS like it. However, when this isn't happening and players are all working on their own, the game is far from magical and can become frustrating. The reliance on teammates can simultaneously be one of the best and worst attributes of our game.”

With that, Keller revealed that starting with Season 9, “both Tank and Damage heroes will get a modified, tuned-down version of the Support self-healing passive. This should give non-Support players more options in terms of sustaining themselves. It should also take some of the pressure off Support players to keep everyone alive since individual players now have more control of their own health pool.”

Though technically a small change, this could have a massive impact on not only how the game is played, but also its pacing, level of aggression and more. While this should hopefully lead to a more consistent experience game-to-game, it will be interesting to see how long-term players react to the change.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of this change? Do you enjoy team-based games? Let us know down below.

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