Healing for everyone in Overwatch 2. This is one of the biggest changes there has ever been – but will it really make the game better?
There are only a few games that have faced as much criticism as Overwatch 2. Many did not like the change from “6vs6” to “5vs5”, and the cancellation of the long-promised PvE campaign also caused (quite justified) uproar. Significantly increased prices in the shop, bugs at launch, and other issues led to Overwatch 2 becoming the worst-rated game on Steam.
However, the developers continue to try to turn things around and significantly improve Overwatch 2 in 2024. One of the biggest changes of all time for the game is now on the way: All characters will heal themselves automatically to full health.
The newest hero in Overwatch is also facing heavy criticism:
What kind of healing is this? Currently, only support characters in Overwatch have passive self-healing. If they take no damage for a short moment, they heal for 15 health points per second, until they are fully healed or take damage, which breaks the effect.
A “weakened” version of this will be available in the future for all characters, including tanks and damage dealers. This means that when heroes withdraw from combat and take cover, they will be back at full strength after a few moments.
What does this change for the game? Although the change may seem minor at first glance, it is likely to have drastic effects on how individual fights play out in Overwatch 2.
Going forward, it will be significantly more appealing to flank with characters that do not have self-healing or permanent support backing them.
At the same time, this change takes a lot of pressure off the support characters. Instead of trying desperately to save a distant DPS character and placing themselves in the line of fire, a bit of responsibility for survival is handed over to the DPS player, who can simply take cover.
Lastly, this adjustment should ensure that the somewhat monotonous gameplay of “I wait at the med pack until the enemy comes” will not often decide the outcome of a skirmish in the future.
What is Blizzard’s goal? In the blog post, game director Aaron Keller writes that Overwatch 2 “is really good when the team harmonizes”, but “frustrating when it does not work”.
The dependency on team members can be one of the best and one of the worst features of our game. (…)
We want to improve that. We want to improve it by looking at the game through the lens of team play and making it easier for players to be part of a team while also alleviating the pain when it doesn’t work out.
Game Director Aaron Keller in a Blizzard blog post
Thus, they want to improve the game in both directions.
This means, on the one hand, being able to have a greater impact on the game, even if the team does not harmonize well. For example, a Junkrat who skillfully flanks and constantly takes cover can heal completely over a long period and split the attention of the opposing team.
At the same time, support characters are no longer caught in the dilemma of needing to follow individual flanking DPS players and putting themselves in unnecessary danger, and even tanks can survive longer through short breaks until their team is back with them.
Further changes are set to improve the gaming experience: Currently, there seem to be many discussions at Blizzard about how to further improve the game. According to Keller, features like a mini-map or a group interface where one can see the health points of the whole team are being discussed internally. The game director states that the idea of a mini-map will likely be discarded – but the team’s health display will “probably” be implemented.
Aside from that, they plan to make massive balance changes in the next season to particularly reduce high damage spikes – this affects almost all tanks and DPS characters. “Oneshots” or combos that lead to death in the blink of an eye are expected to occur much less frequently.
This is what the community says: The changes are met with mixed feelings from the Overwatch 2 player base. Many are skeptical because previously planned changes with good intentions have often had negative effects. Therefore, feedback in the Overwatch 2 subreddit has thus far been rather restrained and only occasionally optimistic, although the benefits are recognized.
- “I have to wait and see what other changes there are in season 9 and beyond, because this type of change creates waves and is influenced by and influences everything: character kits, map design, game objectives, everything.” – LanoomR
- “Damn… the only good thing about support was being able to decide which of your friends lives and which dies 🙁 “ – NaCly_Asian
- “At some point, I just have to accept that the game is turning into something I don’t like anymore.” – samsonixx
- “It’s a shame to see that everyone is just complaining. This could be a very refreshing change, and they are clearly willing to revert it if it doesn’t work.” – p0ison1vy
Whether the changes will have the desired effect remains to be seen. But the mere introduction of “healing for everyone” is likely to be the biggest change to Overwatch since the launch of Overwatch 2.
