Biggest Changes Coming To Overwatch 2

It’s been a rough couple of years for Overwatch fans around the world, we all know that. There are people still playing Overwatch 2, and having genuine fun, but most players lost faith over time, and turned over to new experiences. The coming of new competition in the genre certainly helped with that.

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In spite of everything, Activision Blizzard is still trying to compete. Apparently, it’s now willing to actually make substantial changes to the game and deliver new and fun experiences for Overwatch 2 players, as seen in its recent Overwatch 2 Spotlight presentation.

9

Esports Events Expanded

Competitive mode has been one of the game’s most divisive features over the years, if not the most divisive. Struggling to maintain the game’s balance and keeping the players happy at the same time is not an easy equilibrium to achieve, and that made people lose interest in both playing ranked mode, and watching the official Overwatch Esport, now called Overwatch Champion Series.

Changes to the OWCS in 2025 include one new stage and live-event, which means more games and broadcasted matches. FaceIt Leagues have also been added, to make it easier to compete. A new phase to the competition, the tournament phase. And finally, they are adding a team partner program, to help you support your favorite teams directly.

8

New Cosmetics

Cosmetics are always a double-edged sword. They can either make people extremely happy, or really mad, depending on their quality and how they’re implemented. Overwatch 2’s Season 15 comes with an array of new skins and cosmetics to look out for.

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Starting with the season’s Mythic skin, called Pixiu Zenyatta, based on godly ascension. There is also a new mythic weapon for Widowmaker, and a new weapon cosmetic that replaces the Jade one. Another collab with Le Serafim is coming this season, and we also got glimpses of future Mythic skins and weapons for next seasons, confirmed to be for Juno, D-Va and Reaper.

7

Loot Boxes Returning

Another one of Overwatch’s most controversial subjects is coming back, this time as a part of the Battle Pass. Going hand-in-hand with cosmetics, loot boxes are returning to give players a chance to win random skins for their heroes and weapons.

Regular Loot boxes will be available from both weekly and event rewards, and Legendary Loot boxes will be available in the Battle Pass, one in the free pass, and two in the Premium. It’s guaranteed that a Rare (or better) tier item will be dropped in every single box, an Epic item dropping with five boxes in a row, and a Legendary item within 20 boxes in a row.

6

Hero Bans And Map Voting Added

Players have been asking for something like this for a while now: Hero bans. Starting in Season 16, players will now be able to ban specific heroes from matches before they begin, like in League of Legends, for example. This is obviously a good move, to keep matches a little bit more balanced and prevent a single-hero-meta from overtaking and steamrolling every single match.

Planned for some time after Season 16, map voting will also be added to the game. Giving players the opportunity to pick and choose on which map they would like to play that given match. This will, hopefully, give players more flexibility and opportunities to exploit their skills in their favorite maps, if they win the voting.

5

New Maps Coming

When the shift from Overwatch to Overwatch 2 happened, we did get some new maps, but we also lost some great ones, like Temple Of Anubis, for example. And yes, even though fans of the game have been receiving maps sporadically, new content is something the community always strives for.

Announced to come sometime after Season 19, so, still a long way into the future, we will eventually receive two new maps, called Atlantic Arcology and Tokyo. We still don’t have much information on them, like the objectives or game modes, but players can expect new info on them sometime this year.

4

6v6 Back In Competitive Play

While this can be seen as a desperate move on Overwatch’s part, since they started adding 6v6 back into the game, suspiciously, right after Marvel Rivals’ launch, it’s still good news, especially for long time players who have been playing ever since Overwatch 1’s dawn in 2016.

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6v6 will be back in Competitive Play, Open Queue during mid-Season 15. Teams will be limited to having two tanks in total, to prevent the feared meta that once ruled the game; three tanks and three healers in every team. The only issue here, is that they are treating this as ‘new’ content for Overwatch 2, which is technically true, but we all know it’s something they removed themselves from Overwatch 1.

3

New Heroes In The Horizon

Hazard is currently the latest hero added to the Overwatch 2 roster, and, to some of the players, he is a lot of fun, maybe one of the best heroes ever added. Fortunately, though, the team is not resting on its laurels in the hero department.

Freya was introduced as the latest addition to the roster, to mixed reception from fans. She will use a crossbow as her main weapon, and will feature a cape that’ll give her massive air time. Of course, she will be another DPS character, arriving in Season 16. We also got a sneak-peak at Hero 44, or Aqua, a Chinese water-wielder with a bo staff, who will arrive in Season 18.

2

New Game Mode: Stadium

The biggest new game mode added since Overwatch launched. This is a best-of-seven 5v5 mode, in which you earn currency based on your performance each round. You can then use said currency to unlock or upgrade new abilities for your hero off of a skill-tree-type menu. This time, you have the option to play in classic first-person mode, or shift to a Marvel Rivals’ style third-person perspective. To sum up, it’s basically a Deadlock-like mode.

This new game mode actually seems to be very fun, and very much in line with the infamous PvE mode that was announced for Overwatch 2, and never actually came. Only time will tell if this change is what Overwatch needs to get players’ trust back, but at least on the face of it, it does look like a good amount of casual, chaotic fun the game sorely needs.

1

Perks Are Coming

Once again, this is a bit of a controversial topic, and the most important change to the base-game of Overwatch in general. In what seems to be yet another answer to Marvel Rivals’ Team-Up Abilities, Overwatch 2 is adding Perks to every hero in the roster, arriving along with Season 15.

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These act as level-ups you gain mid-match. The first one is a choice between two small or minor upgrades to your pre-existing kit, like lower cooldowns on certain abilities or small boosts to other ones. The big change comes in the form of a major upgrade, which is another choice between two options that drastically change your kit, like having Orisas’ Protective Barrier (her shield from back in Overwatch 1) replacing her Javelin Spin, or having Ana nano-boost herself as well as a teammate with her ultimate.

Released

October 4, 2022

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

Proprietary Engine

ESRB

T

Platforms That Support Crossplay

PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S

Cross Save

yes

Expand