Overwatch 2 beta, just more than 900 days after it was announced that the second installment of this hero-themed first-person shooter game was announced. The game has been an extended waiting for players who’ve been waiting for a substantial update There have been no new heroes announced over the last two years and balance updates are few and far in between.
Overwatch was first announced as a 6-v6 team-based hero shooter that had a modest but substantial roster of 12 heroes that grew to 21 at the time of its launch. The 21 heroes played three main roles that included tanks who take the damage of their teammates as well as DPS (damage per second) who kill as well as supporters who provide health and general assistance but with plenty of overlap and individual character traits which enabled some characters to play multiple roles in their team. The composition of teams changed constantly throughout time during the game and players rearranged their teams to counter their adversaries. However, the players’ enthusiasm to play DPS roles frequently resulted in teams with unproductive teams while players indulged themselves in the vast array of DPS heroes. There could be as many as five or four DPS players on a team, aided by a single tank or support pair. This could be a cause of frustration during the game, but was also very much in line with the elements that made it enjoyable.
The game’s direction began to take a controversial direction in the year 2018 following the launch of the support for Brigitte. The game was driven by the ability to be stunning enemies. While they were always an aspect of Overwatch but the fact that virtually every hero that was added post launch had at least one of these skills made them an ever-present issue. Additionally, the various tank combos became frustrating to play against as they could block Overwatch’s maps by using barriers as well as other damage-reducing capabilities. This led to lengthy, slow-moving matches which mostly involved trying to break shields of tanks and determining who could put out crowd control more efficiently. The game slowed down and became boring, and as the years came to an end, it became apparent that something had to be changed.