Blizzard provided more information about Overwatch 2 as promised.
A lot of Overwatch 2 information was released yesterday after the BlizzConline 2021 opening ceremony in a separate segment.
In it, the Overwatch 2 team provides a first look at some new locations that players will travel to in the next sequence, including Rome, which is the setting for a map in the new Push mode, and the future Overwatch Land in New York. .
You’ll also see new evolving looks for original Overwatch heroes, including McCree, Pharah, Reaper and Widowmaker. Expect some to look a little more technical, like McCree, or full armor like Pharah.
The developments that came as a result of player feedback on the Overwatch 2 demo at BlizzCon 2019 included the evolution of some enemies from the Null Sector. This includes a look at new enemies from the Null Sector, such as the Stalker and Breacher. The goal with these enemies is to make them more engaging and part of that involved the evolution of current units and the addition of new ones. So expect different types of spawning units depending on what you are doing on a map where you have the task of getting to a certain place or doing an escort mission, for example. And some units may not even attack players, such as Breacher, whose sole purpose is to reach his goal and explode. Other enemies include the Slicer, Puller and ELite units like the Omnic Grunt.
A peek at the latest talent iteration, part of the progression system that allows players to customize heroes’ skills in the all-new cooperative experience in the sequel, was also provided. With the Talent System, you can play with heroes in different ways. With the skill tree, you can experiment with your character, and each hero has a different tree.
The video also provides an update on Story Missions and Hero Missions, including how the team makes the world look dynamic and a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process. The goal around hero missions is for them to be a cooperative PvE experience in which players participate to raise the level of their heroes, but the team doesn’t want it to look like a grind, so there must be a lot of missions. Therefore, the goal is to do as much as possible, even hundreds of heroic missions.
At the same time, hero missions can take place on all multiplayer maps, which will also have some new spaces added. For example, in a hero quest game test, the tamed came to an area in Kings’ Row that has a gate. The gate opens and there is a new area of King’s Row never seen before.
Another example is a dynamic sandstorm on the map of the Temple of Anubis. Basically, the team’s goal is to provide a more dynamic world, with day and night effects that complement where the map is in the world at the moment, and with wind and atmosphere.
The team also discussed how they are experimenting with an idea called roll passives in PvP. Tank heroes will have knockback reduction against them, to make them more “face to face” fighters, and less of a character who just stays behind and protects other people. Using Reinhardt as an example, the team gave him two loads of Fire Strike so he could play them more often and more aggressively. He can also cancel his charge now.
Heroes with damage protection have a movement speed bonus and support heroes have automatic healing that is activated after not taking damage for a while.
Blizzard says it is revisiting “almost everything” and that nothing is out of the question.
Sojourn, the new character that will come with Overwatch 2 was briefly discussed, and she is quickly becoming a “favorite” with the team partly because of her firearm, since the character is all about “aiming ability”.
According to Overwatch chief designer Jeff Kaplan, the Overwatch 2 team is exploring new game modes and also reevaluating older game modes that people are most critical of, using 2CP as an example of a mode that may not enter the game. Kaplan said the team really wants the game to look like the next evolution and a true sequel to the first game.
Finally, the story has been covered, which will investigate who is behind the second Ominic uprising, why it is happening and how far it has spread globally. Each story mission will have an introduction and another, so expect the story to be more integrated than before. All available heroes will have dialogue for a given mission. There is a branched dialogue system, so if you happen to have Genji and Mercy in the second mission of the game, you can get different dialogues about their relationship.
A condensed summary of what to expect from Overwatch 2 can be found in the latest blog post from the developer. Blizzard has promised more frequent updates about the game as it is developed, and not waiting for the game to be released soon, as the team needs time to make sure everything is right and polished before you get your hands on it.
Overwatch 2 was revealed in November 2019 at BlizzCon, where it was announced that all 31 heroes, plus more, will receive an updated look, and the game will feature the hero Sojourn and several new heroes. All the cosmetics and progress will come into the game, and Overwatch 1 and 2 players can play together in a shared PvP multiplayer environment.