The Overwatch 2 community is up in arms over the season 11 midseason update, which shook up the meta in several ways.
Yesterday’s midseason patch added tremendous buffs to the tank role, which has struggled ever since Blizzard decided to switch to five-vs-five after the original game was six-vs-six. With one tank on the field, they’re a focal point in any battle and survivability has been an issue.
But after the latest update, many players seem to think Blizzard has gone too far. For example, one player pointed out that Ramattra now effectively has 1,000 HP in Nemesis form thanks to its buffs along with general tank role buffs.
OW2’s tank buffs include an increase to ultimate generation and a nerf to the DPS passive that made tanks take more damage, so the role now feels overtuned and the calls to return to six-vs-six are louder than ever.
“Dealing damage to tank heroes will be slightly less rewarding with the increased reduction to ultimate generation and will help to balance out the increased healing they may receive with the change to the damage role passive in this patch,” Blizzard said in the patch notes.
Meanwhile, a July 9 Reddit post showed Bastion in turret form firing through a Baptiste ultimate unable to out-damage Mauga before dying, to further illustrate how strong tanks have become.
Other changes included nerfs to Pharah, a DPS hero players have been finding extremely problematic. Her Concussive Blast was meant to have its damage taken away along with a reduction in its knockback radius, but the knockback was buffed by 11 percent to compensate.
A video posted by OW2 streamer Metro showed that direct hits still do damage, her main counter Cassidy was also nerfed, and the knockback increase is substantial. “Incompetence at its finest,” he said.
Lead gameplay designer Alec Dawson said on July 8 that the patch would include the balance team “going bolder” with “bigger swings,” but that Blizzard would be “more reactive with any out of line gameplay issues,” so another balance pass could come soon.
