Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller has revealed some of the hero changes coming alongside next week’s season 10 update, including some slight tweaks to the new hero, Venture.
Venture’s play test last weekend and the data gained from it lead the development team to realize that it is “pretty happy with how Venture’s initial kit turned out,” according to Keller in a new Directors’ Take blog, but some changes are still coming.
“We’ve heard a lot of feedback that you like the tempo momentum Venture brings, being able to engage and disengage in fights,” Keller said. “But we’re looking at tweaking a few things for Venture at the start of season 10. First, we’re slightly shifting some of their burst damage from their Drill Dash and Clobber (their melee) into damage over time. Next, we’re looking to reduce the vertical knockback of Tectonic Shock.”
Venture’s balance is in such a solid spot, apparently, that Blizzard is considering releasing them early into Competitive Play. “We’re still deciding how early, but we feel they are in a suitable state (fun to play and fair to play against),” Keller said. “While we don’t foresee needing to make many changes to their kit, we’re going to be listening closely to your thoughts on how Venture is doing in-game.”
Meanwhile, several other heroes are up for changes, including some minor nerfs to Sombra (Virus damage over time down to 90 from 100) and Tracer to make her a bit easier to punish, forcing DPS players diving in with her to be more precise.
For tanks, there are buffs for Reinhardt and Junker Queen’s Ultimate abilities, plus some wholesale changes for Wrecking Ball, including buffs for Grappling Hook and Adaptive Shields. The goal is to make Wrecking Ball feel more like a tank, giving him more abilities that can protect his team and open up fights, which Keller said were features the team wants tank to have.
Support heroes being tweaked include Moira, Lucio, Illari, and Lifeweaver, including “shifts in power,” meaning “taking power from one part of their kit and funneling it into another to somewhat maintain the overall power budget of the hero.” Illari will get a slight nerf to her primary fire recovery time, but a buff to her healing per second, for example.
Keller said a new Developer Update video will release tomorrow, April 10, including information on changes to Competitive Play and “what we’re doing to help make Overwatch a more safe and inclusive experience for everyone.”
Overwatch 2’s season 10, Venture Forth, begins next week on April 16.
