Game Director of Overwatch 2, Aaron Keller has provided some insight on how Overwatch 2: Invasion hero balancing and player progression will work once it launches on August 10. Nearly half of the heroes in Overwatch 2 will get balance changes with Invasion, and we have received details on some of the larger ones.

Keller notes that Blizzard learned a lesson with the Lifeweaver season where the new Overwatch 2 hero was interesting, but not strong enough, and says that the developers do not want to repeat that. To tackle this, Invasion will feature a new hero that is exciting and impactful on day one.

• Related Reading: Overwatch 2 and John Cena Team Up for Invasion PvE Story Missions Launching This Aug. 10

The hero will not be “overpowered” but will be balanced in a way where people play her because she brings value and not only because she’s new. Blizzard claims that they will be watching the feedback on the upcoming hero very closely, listening to player feedback, and will make early changes if required.

Other than that, the developers are making a change to the way they calculate damage against armor. Armor damage reduction is now additive with other sources of damage reduction, and respects the cap of 50%. It used to be multiplicative with damage reduction from abilities, creating situations where certain heroes were much more difficult to damage than intended since they were bypassing the damage reduction cap. This shouldn’t be a big change and will mostly affect Ramattra and Orisa.

Now, on to the balance, one of the themes for balance changes in Overwatch 2: Invasion is reacting to some of the game’s recent tweaks. These include:

Cassidy:

• Cassidy’s Magnetic Grenade’s maximum range will shorten quite a bit with a 1.5-second max travel time.
• Cassidy will also get a health buff and some changes to his damage falloff.

Torbjorn:

• His primary fire will be getting a faster fire rate.
• Speeding up his weapon swap so that he’s more effective at keeping his turret up.

Soldier 76:

• Reducing the damage on his Helix Rocket and slightly increasing the cost of his Ult.

Orisa:

• Her Fortify ability will now grant 125 bonus health
• The start of her damage falloff will be slightly extended.

Lifeweaver: 

• Giving his Ult more impact.
• Giving himself more survivability.
• Part of Tree of Life’s healing will now be converted into Overhealth, up to a maximum of 100 health per player.
• Added survivability by converting some of his health to shields and upping the amount of healing done by Rejuvenating Dash.

Kiriko:

• Protection Suzu will now heal slightly less, but when it cleanses a negative effect, it will do an additional burst of healing.
• The slight knockback on Suzu is also being removed.

Mercy:

• Reduction in damage boost, from 30% to 25%.

There are a few other notable mentions. Sombra has a few small changes coming next season, but in Season 7, she’ll debut her larger rework – complete with a new ability! Ramattra and Doomfist’s blocks will now reduce stuck damage and we’re making changes to Bastion’s kit to help him feel more fluid and increase the potential for his Tactical Grenade.

In addition, Overwatch 2’s community manager, Craig, had this to say about the Overwatch 2: Invasion player progression update:

Right now, there are lifetime challenges for each of the heroes, and completing those challenges unlocks player icons. These lifetime challenges and player icons will be integrated into the new player progression system when Overwatch 2: Invasion launches, but any current progress on these lifetime challenges will not transfer over into the new player progression system.

You will keep any previously earned rewards from completing the lifetime challenges moving into the new system. You can still complete the hero lifetime challenges until the end of season five.

You will keep any previously earned rewards from completing the lifetime challenges moving into the new system. You can still complete the hero lifetime challenges until the end of season five.

More details about the upcoming balancing changes in Overwatch 2: Invasion will be revealed once the patch notes go live. Stay tuned to MP1st as we will be posting the patch notes once they are available.

Source: Blizzard Entertainment