Those who have Credits in Overwatch wondering if they can transfer those over in Overwatch 2, rejoice! You’ll be able to, though it seems Blizzard Entertainment will somehow make the OW1 Credits lose its entire point, as a a new Overwatch 2 virtual currency will be introduced, and Blizzard says that this will be the series’ “main” currency.

This was answered by Blizzard in a recent Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), where the studio addressed that loot boxes will not carry over, which isn’t surprising given Overwatch 2 won’t feature loot boxes at all, and instead implement a Battle Pass progression system.

The people answering the questions from Blizzard are:

• Blizz_GavinJF – Lead Narrative Designer
• Blizz_Miranda – Narrative Designer
• j-specs – Overwatch Commercial Lead
• blizz_winter – Systems Designer
• Blizz_Kacey – Art Supervisor
• Blizz_JNoh – Sr Hero Designer
• blizz_akeller – Game Director
• blizz_smercer – Principal System Designer

There’s also two members from the community team answering questions too:

• blizz_jodie
• blizz_andyb

Question:
What will happen to lootboxes and the current currencies… once Overwatch 2 goes live?

Answer from j-specs:

Thanks for your question!

We’ll share a more detailed explanation on all of these topics before Overwatch 2 goes live in October. To give you a quick answer now though, those existing currencies (credits, OWL tokens, and competitive points) will come with you into Overwatch 2. We are not transitioning loot boxes into Overwatch 2, and ahead of launch, any unopened loot boxes will be automatically opened with your account receiving all the contents directly. EDIT: clarified below as well that OW1 credits come with you to OW2, but our new virtual currency will be the main currency, and there will be things in OW2 that will not be purchasable with those OW1 credits

For those hoping to see aim assist for console players implemented when playing on PC with PC party members, Blizzard has dashed any hope of that and explained their reasoning as well.

Question:
Will console get aim assist in overwatch 2 when playing with pc players? my console friends don’t have that much fun when playing in pc lobbies because of the lack of aim assist

Answer from blizz_smercer:

We have no current plans to enable aim assist for console or players who are playing in parties with PC players. There are significant enough gameplay differences between console players using gamepads with aim assist, PC and console players using gamepads without aim assist, and PC players using mice and keyboards that we also don’t allow PC and console players together in competitive play.

You can check the rest of Q&A below, which touches on Symmetra’s upcoming changes, development concerns and more.

Question: A while ago you announced some “meaty changes” for Symmetra. What are the goals of her mini rework and what can we expect?.

Answer from Blizz_JNoh:

I wouldn’t necessarily call it a rework since it’s more tuning than changing the mechanics but the general goal of the changes is to help improve her mobility and enable her to better react to the faster pace of 5v5. Can’t go into all the details but there are things like a shorter teleporter build time and faster secondary fire projectile speed.

Question:
What are your plans regarding maps that will go unused once OW2 launches publicly, such as Temple of Anubis and Hanamura? Will they be repurposed/extended… to fit the molds of other game modes as well?

Answer from blizz_winter:

These maps will still be available to play in custom games, but they won’t be used in other modes at launch.

I have some ideas I’d love to try when it comes to repurposing them for new potential game modes, but these ideas could only see the light of day in the distant future given our current plans. If we did find a way to give them a new mode we’d want to do extensive testing in the Arcade or in other formats where we can get community feedback. We know how divisive Assault (2CP) was for much of our player base and we agree that it had issues, so we wouldn’t bring these maps back without a lot of testing.

Question:
What does the term “Early Access” means for Overwatch 2? Does this means that on this day OW1 is getting replaced by OW2’s PvP or will OW1 shutdown once the game is out of Early Access?

Answer from blizz_akeller:

We’re using the term Early Access to indicate that this is just the start of many new things coming to the game. We’re launching with new heroes, maps and features, but there are even more of these coming seasonally – every 9 weeks. We recently released a roadmap detailing some of this content, with a new hero coming in Seasons 1 and 2, and a new map in Season 2. Additionally, larger pieces of the game that have always been a part of the vision for OW2 will be released to the game as part of the live service, including the launch of the PvE Campaign next year.

When OW2 launches on Oct 4th it will be a replacement for the current Live Service.

Question:
Will MMR/SR for competitive play be reset on current accounts rolling into Overwatch 2

Answer from blizz_smercer:

We won’t be performing a complete MMR reset for Overwatch 2, but we do plan on lowering the MMR of accounts who haven’t played in a while as part of a new “decay” system. A complete reset would mean that games would be completely imbalanced for weeks or longer across the entire service, and we don’t think that will be a great experience for everyone.

Question:
…Back in 2020 Jeff Kaplan mentioned that player borders will be going away but you will still find a way to recognise playtime, have these plans changed in the time since? Will we see a system similar to player borders in Overwatch 2?

Answer from blizz_winter:

We do still plan to remove portrait levels for OW2, but we also want to celebrate this legacy accomplishment. The plan is to display your portrait level in your profile once we launch OW2.

Question:
…What was it like filling in as the new game director for an established game like Overwatch and working on the sequel?

Answer from blizz_akeller:

Hi Naymliss! Specificity is ok with me! 😊

I’ve been a part of this team since 2008, going back to the days of Project Titan. I have a deep connection to this game and even deeper one with the team. I have a lot of feelings about being game director because of this history. I feel so incredibly grateful and honored that the team would put their faith in me to help them usher the game forward. There’s an honor and a responsibility here, I don’t take it lightly… and I do lose a little bit of sleep now and then because of it…. It’s not always easy to know what the best way forward is in every situation, but I always look to be doing what’s best for the game, its community, and to the team as the highest values for how to make decisions. This value is what’s behind the release of PvP this year. It’s important to get new content out for the game. It was a massive shift for the team to completely change the way we were working on and releasing the game but we think that it’s all worth it because that’s what’s best for the game and our players.

Question:
…Also, I can’t help but noticed that a lot of people are confused about the lore, when some events took place.. do you have any plans to make it easier for people who are not invested in the lore to know the basis before the PVE starts? A proper timeline maybe? Updated biographies?

Answer from Blizz_GavinJF:

We’re not ready to talk about our PvE plans just yet, but it’s really important for us to make sure that people understand the lore and stakes going in. We’re working on new bios, and have other extremely cool plans that will surprise even long-term fans of the lore. More on that soon!

Question:
Are we going to have biographies of the Junkerqueen and the new heroes, and maybe some updated ones from the older ones?…

Answer from Blizz_GavinJF:

Hey! We are planning to update a few bios (including JQ’s) in the future, but not during this beta.

Question:
I want to buy the Watchpoint Pack, but I don’t understand what its value is. Can you go into more detail about how much it will cost to buy a Battle Pass, 2000 Virtual Currency, or Legendary Skins once Overwatch 2 releases, so I can better evaluate if this package is worth purchasing?

Answer from j-specs:

Hi! There are several different elements within the Watchpoint Pack. Our main goals for the pack were to offer players a great value on Overwatch 2 content and also to keep offering the Legendary Edition of Overwatch 1 to players who want to jump in before we shift to free to play with the OW2 launch in October. For those players who already own the Legendary Edition of Overwatch 1, the value here is the 2 awesome exclusive legendary skins, the Season 1 Premium Battle Pass, and 2000 virtual currency, which players could use to buy the Premium Battle Pass for each of the next two seasons if they wanted (a premium BP for those seasons will be 1000 VC to purchase each). It’s also a way to get immediate access when our Beta begins on June 28.

Question:
Do you have any future plans for the MEKA Squad? I’ve been a fan of D.mon for the longest time

Answer from Blizz_JNoh:

No official plans at the moment but I’d love to have more of the MEKA Squad in the game. I’m also a big fan of them!

Question:
Will we see any more of Efi Oladele (Orisa’s creator) in OW2?…

Answer from Blizz_GavinJF:

It’s a little too early for us to talk about any PvE content, but I will say that a) Efi and Orisa are still best friends, and Orisa talks about her often b) my kids are big Efi fans.

Question:
Do you mind elaborating about cross platform progression? Will we all be reset to level 1 when OW2 comes out?… If I have a bunch of skins on PS4 and it transfers over for OW2, will I be able to get my skins on Xbox? Or is it console locked?

Answer from Blizz_Jodie:

Howdy, u/timberflynn 😀 We will be removing levels for Overwatch 2, and you will bring your Overwatch skins with you into OW2 from all platforms with cross progression.

Question:
…This is something I really want to know. In current Overwatch, there are voicelines interactions between the tanks like about arm wrestling between Rein and Zarya(I’ve finally beaten the champion at arm wrestling), Rein and Winston(Winston, it’s our job to keep our comrades safe) etc. Do those carry over in OW2? Also, people might play tank duos in open queue. Are there similar new interactions for OW2 between existing and new tanks?…

Answer from Blizz_GavinJF:

We’ve written a lot of new conversations to reflect the passage of time between OW1 and OW2. For some context, OW1 PvP had 1200 pre-match conversation lines. In addition to a small number of holdover OW1 conversations, OW2 has 1800+ new interaction lines, and we’ve absolutely written new interaction lines between tanks. This is VITAL. I would personally be very upset, for example, if Wrecking Ball and Junker Queen didn’t have a chance to chat.

Question:
Are there any updates you can share with us about those Moira changes you told us about in the SVB stream a few days ago.

Answer from Blizz_JNoh:

We’ve worked through a few more iterations to give Moira additional utility. It’s not in the upcoming beta build yet but I believe we’ll be able to patch it in at some point for you all to try out.

Question:
Will Beta 2 include the new hero redesigns? and when can we expect to see all the new looks revealed on the playoverwatch website?

Answer from Blizz_Jodie:

Yes! The upcoming Overwatch 2 Beta will include all new looks. More information on its way this upcoming week.

Question:
What’s Winston’s favorite joke about the periodic table?

Answer from Blizz_GavinJF:

We don’t know yet, but we know one thing: it’s probably not boron. That’s funny because it’s a pun on “boring”.

Question:
When approaching map design, what is the general philosophy behind Push maps vs Escort? Most notably it seems like the biggest difference when play testing in the beta was that Push maps were intentionally designed to be more chaotic due to a high amount of flank routes available and I’d like you to expand on that and offer your thoughts

Answer from blizz_smercer:

The biggest and most obvious difference between Push and Escort is that the path that TS-1 can traverse is much longer to allow for multiple team fights to occur before a team could win the map. At the same time, it’s very important that run times from spawn locations don’t become too long. So that led us during map design to explore paths for TS-1 that looped around such as in Colosseo, or snaked back and forth such as New Queen street. During early playtests, we quickly realized this also meant there were a lot more flanking opportunities and cool places for team fights to occur. We all thought that was really cool, and created a very different feel for Push than our previous escort maps.

Question:
in the OW2 reveal trailer, hanamura was shown as a payload map on the career screen, but you’re saying they won’t do that?

Answer from blizz_winter:

That’s correct, that screen was just a prototype. We do not have a payload version of Hanamura.

I’m not a map designer, but I often join their playtests and talk to them about their thought process with regards to game modes and spatial design. Converting these maps to payload would be a huge effort and it’s not one we’ve undertaken.

The mode I’d like to prototype for an Assault replacement would need some of the tech we’re developing for the PvE side of OW2, but again that’s currently just a sparkle in my eye.

Question:
What are the teams thoughts on more information/specific numbers to the hero information screens? Or perhaps on another screen where players can get more detailed info? This could be helpful for returning players to determine what combos and breakpoints are still available to them

Answer from blizz_winter:

As a convicted tryhard I love the idea of giving players very specific information about hero mechanics in the game. I agree that this type of information is helpful.

Having said that, we haven’t updated the hero information screens for OW2 with this type of detailed information. All the hero abilities that have been reworked have new text on the F1 screen. We will also be giving players access to more information than ever via the new scoreboard and our new after-action report system. I’m proud of the progress we’re making in helping players to learn our game, but I know we can do more.

If/when we can add this more detailed information in-game, I’d expect to see it in a bespoke new format instead of the F1 screen, since that’s intended for newer players.

Question:
What sort of missions can we expect from the battle pass? Will they be hero specific (like hook 20 enemies with Roadhog), general gameplay (push a payload 400m), both, or neither?

Answer from j-specs:

We are planning to add a variety of challenges that players can complete to progress their Battle Pass. We are not planning hero-specific recurring challenges (we are planning lifetime challenges that feel a bit more like achievements and aren’t intended to progress the Battle Pass in a significant way).

We want players to play the game without feeling required to swap onto a specific hero in order to earn progress. Our goal is to also offer you some choices in which challenges you focus on completing as well.

Question:
why, after ~3 years of no content, are there only 3 new heroes on launch?

Answer from blizz_akeller:

Overwatch heroes are incredibly exciting. We pour our hearts and souls into every one that we create. Seeing the community’s desire for more feels great to the team (we want more too!) and I think that the question as to why there aren’t more at release is reasonable. For context, development of Overwatch 2 was initially split between the PvE and PvP sides of the game, and the way it was scheduled was to get most parts of the game completed once the game was ready to ship. To be clear, there is no secret vault of completed heroes and other content that we’re holding for future seasons. As we continued to iterate on the PvE side of the game it meant that the schedule for PvP content and features went longer. Many of the features of PvE, such as the enemy units or hero talents, utilize the same resources on the team as heroes do. For us it’s more important to start shipping content as soon as we can rather than holding the release of the game in order to create more heroes. This is also the reason we’re so excited to go F2P and release content on a seasonal basis – namely to release content when it’s finished rather than holding it to put into a box.

In order to succeed with our new plan long-term, we’ve grown and restructured the team. We’re over three times the size we were at launch. We have big plans for the game, beyond new heroes, maps and game modes, and to accomplish these while still creating content for our seasons takes a lot resources and a lot of planning. For instance, we have several heroes deep into development. The season 2 hero is almost finished, and we’re in varied stages of playtesting for the next 3 heroes, 2 of which are supports!

Answer from Blizz_Kacey:

Heya, we see this question a lot and it’s understandable since y’all don’t see what goes on behind the scenes. A couple of things we are excited about is how much work we’ve put in the last few years. New Heroes require a massive amount of work for so many departments including design, art, tech art, animation, vfx, sound, and many others. They also come with their own additional launch skins, weapons, anims, etc. Then add on top that we’ve done a complete visual rework for all 33 existing Heroes. We are also fans of all of our Heroes too and wanted to give them just as much love and attention to their visual rework as we do with our newest Heroes. So yeah, lots of work. 😊

Question:
What happens when you try to melee as the Junker Queen whilst Gracie is already stuck in a wall or enemy? Does she punch with her fist or does it recall the knife? 🤔

Answer from Blizz_JNoh:

Can confirm Junker Queen does a normal Quick Melee if she doesn’t have the knife in hand.

Question:
Can you give us any insight on your design philosophy for upcoming support heroes? Will they support mainly through healing, utility, damage, or some combination? Were there any decisions made to try to attract people who prefer other roles/games to play support, like more mechanically intensive heroes or better playmaking ability?

Answer from Blizz_JNoh:

In general the broad goal is to provide a wide range of playstyle options. There isn’t really a big shift in that regard towards being weighted more toward healing/damage/utility etc. We do need to make sure they fit well into 5v5 and are able to have a significant impact on the outcome of a match but that can be achieved in a variety of ways depending on the individual hero kit. Future support heroes could lean more on mechanical skills while others can be geared toward rewarding timing and positioning more than testing things like aiming.

Question:
Are you planning on updating the color blind system? It’d be really helpful to have the OWL UI style where it changes the color of shields and abilities instead of just things in the UI like the killfeed

Answer from Blizz_Jodie:

Yes, though not likely right away at launch. We are always looking to improve the accessibility options in the game. It’s a goal for the UX/UI team to focus on accessibility in general and add further options in the future.

Question:
Character stories are my favourite part about Overwatch, how does the team decide what relationships each character has with the others, and are there any cases of the team struggling to find ways to incorporate a new character’s relationships to pre existing characters?

Answer from Blizz_Miranda:

So glad to hear you like the character stories (we love them as well, lol)!

Something that’s really special about Overwatch is just how dense the world is. All of the characters have so much attached to them that we’re able to find hooks on just about anyone that we can connect to other characters. Organizations help with this a lot (it’s obvious characters who both worked in Overwatch would know each other, for example), but there are other elements of our characters that can produce equally interesting connections. One of my favorites is that Efi and Orisa are huge fans of Lucio’s music, and actually got to hang out with him at a charity concert in Numbani!

While some heroes take more effort than others to form connections, I think all of them have ways into relationships, and in some cases those more “complex” relationships can become the most interesting. The team is always imagining how new Hero interactions might go. For example, we’re very excited to see what people think of the friendship that has formed between Sombra and Sigma 😊

We’re excited to expand our storytelling in PvE, as well—more to come on that in the future!

Question:
Is there anything you can tell us about the new hero designs or voice lines? The change to Orisa’s personality seems really interesting and I love junkrat’s new design

Answer from Blizz_Kacey:

Hiya! Oh man, I love Junkrat! For his visual update we tried to keep the iconic feel of the character while keeping the new design feeling fresh and new. For him specifically, we tried to embrace more of his tinkerer aspect of his personality. We don’t want people to forget the fact he’s not only just crazy but undoubtedly intelligent too!

Question:
Does Moira have any father ted references in her new voice lines? Its a foundation of Irish culture 😀

Answer from Blizz_GavinJF:

As a former resident of Dublin, Irish cultural representation is very important to me. As such, Moira has gained:

Multiple Father Ted references. “You know yourself.” (Moira voice) A few other surprises to delight and dismay.

Question:
What social systems are coming for Overwatch 2? A lot of players have asked for clans, or in game tournaments. Has the team been working on any social systems?

Answer from blizz_akeller:

We are looking to add more social systems to Overwatch 2, and a guild system is near the top of the list for us. A feature like this is a great opportunity and something we’re really excited about, but it’s a huge lift, not just for large sections of our team but several other departments at Blizzard. We have put significant work towards this feature, but it’s too early to talk about specifics or when it might come out.

The other suggestion, in-game tournaments, is something that the team is starting to dig into more.

Question:
so levelling up will still be the same? just not with the border

Answer from blizz_winter:

You can level your Battle Pass, but your profile won’t have a level.

Question:
Her origin story art made it seem like she knew he was a hamster, so I too would be mad if they didn’t interact. I need to see how that plays out.

Answer from Blizz_GavinJF:

You will have multiple opportunities to do so. We have conversations between them, as well as some brand new Junkertown map VO!

Question:
I’ve noticed there is a major disconnect between the Overwatch community and the broader gaming community when it comes to the perception of Overwatch and Overwatch 2. This manifests many ways like perception around Role Lock, 5v5, or general knowledge about the cost of Overwatch 2. This ama will hopefully bring some of that in line but in what other ways does the Overwatch team plan on forming a better connection with people who arent entrenched in Overwatch?

Answer from j-specs:

Appreciate your support for Overwatch and OWL!

I think much of the confusion we have sometimes seen about OW2 details came from players not yet having all of the context about our plans as well as our change in strategy to shift to the free to play live service model and release our PvP content first. This past week has felt really exciting because we have been able to share a ton more information with players.

We have a really big opportunity to welcome in millions of new players now, and we hope our Overwatch 1 players invite friends to jump in with them for Overwatch 2.

Question:
What is the team’s opinion about the number of heroes in each role (10 Tanks, 17 Damage, 8 Supports on Oct 4th)? Is there any intention to increase the number of support heroes relative to the other roles, since currently the supports have the least heroes per team slot? Are you considering any more role-swaps (like Doomfist) to even out the roster among the roles?

Answer from blizz_winter:

Our high number of Damage heroes is directly related to the fact that Damage was originally two different roles (Offense and Defense). It was never our intent to create a role that had far more heroes than our other two roles when we created Role Queue.

We know that our support hero lineup needs more variety and it’s a focus for us going forward, but we can’t abandon development of Damage heroes given their popularity.

Having exactly the same number of heroes in each role is not a goal we’re likely to ever actively pursue, but having more supports ASAP is. To that point, two of the three heroes after Season 2 are Supports, as Aaron Keller revealed earlier on this thread 🙂

Question: I’d just like to know what happened to the experimental lol. Is it going to return before beta 2 begins?

Answer from Blizz_JNoh:

There was a backend issue with hotfixing (updating without a full patch) that was causing a lot of players to crash when trying to play the experimental card. No ETA on when that will be resolved but many of those changes will also be in the upcoming beta.

Question:
I’ve seen the idea thrown around a lot, what is the teams stance on movement acceleration?

Answer from Blizz_JNoh:

We actually tried this out early on in OW2 development. The nice thing about it was that it reduced the effectiveness of the AD strafing spam. This made hitscan heroes much more consistent with their damage output, which wasn’t a problem since we could balance around that.

The main problem was that players were so used to how responsive movement feels in OW1 that it was too jarring to make a big a change there and after trying smaller and smaller increments, it kind of got to the point where there wasn’t much tangible benefit to aiming but movement still felt “laggy” so we got rid of it altogether.

Question:
Can you talk more about the after action report and what players will see?

Answer from blizz_smercer:

Sure! When you look at the history section of your profile, you’ll be able to quickly see key information for your recent games. The initial implementation of game reports will include basic information such as the map, game mode, result, and heroes you played. Within the report you can view statistics for all the heroes you played, and a snapshot of the final in-game scoreboard. We’re also starting to design additional features for the future like teamfight statistics and a timeline to show when key events in the game took place.

Question:
Will Overwatch 2 include an increased amount of Accessibility features compared to its predecessor? Will the single player release alongside multiplayer, or will it be staggered?

Answer from Blizz_Jodie:

We have plans to include at least Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text for communications in Overwatch 2, with other features to currently in various stages of development.

Question:
If we buy the Watchpoint pack, do we get beta access on the 28th guaranteed? Or just guaranteed beta access at a random time after the 28th

Answer from Blizz_Jodie:

Players who buy the Watchpoint Pack will get beta access on June 28!

Question:
Can you give more details on skill rating? We know your removing the number, but how will it work? Will it consider your current number? And how does it compares to the new rank?

Answer from blizz_smercer:

The conversion of Skill Rating (SR) to the 5 new sub-tiers within the current Skill Tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, Grandmaster) is straightforward. Each Skill Tier was previously 500 SR, and each of the new 5 sub-tiers correspond to what was 100 SR. So, if you were previously between 2000-2099 SR, you would be considered a Gold 5 player in the new system. If you achieved the Master tier with 3733 SR, you’d now be a Master 3 player.
Yeah, Bronze 5 is 1-1099.

Question:
Will the new maps added in OW2 have stories that will be revealed with PVE ? I’m quite curious of Portugal and if it will be related to some heroes or Lore ?

Answer from Blizz_GavinJF:

We love hiding lore and teasers in maps, and while I don’t want to spoil anything, I ENCOURAGE you to explore and see what you find.

Portugal itself has some very interesting connections to the lore (and to other locations as well). There are hints of a new faction, for example, maybe even one that has ties to an unannounced hero…

Question:
Will there be an accessibility option to disable screen shake and head bob in this beta or in OW2? I would really like to play without headaches. Apex Legends, Halo Infinite, Call of Duty: Warzone, PUBG, Rainbow Six Siege. All these games are competitive FPS and have the accessibility option to disable screen shake. Blizzard always says they want their games to be accessible, but OW2 is lacking in modern accessibility options.

Answer from Blizz_Jodie:

We are currently discussing viable solutions for Camera Shake. We will share more information with you when we can!

Question:
Are there any other heroes who will be getting reworks between now and launch? Incredibly excited about the game!

Answer from blizz_akeller:

We’re not just committed to launching new heroes and content, but making changes to existing ones if they become necessary. We have some fun changes on the way for Symmetra in the coming Beta, and partway through it, we’ll introduce a change to Moira. We’re also looking at some changes to Brigitte, especially for her Ult, that we’re hoping to get into the game for launch. Past that, we’ll continue to look at and make changes to heroes based on the needs of the game. It’s an exciting time, and lot can happen to a game when the public starts playing it!

Question:
with the recent Junkerqueen gameplay trailer showing similarity in utility to other characters (Namely Lucio’s Speed Aura and a roadhog-like disposition), has the philosophy on overlapping abilities changed as the roster grows for Overwatch 2’s Heroes? If so, could you provide some insight on what influences what abilities a hero will have from concept to final product, and when it is okay for multiple similar effects to exist simultaneously? (Also, gameplay question: Does speed boost from different heroes stack?)

Answer from Blizz_JNoh:

Overlapping abilities is always an interesting discussion topic for our team. We’re generally okay with it but it really depends on what the ability mechanic is.

For example we’ve found many players are not excited by stacking barriers. Healing is an ability mechanic that stacks and prevents dying but is fine until the values get too high and consistent, so it’s really a question of degrees.

We’ll see if stacking or alternating AoE speed boost becomes too problematic or conversely if it opens up new and interesting gameplay strategies. There is currently a cap on maximum speed boost which if I recall correctly is 75% (that value could change in the future)

Question:
What do you think has been the biggest time sink development wise that we as fans might not understand? I see a lot of ‘it’s been 3 years and this is IT!?’ It might be worth a brief rundown of some of these things so people can maybe understand instead of just be mad that there’s not more of what they hoped for.

Answer from Blizz_JNoh:

Jumping in late for this one since I had some meetings earlier but wanted to respond to this.

Can’t speak for everyone but for some insight into the hero design team we’ve had a significant amount of time dedicated to creating the talent trees (we previewed some of these at Blizzcon).

For context there are about 40-50 talents split into 3 trees per hero and each of those trees has a few talents that are a similar complexity to creating a new ability for a hero.

Heroes in OW usually have 3-4 abilities and a weapon so prototyping a new hero is actually faster than making the talents for one (in terms of design time and scripting – not counting all the real production and art that has to happen).

There are 36+ heroes to do that for and then we’ve also got the PvP side with all the 5v5 rebalancing, hero reworks, and new hero development on top of that.

Question:
I interpreted it as Beta: Sojourn, JunkerQueen, ? Support Season 2: ? Tank After: 2/3 are support

Answer from blizz_akeller:

This is the correct interpretation. Apologies for the lack of clarity earlier! 🙂

For those wondering what Blizzard has in store post-launch, check out the roadmap of content right here! The studio has also given an overview of the new hero, Junker Queen, showcasing her abilities.

Overwatch 2’s PvP component will be released this October 4, and will be free-to-play on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.