Blizzard provided more information about Overwatch 2 as promised.
Very Overwatch 2 information was released yesterday in a separate segment after the opening ceremony of BlizzConline 2021.
In it, the Overwatch 2 team takes a first look at a few new locations that players will travel to in the upcoming sequel, including Rome, which is the place for a map in the new Push mode and the New York City of Overwatch ‘s future earth.
You also get a glimpse of the new look for heroes from the original Overwatch, including McCree, Pharah, Reaper and Widowmaker. Expect some to look a little technician, like McCree, or a full armor like Pharah.
The development that came as a result of player feedback on the Overwatch 2 demo at BlizzCon 2019 has included the evolution of some Null Sector enemies. It includes a look at new Null Sector enemies like the Stalker and Breacher. The purpose of these enemies is to make them more captivating, and some of these have led to the development of existing units and the addition of new units. So expect different types of patrol units depending on what you are doing on a map where you have the task of, for example, reaching a certain place or doing an escort mission. And some units do not even attack players, such as the Breacher, whose sole purpose is to reach the target and explode. Other enemies include the Slicer, Puller and ELite units such as the Omnic Grunt.
A look at the latest version of talents, which is part of the progression system that allows players to customize the heroes’ abilities in the new collaborative experience of the sequel. With the Talent System you can play heroes in different ways. With the skill tree you will be able to 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 feel dynamic and a look at the creative process behind the scenes. The goal around Hero Missions is that it should be a collaborative PvE experience in which players participate to increase their heroes, but the team does not want it to feel like a grind, so there should be many missions. The goal is to make as many as possible, even hundreds of heroic missions.
At the same time, hero missions can take place on all the multiplayer maps, on which some new spaces will also be added. For example, in one Hero Missions play test, the tame comes into one area in Kings’ Row with a gate. The gate opens, and there’s a new area of King’s Row that has never been seen before.
Another example is a dynamic sandstorm on the temple of Anubis. Basically, the team aims to provide a more dynamic world, with day and night effects complementing where the map is currently in the world, and with wind and atmosphere.
The team also discussed how they are experimenting with an idea called roll passive in PvP. Tank heroes will reduce the setbacks against them, making them more “against-the-ground” fighters, and less character who just stands back and protects other people. Using Reinhardt as an example, the team gave him two charges of Fire Strike so he could throw it more often and aggressively. He can also now cancel his levy.
Heroes for protection that are protected have a movement speed bonus, and support heroes have automatic healing that kicks in after not inflicting damage for a while.
Blizzard says it’s revisiting “almost everything,” and that nothing is off the table.
Sojourn, the new character that comes with Overwatch 2, is briefly discussed and she quickly becomes a “favorite” with the team, in part because of her Railgun, because the character is about ‘target skill’.
According to Jeff Kaplan, chief designer of Overwatch, the Overwatch 2 team explores new game modes and also evaluates older game modes that people are more critical of, using 2CP as an example of a mode that might not make it into the game. Kaplan said the team really wants the game to feel like the next evolution and a real sequel to the first game.
Eventually the story was touched upon, which would indicate who was behind the second Ominic uprising, why it was happening and how far it had spread worldwide. Each story mission has an intro and outro, so expect the story to be more integrated than before. All available heroes will get dialogue for a given mission. There is a branching dialogue system, so if you happen to have Genji and Mercy in the second mission of the game, you can have different dialogues about their relationship.
A brief overview of what to expect with Overwatch 2 can be found in the latest developer blog post. Blizzard has promised regular updates on the game as it develops, and does not expect the game to be released anytime soon as the team needs time to make sure everything is ready, and full of polish before you can get your hands on it get.
Overwatch 2 was unveiled at BlizzCon in November 2019, where it was announced that all 31 heroes, plus more, will get an updated look, and the game will feature the hero Sojourn and several new heroes. All cosmetics and advancements will emerge in the game, and Overwatch 1 and 2 players can play together in a shared PvP multiplayer environment.