Hey everyone!
It’s been pretty exciting watching all of you trying out the different Perks we’ve introduced to the game. We’ve seen some pretty amazing plays ranging from mounting Torbjorn’s turret to ceilings on Circuit Royal to bouncing Ana’s Biotic Grenade onto unsuspecting opponents in an opening team fight to, my favorite, bunny hopping around a map as Zarya! We can’t wait to see what incredible plays you’ll make next.
Yesterday, lead gameplay designer Alec Dawson, senior producer Kenny Hudson, and associate hero designer Scott Kennedy had an “Ask Me Anything” on r/CompetitiveOverwatch on Reddit. I wish we could take time to look at them all, but with over 600 questions and comments the team tried to answer some of the big questions many of you had. Today’s Director’s Take will recap their answers, so be sure to check them out and we’ll see you soon for our midseason update. Thanks, and let’s make a great game!
-Aaron Keller
Designing Perks
Q: What's the overall design goals/pillars for perks?
For some, heroes perks seem to be covering weakness they may have (Pharah's Drift thrusters, or Reaper's Dire Triggers), while other perks seem to allow players more skill expression (Sigma's Massive Impact, or Ana's Biotic bounce), and some perks just seem odd or unfitting for the hero (Sombra's White Hat or Moira's Contamination).
Is there a set philosophy for perks that can be shared with the community? Because it seems like perks are trying to solve a lot of problems in the sandbox.
Alec Dawson: Perks are mainly about creating new things for your heroes to do, increasing situational viability, and giving you more agency over your in-match experience.
For that goal of increasing the amount of situations in which a hero can be viable: That can come through via shoring up weaknesses against certain heroes, that can also come through by adding mobility so certain heroes can be played on more maps. That goal led to perks like Junkrat's Frag Cannon, Sigma's Levitation, and many more.
For perks like Sombra's White Hat, that is fulfilling a particular hero fantasy that many players wanted us to lean into and we think that's an interesting opportunity the perks system creates. Over time, we'll see how players respond to some of those more off the wall ones.
Q: Howdy! Wanted to ask how the team decides when to strictly buff an ability versus when to give it a drawback. Stuff like Sombra’s lockout duration increasing but decreasing her hack range by 30%, and Mercy’s Flash Heal being tied to Res where using Flash Heal means you can’t Res for 15 seconds, and using Res mean you can’t Flash Heal for 30. But then we see Tracer get all her blinks back on Recall as a massive boost despite no drawback like freezing her Blink CD or increasing her Recall CD. Do you see yourselves introducing drawbacks to more perks, or removing/reducing existing ones to shake up under/over preforming perks?
Scott Kennedy: When first ideating on perks the team included more perks that had a strong benefit but a drawback. It was found that in some situations it could feel worse to play a perk even if the benefit was strong.
This can be seen currently with Sombra's Major, Stack Overflow. We wanted to give players an option to be able to increase the lockout duration to secure more kills, but reduce the range to make it riskier. We've received a lot of feedback that this perk doesn't feel good to use, or play against, so we're planning on making a balance change to help, and potentially replace it in the future.
We want to avoid situations like these in the future, and in the instance we do have a perk that has a drawback, we want to ensure that the other perk option doesn't also have a drawback so that there's always a beneficial option.
Q: How does the team decided who gets the "fun perks", like (pharah, Kiriko, ana), who gets the "new ability" perks, (bastion, orisa, torbjorn), and who just gets number buffs? (Reaper, Genji) Are the number buffs just placeholders, with plans to go more extreme in the future to match the other heroes?
Well the goal overall is to make fun perks for every hero! That can be more difficult on certain heroes though, as boosting certain elements of their kits can cause issues. Currently, the number buff perks are some of the perks we like the least and plan on changing a handful of those over time. This initial launch has given us plenty of signal on which perk combinations players find compelling and which ones they don't!
Think it's important for us to stay true to our values for Minor and Major perks. Your Minor Perks are supposed to be lighter, nice little upgrades. Your Major Perks are supposed to be transformative. We have some work to hit that goal for all of the heroes and offering more transformative Major Perks.
Q: Are there any perks that you’ve seen a lot of praise for that you think you could potentially incorporate into the hero’s base kit?
Scott Kennedy: There aren't any current plans to implement specific Perks into hero kits, but there are Perks that have helped heroes in ways that could lead to changes in the future.
I think the biggest example of this would be Bastion. The Perks have helped fill in some of the holes in their kit. For example:
- Armored Artillery makes the ultimate more dynamic.
- Smart Bomb helping Bastion's lack of mobility.
- Self-Repair aiding survivability issues (a resource limitation is coming in the midseason patch).
These Perks have made the hero both better overall but much more fun to play as well. These were some of the major goals Perks were trying to accomplish, but I can see us taking some parts of Perks and putting them into base kits as heroes change in the future.
Q: What were some interesting perks that the team scrapped along the way?
Alec Dawson: We played with a variety of movement perks for heroes that don't have much mobility. We wanted to see if we could do a movement perk for Torbjorn. I think it only lasted a playtest or two but Torbjorn could launch himself off of his turret by double jumping on it. And the idea was that if you had the Sticky Turret, you could change the angle of that leap and catapult yourself into backlines. Maybe we will come back to that one day, was certainly silly!
Q. But more seriously, what are the developers' favorite perks? Not necessarily the /best/ ones, but their favorites?
Scott Kennedy: Thank you for your kind and honest question........ !
I personally had the most fun with Craftsman, if you haven't tried chasing your pinning Reinhardt to give him some armor it's a lot of fun!
Other notable mentions would be Pharah's Concussive Implosion or Zarya's Jump Ups
Balancing Perks
Q: Which perks had the highest impact on hero performance? Will perks have a higher priority in terms of balance than base hero perks, or will we see a combination of both going forward?
Alec Dawson: Some of the winners so far have been Ana, Bastion, Pharah, Ramattra, and Winston. When it comes to individual perks: Ramattra's Vengeful Vortex, Mauga's Firewalker, Zarya's Energy Lance, and Soldier 76's Agility training have all been quite impactful. It's important though to look at the combination of your Minor and Major perks, what rank thresholds players are using them at, and how quickly a hero is gaining their perks. There's still quite a bit for us to dig through there!
In the immediate, we mostly plan on balancing perks in order to make them feel more impactful. There will still be some core kit tuning alongside that, but there's still a meaningful amount of change we want to inject into the system throughout the next few patches. Tuning to perks and actual perk swaps (hoping for some in 16.0) are included in that.
Q. Do we have any stats on which perk selections are the most one-sided? E.g. one perk is picked over the other 90% of the time
Scott Kennedy: We do have stats that show perk selection rates per hero. I would say it's variable depending on the hero and the rank that they're being selected. In general, when a perk has an incredibly high pick rate, it's due to the other option not being enticing.
For example, Roadhog's Minor Hog Toss isn't picked very often compared to Scrap Hook. Other options like Ramattra's Void Surge is a cool perk to play with that increases the heroes damage, so it's much preferred over the simpler defensive option Prolonged Barrier.
Overall, the perk selection rates that are one-sided are the ones you would expect, and we're using these stats and feedback to identify which perks need to be either balanced or changed in future patches.
Q: Now that perks are in players hands, what is your approach going to be moving forward when it comes to balancing and interating on them? Are you planning on radically changing perks in the future, and are you currently looking at adjusting the perks that are over/underperforming when it comes to pick rates?
In regards to Stadium, I'm very excited to try it. Can you shed some light on the regularity with which we can expect to see heroes added to Stadium? I would love to see what crazy upgrades you guys have in mind for Wrecking Ball.
Scott Kennedy: For now the primary goal is to focus on adjusting the perks that are underperforming/overperforming. We will have a balance pass coming through in the Season 15 Midseason patch, and will be swapping out some perks that haven't been performing well in Season 16.
Pick and win rates are important factors in deciding what needs to be changed, but there is also a lot of great feedback we've received about perks that don't feel good to use or play against.
I wouldn't say there are radical changes to perks in the near future, but we will be working to ensure perks feel good to use for all heroes.
Q: Which Perks (too good or too bad) are you monitoring the most?
Do you plan on fully replacing Perks every 6 months-12 months or would you rather keep the ones that are working, adjust the ones that are almost there, and swing for the fences by replacing the rest?
Scott Kennedy: There are definitely some on the radar that we're keeping an eye on.
Obviously Tracer's Major perk Flashback was one that we were wary of and are looking to see how impactful this perk can be.
Mobility perks like Zarya's Minor Jump-Ups, this gives her a LOT of vertical mobility and is very strong on some maps, but its pick rate varies dramatically depending on the rank.
There is a list of perks that have been underperforming both in win and pick rate that we're actively looking at to make balance changes or even replace them starting in Season 16.
The goal is to make every set of Minor and Major perks feel like there is a choice to be made depending on your playstyle, the map, or how the match is going. If a perk feels like it's always the right choice or the wrong choice, then we want to make changes.
Q: I'm curious what the upper limitations are of perks as it relates to hero design and hero identity?
For example, I think Mercy is a good example of a hero that does not have the same level of skill expression as a Tracer (obviously, just as an example), would there be a world in which Mercy would receive a perk that could potentially elevate Mercy's skill expression in exchange for more impact?
Additionally, do you view perks as "seasonal"? In which for example (extreme example) one season of Overwatch Mercy might lean into the damage boost aspect, whereas in future seasons for the purpose of changing things up, Mercy might even get a perk in which she can speed boost teammates instead? I think this could potentially be a pretty dramatic but fun way to change up the game and help some heroes to still be played but not conventionally fitting into certain compositions, but perhaps in your eyes it's a bit extreme for the purpose that Mercy's kit is supposed to serve?
Scott Kennedy: Hey Jonny!
For the first round of perks we were focused on adding perks that enhance or change the way that you play heroes. In the future we could implement more transformative perks that would add skill expression, or change the style in which you would currently play a hero.
I wouldn't say that perks have "seasonal" themes in which they will be designed to play a hero a certain way, but we've learnt a lot about what perks are the most interesting and fun, while also seeing the impact that they can have on a heroes win/play rate.
Q: Do you view perks as a way to limit the counterpicking and power spikes of certain heroes? If so, do you think they have shown early signs of achieving that and what adjustments would you make going forward? Any examples of heroes you'd want to shore up in that respect?
Scott Kennedy: We did want to add more friction to counterswapping and we've seen that drop quite a bit since Season 15's launch. It'll be some time before players settle on how much less they want to counterswap but in Ranked Role Queue we've seen players swap about 25% less and more so at the highest ranks (Masters+ players swap much more than the ranks below that).
For power spikes, the goal of the perk system isn't to limit power spikes. We actually introduced more power spikes and hopefully more texture to your individual hero's moment to moment gameplay through the perks system. We think a number of our heroes needed bigger moments than they had previously.
Going forward, we are looking at raising up some of the less impactful perks and making sure you feel there's a real choice between your Minors and Majors. We have a lot of opportunity to make that choice more interesting by cutting out some of perks players aren't gravitating towards. Things like Roadhog's increased Pig Pen throw distance.
Q: Are perks going to start rotating next season or are you going to wait and let the current batch simmer for a bit before changing them?
Bouncing off of that, if you are looking at specific underperforming/less interesting perks now, which ones are on the potential chopping block (a lot of my friends have noted the extra throw range on Hog/Junk trap as being quite weak)?
Finally, do you have any desire to ever add another level to perks (either something in between minor and major, or even something above major)?
Kenny Hudson: We're going to start rotating in some new perks in Season 16, but before we get there we've got a bunch of balance changes and tweaks coming in the Season 15 midcycle patch, and there are good things coming for some underperforming perks.
Things like: Hog Toss now increasing the damage of Pig Pen, Juno's double jump reset perk is also going to increase the duration of glide boost. On the other end of the spectrum, Bastion's self repair resource meter is coming back.
We did a ton of iteration on how many levels perks should come with. There were versions with 2 levels up through I think 4, and even one where you eventually had all minor and major perks. 3 levels has been the sweet spot for a while, but that's not to say the system can't evolve. Still a bit early, but its a system that can evolve if need be.
Q: In the Spotlight, u/Blizz_Alec mentioned a “refresh” of the perks in the middle of the year. Does that mean 4 brand new perks for everyone? Saw someone mention Aaron said something along those lines but couldn’t find where.
Or is it more like a few perks will be changed out or tweaked if desperately needed here and there before the refresh, and the refresh is more thorough for perks that are less lopsided and not 4 brand new perks for everyone?
Alec Dawson: The goal there would be that every hero gets at least one new perk to play with! Still scoping out what that refresh would look like for Season 18, but somewhere around 25-50% of the perks changing (some being completely new and some receiving significant tuning). If we have perks that players really love, we don't want to immediately remove those and the refresh would be looking at perks that are more middling in interest.
We'd also like to evaluate how the perks system functions overall at that point too. That could include changes to the catchup mechanics, gain rates, or even a starting level choice. Those are fairly early discussions though and how this season goes will give us good insight of where to take perks next.
Perks in Gameplay
Q: Will changing perks mid game ever be an option?
Scott Kennedy: We want it to feel like you're making a meaningful choice when you select your perk, and when allies/enemies select their perk you understand what to expect on that hero for the match.
We understand that there is an issue with people accidentally selecting a perk and being unable to change it, this is something we're keeping an eye on to see if there's something that can be done to help this.
I won't say that it will never be an option to swap your heroes perks in the future, but there are currently no plans to add changing perks mid game.
Q: Are there any ideas to make Mystery Heroes mode less stomping with new perks? Currently perk system is another advantage that a winning team have compare to the team who's currently loosing. I know it's just a non-competitive mode with no big priority, although it has a huge playerbase.
Alec Dawson: We have a fix for this coming next week actually. You'll get two random perks (one Minor and one Major) each time you spawn.
Q: Was pre-selecting perks / perk presets ever considered?
Kenny Hudson: We did discuss the idea of pre-selecting perks and the original design even had an interface for them as a loadout in the hero gallery. But once we started playtesting the abilities themselves, there were a lot of situations where we'd want to go with a different perk based on the situation at hand. Being locked into a choice made prior to really being 100% on what you would want to choose felt like a worse option than always giving yourself options. That's not to say this couldn't change as people get used to the choices and their playstyles with perks become a bit more cemented though.
Q. Kudos to the dev team for trying something so different. For me it seems to be a hit already and I can't wait to get my hands on stadium
- Chicken or egg question - did Junkenstein revenge's success serve as the spark for building a new game mode with talents more permanently into the game? Or was this always in the back of mind given the amount of work that has gone into talents since OW2's development?
- What was the thinking behind limiting perks down to just 2X2 choices and is this something that you think could change in the future? I personally really enjoyed how more choices really lead to different early and late game experiences
Alec Dawson:
- Actually neither! The true impetus for this was our need for a game system layer to introduce more change into the core game. Having some talents to pull from was nice to have but a large majority of the perks were built for the perk system specifically. The team had gotten really great at expanding kits, so there was plenty of good experience for us to bring good learnings into building perks. Junkenstein's Lab gave us more signal for Stadium and how much we could expand the bounds of an Overwatch match while still making it feel like Overwatch.
- We played with a number of different iterations. Originally we had three levels but there was no choice, didn't feel very different. Some iterations later we gave players their Minor Perks passively but you had a choice between two Major Perks later on in the game. We really liked the choice that gave, so decided to bring it in earlier at the Minor Perk level. Overall, we felt this was the right amount of change to introduce initially. We were changing some of fundamentals of how Overwatch worked and were trying to measure how much we could disrupt that. Maybe we could've gone even farther, but I think we are in a good place for now and with time we'll see how far the playerbase wants us to take systems like this.
Other Great Questions
Q: This is for custa, what was the though process behind giving ana headshots despite the fact you can not hit crits?
Scott Kennedy: Good thing for those who can't hit headshots like me, we have double nano boost
Q: Will the new heroes since OW2's release be getting dance emotes?
Kenny Hudson: I don't know when everyone's Dance emotes are coming in, but I can confirm that Rammattra is up next, and soon (tm).
Q: What is a primary weapon archetype you either want to fit in that you haven't yet, or think is at the very least under explored?
Kenny Hudson: The one weapon that always comes up during the "what's next" discussion is the flame thrower. We'd love to get one in, but it's gotta be epic.
Q: Clash can be really fun when the stars align. Anything you can share about what you plan to do with the mode in the future?
I was really looking forward to see the old 2CP maps reworked. Oh, and speaking of old maps, any hope for Gothenburg to get a second life one day?
Alec Dawson: Like you, I also believe Clash is awesome when it all comes together! We actually spent a good amount of time on Clash's scoring before we made the decision to pull it from Competitive. Even with scoring changes, we believed the mode needed some fundamental geo changes to points A+E to perform better as a Competitive mode. Currently we are experimenting with building another Clash map from the ground up with a different approach to the layout to see if that solves some of the core issues the mode has. That's all very early, but hopefully some significant geo changes along with scoring changes can get Clash into a great spot.