Hey everyone! This is Alec Dawson, associate game director for Overwatch 2, with a look at some of the many great changes coming in Season 16. The team has been working hard to perfect new additions like the Perks system and our next hero, Freja, while balancing classic favorites like 6v6 Competitive Open Queue. Tons of information about our new game mode, Stadium, will be heading your way next week.
Hope you’re all as excited as I am, so let’s dive in!
Perk Perfection
The introduction of Perks last season added a new layer of gameplay and strategy to Overwatch 2 and players are still brainstorming the best choices for their favorite heroes and personal playstyles. The previous Director’s Take recapped our AMA about Perks (thanks for all the great questions!) and many Perks were tuned up in the midseason balance patch. Players have given us great feedback and the team is continuing to refine the Perk system.
Certain Perks are big hits, like Ana’s Shrike (more popularly known as the “Double Nano”) and Bastion’s Lindholm Explosives, which gives explosive shells. These are impactful and transformative perks that enable meaningful change in your gameplay. Making sure Perks for every hero tick those boxes is a big priority for us and we’re confident changes in Season 16 and beyond are pointing us in the right direction.
One of our biggest philosophies when designing and improving Perks is the idea that there’s never a “wrong” choice; you should never feel like picking a Perk is a universally poor option. Maps, team compositions, enemy heroes, and personal playstyles should all influence your decisions, but one Perk shouldn’t be the default go-to in every situation.
How exactly do we make sure we’re hitting those goals? We look at a combination of what we’re seeing in the data—like pick rate gaps—and the amount of influence Perks have in moment-to-moment gameplay. If we feel a hero has a less impactful perk set overall, we also wanted to offer them new options. There’s also constant iteration going on behind the scenes to dream up bigger and better options for future seasons.
A good example for Season 16 is Sombra’s updated Perk kit. Stack Overflow, while impactful, doubled down on things Sombra was already good at rather than bringing transformative gameplay. It’ll be replaced with a new Major Perk, Viral Replication, which allows her Virus to spread to nearby enemies and will enable bolder team dives.
Mercy’s previous Minor Perk—Angelic Recovery—felt passive, so we wanted to add something more active that brings strategy into the mix. Enter Angelic Resurrection, which gives 100 overhealth upon casting Resurrect. Players will have to judge if the risk of saving a teammate behind enemy lines is worth the reward of enhanced survivability.
Our newest support, Juno, will receive a new Major Perk that enables a more aggressive playstyle. Locked On gives a lower cooldown for Pulsar Torpedoes for every enemy hit, encouraging more active gameplay. While Re-Boots performed better after a recent adjustment, it’ll replace the less-picked Hyper Boost as a Minor Perk.
While we try to not nerf Perks too often, some options clearly need tuning heading into Season 16 – sorry, triple blink Tracer fans. We think there’s a good bar for the impact Perks can have, but some may have gone a bit past that line and need to be dialed back.
Players have also responded well to Perks that bring back old components of a hero’s kit, like Orisa’s Protective Barrier and Hanzo’s Scatter Arrow. We can’t give away all the changes here, but another classic will be reintroduced – in a different, less overwhelming way – as a Major Perk for a certain icy DPS hero.
On the Wind with Freja
A few weekends ago, Freja swooped in for her Hero Trial. Her sky-high skill ceiling and swift movement abilities ended up being a big hit with our players: her trial numbers were comparable to Venture’s popular test weekend. If she hasn’t wrapped you up with her Bola Shot just yet, you’ll have a chance to dive in once Season 16 launches.
Though we don't balance around Quick Play data, it gives us valuable information about new heroes during their trials. Freja was a bit lower on the winrate side throughout her test weekend (approximately 43%) and will be receiving a few light buffs before her debut.
Despite her explosive damage, Freja occasionally struggled to secure kills, so we’ve improved the reliability of her kit to finish the job. Her Revdraw Crossbow will now shoot 12 shots before max spread, increased from its original eight. Bola Shot’s damage over time is now increased as well as its max radius, giving her ultimate more oomph.
You’ll also see some quality-of-life changes, like the option to bind her Quick Dash to a Double Jump input. Overall, we want Freja to be in a comfortable place on launch, knowing players will get better with her kit over time, and we're really happy with where she is now.
6v6 Thriving
The hottest topic over the past few months has been the return of 6v6 game modes and it’s clear that many of you are passionate about the option to dive in with a bonus player. Good news for 6v6 enthusiasts: we’ll be continuing to run Open Queue (with a two-tank limit) in both Quick Play and Competitive throughout Season 16.
Competitive 6v6 Open Queue was the third most popular mode in Overwatch 2 during Season 15 according to time played…until it was usurped by the Totally Normalwatch April Fool’s mode. Googly eyes may reign supreme, but 6v6 modes are holding their own, as are standard 5v5 modes. On average, there’s a 3:1 ratio of players choosing Competitive 5v5 over Competitive 6v6, respectively, but the 6v6 population has remained steady.
We were curious how the two-tank limit would pan out, but most games landed on the classic two tank, two DPS, two support setup. Tank players in 6v6 clearly enjoy having another tank “buddy” in their corner and no matter which role they choose, players are loving shorter queue times and the ability to swap roles within a match. There’s also a heightened sense of chaos that some folks just can’t get enough of.
Queue times across the game have remained healthy and data from Season 16 should give us a better sense of how 5v5 Role Queue and 6v6 Open Queue can coexist in the long term.
Stay tuned for more information over the next few weeks as we gear up for Season 16. See you on the servers!