Overwatch 2 Season 8 patch notes were teased in the latest “Director’s Take” blog
Overwatch 2 has seen a ton of new changes over the year. Apart from the major tweaks done to its competitive ranked system, big changes have been done to some of the game’s signature heroes to fix long-standing balance issues. And with Season 8 and Mauga’s big entrance capping off the year, the Overwatch 2 team over at Blizzard has revealed big changes players can expect on December 5.
Here are the biggest hero balance changes in the upcoming Season 8 Patch Notes preview!
Mauga joins the hunt 🏹
Season 8 brings a Beast Hunter Themed Battle Pass 💥
Get a first look at the all-new cosmetics Dec 4 ✨
👉 https://t.co/DeTGLpxpQZ pic.twitter.com/GPRTa2lQ3s
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) November 30, 2023
Season 8 Patch Notes Preview
Ultimate Charge Nerfed – Season 8 Patch Notes Preview
First on the docket is how much ultimate charge you get when you swap to a different hero. Since Overwatch 2 was released, players could get a small headstart on their ultimates whenever they’d swap characters mid-match, and the developers decided to make a considerable change.
Ultimate charge on a swapped character will be lowered from 25% to 15%. The Overwatch 2 team did this to check on whether or not it would affect swap rates. That said, the reason for this change was purely experimental, so don’t expect it to stick around.
Hero Buffs – Season 8 Patch Notes Preview
In other news, Roadhog’s new rework has seen a significant rise to his win rate. If you’re a hog main, your favorite Wastelander won’t be getting any balance changes at the start of Season 8. At least, until the developers see how he fares against Mauga in the midseason.
Next, Doomfist is getting a new buff that gives him more survivability. The developers want more players to use his ultimate ability offensively instead of using it as an escape plan. So, the leader of Talon is getting a buff where he heals 75 HP every second he’s up in the air.
Speaking of villains, Ramattra’s getting a few power-ups of his own. To make the Omnic messiah more threatening in his base form, 100 HP will be shifted towards his armor, and his projectile size and damage will receive an increase.
Winston is the last tank on the list, and his buff is a big one. The developers wanted to make him more of a tank-buster this season. As a consequence, his Tesla Cannon will completely ignore Armor’s damage reduction when the upcoming patch arrives. Winton.
Onto the DPS heroes, Sombra’s ultimate will be twice as effective in Season 8, and we mean that literally. The Talon operative’s EMP hack duration will increase from 1.5 to 3.0 seconds in the next patch, compensated by a damage nerf (30% > 25% max HP).
Past bugs on Tracer’s bullet fall-off and spread have finally been fixed, so the developers are bringing her damage back up (5.5 > 6 per bullet). Long-time players will remember the last time her damage was this high during the middle of 2023. If you’re feeling scared, you’re not alone.
Hero Nerfs – Season 8 Patch Notes Preview
Soldier: 76 is one of the most well-rounded heroes in the game just from his kit alone. And his heal gives him a ton of sustain to boot. However, the devs thought to bring him down a peg by increasing its cooldown (15 > 18 seconds) to make him easier to take down.
Brigitte’s presence on the battlefield has become too common, so Blizzard is reverting her previous damage buff on Whip Shot to give space for more Support picks. Baptiste will also get the same treatment with a big nerf to his primary fire ammo (45 > 36 per magazine).
Leave Penalties – Season 8 Patch Notes Preview
Recently, the Overwatch 2 team implemented stricter measures for people leaving Quick Play. And while the penalties are relatively lenient, the Director’s Take assured players that internal discussions were ongoing.
“Some people see it as their try-hard version of the game, some view it as a way to experiment with heroes, and others use it as their casual, just-for-fun version of the game”, the dev blog noted. “It’s really difficult to have this part of the game be all things for all people.”
Striking a balance has always been a priority for the Overwatch 2 developers. And amidst constant criticism, their continued updates and tweaks are, at the very least, a sure sign that they strive to create an improved experience for everyone that plays their game. But with any luck, we should be seeing some fun new clips from this exciting new meta that they have in store.
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