Mercy, Reaper, and some of Overwatch‘s older heroes have had it tough in the game’s newer meta, but Blizzard is looking to change that by giving them new abilities that used to be tied to perks. Alec Dawson, Overwatch associate game director, posted a blog previewing some of those changes on Friday, and the first round of changes will show up when season 2 goes live on April 14.
Mercy’s flash-heal perk, which lets her add a burst of instant healing, will be part of her permanent kit once the season starts. Reaper gets the benefit of his long-distance volley all the time, and Pharah’s drift boosters perk will always be active, so she can move around while casting her ult. Roadhog, Lifeweaver, and Sombra are up for reworks later, though Dawson didn’t have any details to share about how their kits might change.
“Some of the parts on our ever-moving machine are sparkling and new, specially crafted to fit well into modern Overwatch,” Dawson said in the post. “Other parts need some tuning to stay competitive and compelling. It was important to us that this initial pass of perk integration didn’t go too wide; we wanted to take what we felt were the best options for Heroes who needed a tune-up.”
Dawson said the goal was to add utility and make heroes feel functional without overcomplicating their kits with “bloat.” And it’s certainly a welcome set of changes.
