[GameSpot] - Blizzard Is Looking To Improve Overwatch 2's Progression Systems, Queue Times, And Competitive

[343iBot]

Blizzard has spoken about some of the changes it has planned for Overwatch 2, including offering more skins for events, how it aims to help queue times, and more.

In a recent blog post, Overwatch 2's new executive producer Jared Neuss took the time to briefly touch on what's ahead for the game. He touched on how the move to a free-to-play model has changed how the business model has worked, alongside new systems for unlocking heroes and skins. Neuss explained the team isn't entirely satisfied with how progression works currently, noting that they're happy with the daily and weekly challenges, but there are some improvements to be made. One of those changes is that from Season 2 onwards, each event has a skin players can earn by playing, on top of other cosmetic rewards currently offered.

For the long term, like Season 3 and beyond, the team will be looking at "a mix of battle pass changes, more interesting xhallenges to pursue, and more exciting play-focused progression systems," for players to engage with. "We’ll be able to talk about some of these changes soon, but other changes may take more time to lock-in."

Neuss also addressed queue times in the post, explaining that that move to 5v5 has led to longer queue times for both tank and damage players. One idea the team currently has is to experiment with the support role, by trying to make it more fun and rewarding to play, as well as potentially looking at "targeted support hero reworks, reworks, game system updates, and even some role-wide changes to improve support quality of life." While no big fixes are coming just yet, queue-time estimates have been made more accurate in the UI, and there are plans to experiment with battle pass XP rewards for players that queue as support/all roles.

On the competitive side of things, Neuss admitted that some improvements need to be made. Adjustments have been made to the matchmaking system, though what these are weren't specified, and changes that will supposedly help the system "more accurately determine a player’s skill tier and division" have also been implemented. The team is also listening to feedback from players about things like unexpected rank changes, rate of feedback, and more, with promises to do a deeper dive on competitive in the future.

Lastly, Neuss noted that the team will talk about the big Season 2 changes soon, but want to see how some of the recent changes play out first before going into any depth.

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