Blizzard Entertainment’s team-based shooterOverwatchis nearing the end of its four-year lifespan. Its sequel is currently in production, and the developers just released the game’s final new hero:The damage-archetype android Echo. However, that doesn’t mean fans can’t expect to see additional bits of content like new skins trickle out in the meantime, according to Blizzard Vice President andOverwatchGame Director Jeff Kaplan.
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TheOverwatchteam pays close attention to community suggestions for skins, in particular, Kaplan said, and he finds Mercy skins are fun because of the light and dark dichotomy they can achieve thanks to her valkyrie and angel-inspired roots. In 2018 the character was the basis of a campaign for theBreast Cancer Research Fund which raised almost $10 million.
Master Ian Gamer’s question pertained to the inclusion of post-launch heroes like Echo and whether Kaplan or the rest of theOverwatchteam would do anything different with them in retrospect. Kaplan said he felt the two-to-three-per-year release frequency was good for adding unique backstories without going into the territory of titles likeLeague of Legendsby adding “100s of characters,” but that the team maybe could have better balanced the release of tank, support, and damage heroes.
A lot of the developers' time between now and the release ofOverwatch 2will likely focus on balancing, particularly for support characters. Kaplan also said there are “changes coming to Moira on the experimental card soon,” which is suspiciously well-timed following theOverwatchTwitter account acknowledging ahilarious Orisa “rework” videoThursday.
When players can expect to see these kinds of character adjustments or additional skins being added for characters like Mercy was not specified by Kaplan. However, in the meantime theOverwatchdevs are working on balancing heroes in different ways, such aschanging hero pools based on theOverwatchLeague.
Overwatchis available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
