Are all of the heroes in Overwatch balanced? Probably not. Some heroes are a bit more powerful than others. But is that actually a goal? Director Jeff Kaplan weighed in on the future of balancing characters on the game’s official forums, pointing out that even if all of the heroes were perfectly balanced, there would still be heroes that were seen as better or worse than others based upon the evolving metagame, playstyles, and player preferences.
Kaplan goes on to explain that the goal is always to make all of the game’s heroes viable, but at times player perception will be that certain heroes are either useless or particularly good. Some of that will come down to a matter of perception, and the job of the designers is to evaluate whether or not a hero is actually non-competitive or if the hero is just being used incorrectly. He also draws the comparison to professional sports, which have slowly changed rules over time to react to dominant and prevailing strategies. So don’t expect big, sudden changes for Overwatch balance; expect slow iteration and gradual evolution.
