Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller sent the shooter’s community into a bit of a wobble earlier in the week when he discussed several gameplay shifts coming in Season 9, the most notable of which being the addition of “a modified, tuned-down version of the Support self-healing passive” for tank and DPS characters. The revelation sparked a whole bunch of reactions as fans defended, pondered, and memed about the matter.
Apparently, the player reaction to this change has set Keller back into the digital ether to apologize for the timing of the reveal and assure fans that the change shouldn’t be taken in isolation. “It was a mistake to talk about this lone change out of context, since its a part of a much bigger set coming to Season 9,” he wrote on Twitter. “Sorry for that, and I look forward to more discussion around S9 balance changes when we drop more details.”
Keller also tried to clarify that tank and DPS self-healing was “one part of a much larger set of changes” that tries to address damage spikiness, the role of DPS in getting kills, and the strength of healing overall. As mentioned in his earlier dev blog, there will be a more focused post that talks about these overall changes before Season 9’s release.
It was a mistake to talk about this lone change out of context, since its a part of a much bigger set coming to Season 9. Sorry for that, and I look forward to more discussion around S9 balance changes when we drop more details.
— Aaron Keller (@aaronkellerOW) January 13, 2024
