Overwatch 2: What to expect before the release
Last Updated on: 28th September 2022, 01:45 am
There has been a big hype since Overwatch 2 was announced. There’s the Season 1 Battle Pass, Founder’s Pack, new characters, and more.
As Blizzard moves to free-to-play as they attempt to expand their player fanbase, more information is being brought to the attention of the players regarding Overwatch 2. The game is expected to top the initial success of the original Overwatch, officially becoming Blizzard’s biggest first-person shooter yet. The impact would make on the gaming community would be nothing short of the classics from Blizzard, like the World of Warcraft and the Diablo series. The developers seem to want to make sure of that.
The newest instalment of the game will introduce new maps, new playable characters, new cosmetics, and the much-anticipated change in Overwatch; the 5v5 matches.
What to know before the release of Overwatch 2
Back in the Spring of this year, Blizzard launched the PvP beta for Overwatch 2. This is where reworked characters were introduced, including Doomfist, Bastion, Sombra, and Sojourn, a new DPS hero. A blog report in May from PlayOverwatch was then published showing the most picked characters. The top spot garnering an average peak of around 80% was Sojourn.
However, the number dwindled as players of the PvP beta started to tinkle with the other characters’ strengths. On more recent results of the blog, it showed that Orisa was the character with the highest usage. This was followed by Doomfist and Bastion. Trailing a little behind was Sombra.
These results were posted along with charts showing the progression of the usage of the playable characters during the duration of the beta testing. This led to the development of balance and symmetry of the characters that we can expect on the game’s release. The blog post also showed win rates in the 5vs5 environment, including damage dealt, damage taken, and other statistics that can be helpful for players to preemptively choose their preferred characters.
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Overwatch 2 new game modes and maps
The new Overwatch 2 will put a new spin on the game modes of the original Overwatch. The following are the new game modes that are expected to be part of the game once it comes out:
- Push – A game mode where players fight against each other while escorting a robot to get to the enemy territory. The goal of the game is to “push” the robot to the furthest possible area of the opposing team. To add flavor to the game mode, challenges will be included, like barriers that need to be unlocked to gain access to a checkpoint. These checkpoint acts as new spawn points for players as they progress in the game.
- 5v5 matches – The game is moving to more trimmed team fights. Instead of the previous 6v6 of the original, team fights of Overwatch 2 will play a similar model to the derivative of MOBA games, a 5v5 model.
The following are the confirmed new maps that we can expect on the release of Overwatch 2:
- Gothenburg
- Toronto
- Monte Carlo
- Rio de Janeiro
- New York
- Rome
- Esperança
If you’re wondering what will happen to the original Overwatch, Blizzard has confirmed that the original launched in 2016 will cease to exist by the 2nd of October. The servers used for Overwatch will then be converted to Overwatch 2. There will be a total of 27 offline hours to make way for the transition. The movement of the servers should be completed by the 4th of October, which is also the release date of Overwatch 2.
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Overwatch 2 is set to launch on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC in early access on October 4, 2022. The game will feature full cross-platform play.
