Overwatch 2's game director Aaron Keller announced upcoming balance changes and tweaks, including the removal of hero limits in Quick Play, which has sparked concern among players. The decision to make experimental changes permanent has raised worries about the game's direction, with some feeling that Quick Play is being used as a testing ground rather than providing a consistent competitive experience. The potential shift away from distinct rulesets for different modes has left players questioning the purpose of various gameplay options in the game.
Overwatch 2 is introducing a special "Quick Play: Hacked – Quicker Play" mode for one weekend, where Sombra will make gameplay faster by adjusting respawning times, payload speed, and control point capture times. This marks the start of a larger shift for Overwatch 2's core mode, with Blizzard planning to periodically introduce new and fun ways to change Quick Play gameplay for limited times. Players can still opt for traditional rules in custom games, and the changes will not affect Ranked or Arcade modes.
This weekend only, Overwatch's Quick Play mode will be transformed into "Quick Play: Hacked – Quicker Play," featuring faster capture speeds, payloads, and respawn times. The changes include quicker respawns, faster payload movement, and accelerated objective control, and will only apply to Role Queue and Open Queue Quick Play modes until January 14. The event aims to gather player feedback on potential changes for Overwatch 2 and provide a unique gameplay experience.
The Director's Take blog for Overwatch Season 8 previews upcoming balance changes, including reducing ult charge retained when swapping heroes, buffing Doomfist's health regeneration, shifting Ramattra's health to armor, allowing Winston's Tesla Canon to ignore armor's damage reduction, adjusting Sombra's EMP ability, increasing Soldier: 76's heal cooldown, reverting Tracer's Pulse Pistols damage, and addressing the performance of support heroes Brigitte and Baptiste. The blog also discusses the leave rate in Quick Play matches and the penalties for frequent leavers, aiming to improve match quality without harsh restrictions.
During the Pride event in Overwatch 2, two enemy Reapers in a Quick Play match stopped fighting and "fell in love" after meeting on the Colosseo map. The interaction was shared on Reddit and received positive feedback from the community. The event has been criticized by some members of the LGBTQ+ community for being underwhelming, but others appreciated the gesture.
Riot Games is testing a new game mode called Quick Play to replace Blind Pick in certain regions, allowing players to choose their role and champion combinations before queuing up for a match. This will enable them to skip champion select and start loading into a game immediately. The team compositions will be made up of favorite picks, and players can avoid the hassle of going through champion select. Quick Play is expected to roll out to multiple regions as the year moves forward.
