Over the weekend there were some serious rumours about a sequel to Blizzard’s massive hero shooter, Overwatch, and that it’s going to be announced this weekend at Blizzcon 2019. The rumours came from a couple of places, but the widely accepted source is ESPN, which makes it all the more convincing since they’re quite heavily invested in covering the pro Overwatch scene.
So with Overwatch 2 potentially on the horizon, there are a plethora of features that everyone and their mother seems to think should be implemented. What I’m concerned about, is the actual roster of heroes itself, which looks like it needs a serious boost.
Overwatch Needs Heroes
As of July 2019 there are now 31 heroes in total in Overwatch. That’s 10 more since the game originally launched, and it’s totally changed the way that people play the game. When Overwatch first launched, it was possible to get enough practice with multiple heroes to be proficient as any of them. This was really important, because team composition is key in the game. If you don’t have the right ratio of DPS to Healing, or Support roles, then your team is going to be at a disadvantage.
As more heroes have been introduced, and new rules that restrict the ways in which players can switch to different heroes in the middle of a match have come into play, Overwatch has become a game about perfecting your performance with certain heroes.
Now players can’t necessarily be great with any hero, which means that team compositions are starting to look a little stale. In fact, it’s more common now for players to have a main hero that they play as, leaving the other 30 for other players to take control of.
Overwatch 2 Needs A Hero List Like a Big MOBA’s
League of Legends and DOTA 2 are two games that spring to mind when you’re talking about players mainlining one hero in particular. This is done more out of necessity than it is out of design, because there are that many heroes to choose from. In these MOBAs, players are expected to be able to perform at a certain level, and while that’s a larger issue by itself, it’s a concept that’s starting to bleed into Overwatch.
Now when you start a match in Overwatch you’ll be greeted by players who need you to be a particular hero, and if you’re no good then they want you out. Similarly, if you’re not pulling your weight in a match in League of Legends, you’ll see the game chat start to abuse you for not understanding how to play. More often than not, this is the reason players stick to one hero, because they know how they work, and they can unlock more items for that hero by playing as them alone.
Obviously no one has any idea how many heroes will be in Overwatch 2, but I think that Blizzard needs to push the roster from 31 to 50, at least, in order to make the game work. The changes that players want, and the growing number of heroes, suits a much larger list of playable characters that there currently is.
Yes, there are a lot of other changes that are important for Blizzard to make in Overwatch 2, but I see increasing the roster of heroes as a priority. The game is built to keep receiving new heroes forever, and I don’t see why Blizzard would ever stop adding them. A huge increase in heroes would mean that Overwatch 2 launches with a bang, and the Overwatch League gets mixed up from day one.
With a recent succession of bad press surrounding Overwatch and Blizzard, the reveal of Overwatch 2 needs to go well in order to make the game as much of a success as the original. Let us know what you think a sequel needs in the comments.