Overwatch Dev Post Archives & Overwatch 2 Facts & Beta Info

[Kaedi-11739]

Prinicipal Designer Josh Noh made a post on the forums today. Look toward D.Va getting possible changes soon.

@JoshuaNoh-1358

We’ve actually been playtesting a Boosters cooldown reduction recently.

It sounded kind of intimidating on paper (tested a 3 sec CD first) but in practice hasn’t been that crazy and allows D.Va to play the midfield more freely, which works well with the current 10 meter Defense Matrix range.

Some version should make it to the next PTR cycle.

He also address the concept of powercreep and perceptions about balance in the game:

@JoshuaNoh-1358

Dropping by with a fun fact!
Looking at GM players for the current patch (1.43), Genji and Soldier: 76 are #6 and #7 in terms of win rate for damage heroes (out of 16 total).

They’re not doing quite as poorly as the general community sentiment would imply. Game balance perceptions/opinions are often repeated and perpetuated enough that they start to become accepted as fact by many players.

We also should remember that things like win rates and hero power/effectiveness can fluctuate significantly depending on the players’ skill level. If someone complains that Reaper is too strong and another says that Reaper is too weak, they could both be correct for their current skill level.

When making balance changes we typically look at the high end potential of player skill for a hero but also try to keep in mind if a given change would be a significant detriment to the overall gameplay experience in lower skill brackets and attempt to find better solution if so.

I think in general being wary of extreme “power creep” is a valid and healthy concern if it’s causing gameplay to become too wildly distorted from the core experience. I don’t feel that we’re currently anywhere close to that with the live game.