‘Overwatch’ DLC: Blizzard Answers Ranked Match Questions, Talks New Heroes, & More


Blizzard has stepped forth to answer questions about various aspects of Overwatch, the explosive first-person online multiplayer shooter.

As was reported previously by the Inquisitr, Overwatch will be getting an update that will change some of the game’s balance while also increasing and lowering the potential of some of the cast. If you’ve played the game or followed the news that has been surrounding Overwatch and the overall experience, fans have been voicing their concerns about the power of some characters when matched up against others. McCree appears to be at the top of the list, with D. Va being close behind. Thankfully, Blizzard has addressed their thoughts on both characters.

In a report by Eurogamer, Blizzard discusses McCree and D. Va and the hopes that they can successfully balance the two with the new updates planned. Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan takes part in an interview that includes quite a bit of information, particularly how he feels McCree and D. Va are currently performing.

McCree and Peacemaker
McCree’s Peacemaker is lethal with the “Fan The Hammer” ability. [Image Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment]

When asked about the matchups in Overwatch, Kaplan had this to say about McCree.

“Yeah, the McCree nerf – I hate using that word, but I just said it – the McCree balance changes will be coming sooner than the D. Va buff.”

He continued in detail, targeting McCree’s “Fan The Hammer” ability. This is the alternate fire skill to the Peacemaker, McCree’s trusty six-shooter. When this ability is activated, McCree is able to fire multiple shots at a target in a short amount of time.

“McCree is pretty straightforward. What we’re looking at right now is his fan the hammer damage. We’re going to reduce it. The goal there is to make it so that McCree can still use his combo that we love, which is the flashbang and fan the hammer on somebody like Tracer. McCree should absolutely kill that Tracer. We want McCree to be a counter to people like Tracer, Genji and Reaper. What we’re not crazy about, right now, is the way in which McCree can absolutely shred tanks.”

The combination that Kaplan speaks of in Overwatch is McCree’s combo that stuns the opponent, leaving them open to the damage of the “Fan the hammer” skill. Even against tanks, the characters that have higher health than other roles in the game, the flashbang and hammer combo almost always obliterate them without much room for survival. From the sounds of it, Blizzard is on board with player concerns and will be toning him down accordingly.

D.va pilots her mech
D. Va is powerful when in her mech, but easily taken out of it with the right amount of damage. [Image Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment]

When asked about D. Va and her role in terms of damage, Jeff admitted that they are still exploring which direction they’d like to go with her for Overwatch.

“With D. Va, we’re still in exploration mode. There’s a couple of directions we could take her and it’s still unclear which direction we’ll go. Obviously her damage has come into question from a lot of people. You have to be really close to do effective damage with D. Va and we might look at that. We might also look at her survivability. A lot of the time, D. Va can get herself into situations where she’s a tank and it feels like she should be there, but then she gets knocked out of that mech so quickly. We probably won’t do a bunch of buffs to her damage and her survivability; we’ll probably pick one direction or the other, but right now, we’ve been exploring both.”

With Overwatch having such a fast pace, D. Va’s need to close the gap can be a hit or miss. Kaplan admitted that D. Va’s update will take longer to achieve than McCree’s. As a result, D. Va will remain the same until a concrete decision is made.

When asked about Overwatch and the ranked match update, Jeff wanted it known that the matchmaking system would function similar to the “Quick Play” queue. The system is designed to match the player or group with those of equal skill, but a longer wait time will cause the system to expand the search criteria. With this in place, Kaplan stated that Blizzard hopes to monitor the results and adhere to fan feedback.

Hopefully, granting this information will give players the expectation that Overwatch will undergo as much change as necessary to optimize a player’s online experience.

Overwatch appears to be getting two new playable heroes: Sombra and Liao. Alongside the ranking and character changes, Kotaku reports that Blizzard has more hints that will lead to Sombra’s background and identity being made clearer as time goes on. Players have already formed theories, but Jeff Kaplan has stated that not everything available to the players so far has been uncovered. Overwatch has been out for less than a month, so it makes sense that Blizzard still has secrets up their sleeves. Very little is known about Liao, though it is speculated that he might have some connection to Mei by his possible heritage.

Ultimately, it looks like Blizzard is taking an extremely active approach to Overwatch and making it a better game. There’s even discussion about cross-play, though Blizzard is only holding it as nothing more than an interesting idea.

[Image Via Blizzard Entertainment]

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