Blizzard to nerf Roadhog in upcoming Overwatch 2 update
Overwatch 2 developer Blizzard has revealed plans to nerf Roadhog, a currently overpowered tank, thanks to miscalculated buffs and nerfs throughout the previous updates.
Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller said several changes implemented on some heroes had made Roadhog overpowered. The team has been wanting to nerf Roadhog for some time.
Like most typical tank characters, Roadhog boasts massive health points but can also kill a target in one shot. This makes Roadhog popular among the players. However, some players also find the hero frustrating to play against, hence the need to nerf the character.
At the same time, Keller said nerfing Roadhog would be a delicate issue. The developer wants to find a way to tone down his power without making him completely unplayable. Another objective is to minimize the power gap between characters to allow players to use different heroes.
So far, they have not been able to do this due to technical difficulties, and the early January patch did not include the fix for Roadhog.
For the time being, there has been no confirmation of when players can expect Roadhog to be nerfed. However, Blizzard is expected to incorporate some balance changes to the game in the next update.
Balancing heroes, more upcoming features
Per Keller, the developer still has many things to do and is currently finalizing how it will release the next update, with heroes balancing as one of the main concerns. One of the items on Blizzard’s working list is to make all heroes feel different from the others while ensuring they are balanced.
“We don’t want all of the heroes to feel samey. We don’t want the tempo of every fight in the game to feel the same every month,” Keller said.
Keller teased that Blizzard had plans to develop multiple heroes and maps for 2023. More events similar to the Battle for Olympus will come to the game, along with several new and returning game modes. Additionally, Keller mentioned a mysterious Season 3 skin he thought the community would appreciate.
As of now, Keller said he had been busy making tweaks on competitive multiplayer. He added that he needed to learn time management better between trying to run the game and playing the game.
More plans for future updates
There have been talks about Blizzard planning to introduce more support heroes in future updates. Keller explained that the class has fewer choices than tank or damage heroes.
The developer has talked about introducing two new support heroes as healers, with abilities unlike other heroes seen so far. Although Keller did not provide details about their identities, lead hero designer Alec Dawson suggested they could be existing characters in Overwatch 2 lore.
“There’s plenty, especially with the world of Overwatch being so rich. I think a lot of those characters that you haven’t seen become heroes. I think one day we definitely want to explore what they would be like as a hero,” Dawson said.
Additionally, art director Dian Rogers has expressed interest in making a character with a flamethrower ability. Nevertheless, he said such a hero would be hard to design.
