Overwatch 2 confirms changes to “core mechanics” in upcoming ranked revamp

The Overwatch 2 team appears to have quietly removed confirmation that major gameplay changes will be coming in Season 9 from the latest developer blog post.

Season 8 of Overwatch 2 is fast approaching and in the lead-up, the devs revealed a slew of balance changes coming to the game, including how ultimate charge is retained when swapping heroes.

While Game Director Aaron Keller confirmed that the ultimate charge retained will drop from 25% to 15%, he also revealed that the team has some other revamps in the works, but the comment ended up being deleted from the blog post.

Luckily, YouTuber YourOverwatch saved part of the post before it was scrubbed, and it confirms that the developers are going to be making changes to more than just ultimate charge.

Overwatch 2 quietly deletes confirmation of gameplay changes

According to YourOverwatch, the blog post teased that Season 9’s competitive play update will also come with changes to “core mechanics” of the game itself.

“We’re also looking at making additional changes to some core mechanics in the game for Season 9 that will line up with the release of the competitive overhaul,” Aaron Keller wrote. “We’re not quite ready to talk about what those are, but I thought I’d tease them a bit, because… well, I’m a tease.”

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Interestingly, this line has since been deleted from the blog post, but it’s unclear why. One possibility is that it was taking too much attention off Season 8, which is set to begin next week.

As for what the “core mechanics” are, there is no shortage of options. The support passive to regenerate health has been a hot topic for months and something that some players want to see changed.

Another option could be the long-awaited introduction of a pick-ban system, especially with OW2 getting its 40th hero in Season 10 with the release of Venture.

In any case, we’ll have to wait and see in the weeks and months ahead, but in the meantime, players will be able to check out the new tank hero Mauga in Season 8 and gameplay experiments such as faster respawn times.