Overwatch 2 dev responds to backlash over self-heal for tank and DPS heroes

Overwatch 2 Game Director Aaron Keller has responded to criticism after announcing that tanks and DPS heroes will get a support-like self-heal in the Season 9 patch.

Season 9 of Overwatch 2 is set to be a huge update with an upgraded ranked mode, new balance changes to burst damage, and even a new passive for tanks and damage heroes.

In a blog post last week, Aaron Keller revealed that DPS and tanks will be getting a toned-down version of the support passive and recover HP automatically without needing to find health packs.

The community was not too thrilled with this idea and criticized the devs after the announcement. This resulted in Aaron Keller clarifying why they plan to go down this path, revealing that it was a “mistake” to discuss the self-heal so early.

Overwatch 2 Game Director explains why self-heal is coming to tanks and DPS

In a post on X, Keller fended off backlash from Overwatch 2 players by noting how the planned passive changes are part of a much larger patch and make sense in the wider context.

“It’s one part of a much larger set of changes coming to the game in S9,” he stated. “Internally we’re talking about, and targeting some of these changes at damage spikiness in game, the role of DPS in securing kills, and the strength of healing.”

Clarifying a few things with the self-heal. It's one part of a much larger set of changes coming to the game in S9. Internally we're talking about, and targeting some of these changes at damage spikiness in game, the role of DPS in securing kills, and the strength of healing. https://t.co/Ay68KOZAFD

— Aaron Keller (@aaronkellerOW) January 13, 2024

While he didn’t go more in-depth, it does sound like supports could be on the verge of a role-wide nerf to their healing power while DPS will be getting some big adjustments as well.

“It was a mistake to talk about this lone change out of context, since it’s a part of a much bigger set coming to Season 9,” Keller admitted. “Sorry for that, and I look forward to more discussion around S9 balance changes when we drop more details.”

Season 9 may not be introducing a new hero, but with so many significant balance and gameplay changes, it could be one of the most important OW2 patches since the game’s launch.

We’ll have to wait and see what the dev team has planned and what other updates are coming in the weeks ahead as Season 9 approaches.