Overwatch 2 devs reveal why highly-requested hero ability will never be added

The Overwatch 2 team has ruled out the possibility of new heroes ever having one particular ability that the community has long requested.

Each Overwatch 2 hero brings something new to the table to make them stand out from other characters. From Lifeweaver’s Lifegrip to Orisa’s Spear and Sombra’s Hack, the characters all have unique abilities.

However, one particular ability popular in other games are blind mechanics, wherein a character could stun an enemy causing them to not see in front of them, leaving them vulnerable to attack.

In a recent blog post, the devs discussed the new support hero Illari, who was once codenamed ‘Solar’ and showed off a prototype where she actually had a blind ability and why it was scrapped.

Overwatch 2 devs rule out “full-screen blind” abilities on new heroes

According to the devs, in the early development phase for Illari, she would throw a grenade-like sun orb at enemies that would explode and blind foes in its AOE.

Eventually, they morphed it a touch by making Illari leap into the air and cast it down on foes, something that would be retained in her finalized ultimate Captive Sun.

So, why did the devs decide to move away from the blind effect? Well, the developers say it was simply too frustrating to play against while the hero doing the blinding didn’t feel enough impact.

“In the end, we moved away from a blind ability because of the somewhat hidden effectiveness and frustration caused when played against. Solar didn’t feel a noticeable impact using blind, but the person getting blinded felt too much of an impact,” the devs noted.

“We ultimately decided that a full-screen blind was too much for the type of action flow we’re building in Overwatch.”

This may imply that blinds aren’t off the table completely, as long as other parts of the screen are visible. That said, Blizzard seems opposed to abilities that prevent players from seeing their whole screen.

We’ll have to see if or when the devs return to this idea with another hero, but we’re going to have a bit to wait as we won’t be getting a new character until Season 8.