Overwatch 2 players call for new approach to hero releases after Mauga
Blizzard EntertainmentOverwatch 2 players are calling on Blizzard to start using the early release weekends for every new hero after the success of Mauga’s trial.
Normally, Overwatch hasn’t let players experiment with heroes before they’re released for good. Ever since the first game, new releases are a pretty fixed event, and Blizzard hasn’t ever made drastic changes to how they introduce character to the game.
However, at BlizzCon last week, the devs rolled out a different way of releasing new heroes. Mauga, the latest tank to join the roster, was available to play for a weekend, before being taken off again while Blizzard listened to player feedback.
Many players felt that this was a good way to tweak heroes for their entry into the game, and now they’re asking for it to be a permenant stage of hero releases going forward.
Overwatch 2 players want more early testing for new heroes
One post on the Overwatch 2 subreddit theorized that if Lifeweaver had received the same treatment that Mauga did, he wouldn’t have launched in such a poor state, because devs would have seen how he interacts with how players actually play the game.
“Blizzard must have gathered orders of magnitude more data than they normally would have with internal playtests,” they suggested.
“I feel like Lifeweaver might not have released in such an awful state, and Illari might’ve been tuned down a little bit if the wider player base had some time with them before the full release.”
Many players agreed that the early release weekend should become a permenant fixture of new heroes, with one reply saying: ” It’s an easy way to hype people for a release, easy way to test the hero out themselves so they can make adjustments before it goes live. It’s an all around good feature.”
Another player said that “extra play testing is always a good thing.
“It won’t guarantee that every kink will be ironed out, but the amount of data they can glean from across all skill levels, with enough time to implement changes is a good start.
We’ll have to wait and see what Blizzard’s approach will be for the next few releases.
For more news and updates on the Overwatch 2 community, check out all the details we have on the upcoming Roadhog rework.