The latest update to the multiplayer first-person shooter "Overwatch" has gone live on PC with a surprising balance patch. Does this signal more characters being added soon?
In the release notes on the official Blizzard forums, it is revealed that the new update for the PC version of the shooter game tones down two fan favorites, McCree and Widowmaker. With the new update going out, McCree's Peacekeeper skill has been softened to a recovery time of 0.3 seconds (from the original 0.75 seconds), while the damage also went down from 70 to 45. Meanwhile, Widowmaker's Widow's Kiss skill also decreased its base damage, from the original 15 to 12.
While the two characters are fan favorites, Blizzard has no choice but to balance the two against other shooters in the roster. For McCree, the dev team stated that, "McCree was performing too well against all targets, making him feel like a must-pick in many situations. By reducing the damage of his alternate fire, McCree is now significantly weaker against tanks like Roadhog and Reinhardt, but still maintains his lethality against smaller targets like Tracer and Genji."
The same is also true for Widowmaker, and the dev team commented, "In the right hands, Widowmaker can often feel unstoppable—even when just landing body shots instead of critical heads shots. The changes to her alternate fire weaken body shot damage while leaving her headshot damage unchanged. Additionally, we felt her Ultimate ability, Infra-Sight, was coming up a little too frequently, especially considering its impact on the game."
Since the two have been already toned down, it seems likely that other characters will have their update soon. Speculations say that the roster will be balanced further with the introduction of new characters. According to The Bitbag, characters seen on "Overwatch" shorts and previous teaser images may already be on the way. The industry observer mentioned how Athena and Soundquake seem to be included in teasers of the game. Meanwhile, a third character may also be introduced, a still-unknown successor to the Doomfist gauntlet.
