It’s finally time for Overwatch 2‘s mid-season patch, and people are not happy—shocker.
A lot of balancing changes have been introduced, with some heroes getting greatly buffed while others took a massive hit. While each of the changes has its pros and cons, there’s one nerf that nobody can seem to find a reasonable justification for.
Overwatch 2 Makes the Oddest Nerf Decision
Ever since Overwatch‘s sequel came out (and I used the word sequel very loosely), many people feel like Blizzard hasn’t been able to do anything right for it.
The sentiment was already building up considering how long it took for Overwatch 2 to come out.
When it finally dropped with no mention of the promised PvE story mode and with 5v5 being the new standard instead of 6v6, it felt like the team was completely out of touch with what players wanted.
New #Overwatch2 Mid-Season 11 Patch Notes 🧰
— Overwatch Cavalry (@OWCavalry) July 9, 2024
👤 General Hero Updates:
→ Armor flat damage reduction increased from 5 to 10 per projectile.
→ Enemy health bars now display when they are at their Low Health threshold.
🛡️ Tank Role Passive:
→ Ultimate generation reduction… pic.twitter.com/bSYMK3vTf2
The new patch notes just seem to continue the trend. There were a lot of changes made, but one of the most controversial ones seems to be Illari’s nerf.
Her ‘E’ ability, the Healing Pylon, will no longer notify the entire team when it’s destroyed.
The Patch Notes Are a Huge Miss
Was removing this critical notification really necessary? The Overwatch 2 community has weighed in, and the consensus is a resounding no.
Illari's "Nerf" seems like a weird decision, it's pretty helpful knowing when the pylon gets destroyed.
— Shadow (@TheAgentShadow) July 9, 2024
For one, the notification informing teammates that the Healing Pylon was destroyed helped them keep track of the Pylon and know when it’s on cooldown vs. when Illari has one ready to deploy.
Any support main who’s been unfairly blamed for not healing can understand why this notification was helpful.
→ Explosion damage reduced from 30 to 0. ???
— eve ⟡ (@xinyust) July 9, 2024
and the illari nerf is weird too considering how many ppl beg for heals when i don’t have pylon/am recharging https://t.co/CpNHpshq4l
People are furious at the patch, and Illari’s changes are just the start. Ana’s nerf, Mauga’s buffs, and other changes are widely unpopular.
I just wanna know
— Azazel🍉 (@SleepyAzazel) July 9, 2024
why buff horse, the worst tank designed character mauga, Nerfed cass when he already is in a bad state, didnt properly nerf pharah, then buff zen ult cost, took away teammates ability to know when illari pylon is destroyed, its just a bad patch at this point
It’s just your average Wednesday where Blizzard manages to do something to Overwatch 2 that upsets everyone.
However, the scale of dissatisfaction this time around seems much larger than before.
What are your opinions on the new balancing changes for Overwatch 2? We’d love to hear your thoughts on it in the comments below!
