Overwatch 2 Support Adjustments Will Remove Brigitte Stun
As plans for Overwatch 2 have been reportedly delayed again due to the rebalancing of current heroes within the game, Activision Blizzard developers have turned their attention to the support role, specifically the kit belonging to Brigitte.
Overwatch 2 has already made waves in the hero pool by completely revamping the role of tanks, as the upcoming title will switch to five versus five gameplay rather than teams of six.
As Winston and co. look to be completely reworked, as well as new designs for Baptiste and Sombra and new heroes like Sojourn, it's now Brigitte's time to face the harsh reality of the balancing tests.
Despite the changes to various compositions, the developers have now admitted that "Supports were actually too effective at keeping the entire team alive" in early testing on Overwatch 2, and Brigitte will be one of the heroes to be adapted by removing her stun.
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After landing on the game, Brigitte's stun was a key, yet also overpowered, way of shutting down opposing Tracer's. Over the years, her kit has been modified to ease the effects of her ability, and now it looks as if Overwatch 2 will mean the end for that specific technique, due to the effects of having one less teammate to look after.
Speaking in an Overwatch 2 forum, the developers said, "So far, we’ve not made a ton of changes to how the Support role works in OW2. There are some meaningful changes, such as removing the stun from Brigitte, however, for the most part, the playstyle of your favourite support heroes should feel familiar and similar to retail.
"In our playtests, having one less tank made it clear to us that tanks generally contribute much more damage than they mitigate, even on retail. Because of the drop in overall damage being dealt out, Supports were actually too effective at keeping the entire team alive, so we’re testing a tuned down healing output across the board to ensure that team fights still resolve in a way that doesn’t feel drawn out or frustrating to play against."
The devs also continued to discuss self-healing heroes, amid the changes to supports. "As of now, we have no plans to remove self-healing from these heroes," they began.
"Abilities like Regenerative Burst and Biotic Grenade remain a powerful part of their respective hero’s identities and will be tuned to account for the passive self-healing abilities also available."
With the game's development in full swing and insistent on a "spring release", it's likely many of the existing heroes will undergo treatment to suit the new playstyles.