Overwatch 2’s PvE component just got nerfed hard

Overlook 2The next three seasons of content will include the arrival of PvE story missions, a brand new support hero, and a limited-time event called Questwatch, Blizzard announced this on Tuesday. Story missions have been part of the game’s plans since 2019, when Blizzard announced this Overexpected 2but they will eventually arrive in a very different form than the developer originally promised.

Game director Aaron Keller and executive producer Jared Neuss said during a Twitch stream that season 6 will feature Overlook 2‘s “first major story-based event […] with a new set of missions that will mark the beginning of a new storyline for Overwatch.” Neuss announced that that story-driven PvE content won’t feature the long-term power progression and hero-specific talent trees that Blizzard originally promised, with Keller explaining that instead of doing “a big one-off PvE release,” Blizzard plans to add co-op gameplay. and experiences part of the ongoing roadmap for live games. Some of those co-op experiences will be canon to Overwatch’s story, some won’t, Keller said.

“The development of the PvE experience really hasn’t progressed as much as we hoped,” explained Neuss. “The team has been making great content, so there are great missions that are really exciting, there are brand new enemies that are super fun to fight, and some really awesome and ridiculous hero talents. But unfortunately all the effort it takes to put all that together into a Blizzard-quality experience that we can ship to you is huge and the end is really not in sight […] So we have another tough choice: do we keep putting all that effort into PvE, hoping we can land it sometime in the future, or do we […] focus on the live game?

“With everything we’ve learned about what it takes to get this game to the level you deserve, it’s clear we can’t deliver on that original vision for PvE that was shown in 2019. We won’t deliver that dedicated hero mode with talent trees, that long-term ability development, those things are just not in our plans anymore.

Keller added, “We want you to be able to experience it more often and with more variety than originally announced.”

Blizzard’s announcement is sure to come as a major blow to Overwatch fans who were enticed by the player progression and the variety of hero talents available. Blizzard promised at BlizzConline 2021. For now, it looks like players who have stuck with Overwatch, as is tradition, will get story content in bits and pieces over the coming months and years.

Here’s a look at Blizzard’s current roadmap for it Overexpected 2:

Season 5

• Questwatch, a new temporal event mode
• Mischief and magic
• A cinematic revelation for an unknown hero
• Summer Games 2023
• 5v5 mini competitive season
• “On Fire” returns
• Creator Workshop mode

Season 6

• Story missions
• New supporting hero
• Flashpoint game mode
• Hero mastery
• Shooting range
• Player progression system
• Overwatch Anniversary 2023

Season 7 and beyond

• New tank hero
• New Collaboration Event (Limited Time Mode)
• New control card
• New winter event
• Competitive Mystery Heroes returns
• Roadhog and Sombra rework
• Lore codex

Blizzard originally announced Overlook 2‘s PvE component at BlizzCon 2019, when it unveiled the semi-sequel to the original Overexpected. For Overlook 2However, at launch, Blizzard “unlinked” the story-driven PvE portion of the game from the competitive multiplayer modes. Since Overlook 2At launch in October 2022, Blizzard released a handful of new PvE modes, including a Halloween-themed event, Halloween Terror 2022, and the new Starwatch mode, which combines PvP and PvE elements.