Overwatch 2’s new Perks sound fun—but they could also be a balancing nightmare

Overwatch 2 is aiming to change the game with its new Perks system starting in season 15, but it seems like there’s a really thin line between innovative fun and oppressive annoyance.

Perks aren’t a new idea in games, but they could change how OW2 feels entirely. They’re hero-specific upgrades that players unlock throughout the duration of a match, with one Minor Perk and one Major Perk to grab via XP earned while playing. Many games have similar mechanics, such as several MOBAs. Looking at the massive list of Perks in OW2 to begin with in season 15 (there’s four each for all 43 heroes, so that’s 172 to begin with), most of them sound fun and interesting, but I feel like a few heroes could easily get out of hand. And this brings about a concern for balance troubles in a game with a roster that big.

D.Va, for example, has a Major Perk called Shield System that converts 150 of her health to shields, which is already quite powerful, but her Defense Matrix will restore those shields for 25 percent of the damage that gets absorbed. Imagine a D.Va with a healer on her that’s also able to restore her own health while having a short cooldown on her movement ability. That pocket becomes overpowered fast.

My own favorite hero, Reinhardt, can combine his Minor and Major Perks to, while using his shield, both allow health regen to trigger 50 percent faster AND be able to damage and knock back enemies at the same time. Even as a struggling boomer with my hammer, it sounds like a lot.

For DPS heroes, Bastion will be able to get 300 temporary overhealth and also get his old self-healing ability back. Genji can get lifesteal on his ultimate and also regenerate 25 health per second while Deflect is active. Reaper is able to get his Soul Globes to restore health, plus a 40-percent boost to lifesteal when coming out of Wraith form.

Ana’s Perks are concerning from the backline, as she can get a Biotic Grenade that bounces and explodes twice, along with the ability to use her rifle to get critical hits on enemies. She’s already a hero that has to be hard-countered, and this just makes her stronger.

You get the picture. These abilities sound fun, but it will take time and practice to see how they work in operation. I don’t want to be a downer and I’m sure I’m getting ahead of myself—Blizzard QA has clearly tested these things already, after all. Maybe I’m overreacting, but this does add a whole new wrinkle to the game’s balancing, and that’s enough to at least feel slightly concerned about how it may impact the game overall.

Some existing hero abilities may need to be tweaked to compensate for Perks and how they make some heroes feel a bit too strong, on top of Perks themselves having to potentially get changed, too. I hope that it all works out and that Perks make the game feel new and fresh, but I also worry about what games may feel like for a while. And then there are some heroes and Perks that may feel drastically weak by comparison, leading to further testing and tweaking. It sounds daunting, but I think Blizzard is up to the task.

I think that everything announced during OW2 Spotlight is enough to reignite some lost interest in the game. Having said that, I also hope that Blizzard is quick to mop up any issues that may appear thanks to Perks, as opposed to letting issues fester and anger gamers who may be coming back to OW2 after an extended hiatus, lest they log out and just go back to Marvel Rivals.