Recently, Jeff Kaplan, lead game designer for Overwatch, took to the forum to discuss a new experimental card coming to the game featuring a number of changes to crowd-control (CC) aspects of certain heroes. This experimental card will test out these changes to determine what might be the right direction for the game moving forward.
Overwatch has always been a fast-paced FPS game that features a wide array of characters with incredibly abilities. Movement and mobility is a big part of the game, but over the course of its life, Overwatch added more and more CC aspects to help keep the more mobile characters somewhat under control. This isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but CC has become so prevalent in the game, it feels hard to play sometimes without becoming completely ineffective in some situations, possibly bringing the overall enjoyment of the game down. When CC is less oppressive, the game feels better and these new changes in the experiment card will begin to test how the game feels once some of the CC is reduced.
The CC changes come to a number of heroes including Reinhardt, Sigma, McCree, Mei, Ana and Brigitte. Roadhog also gets a slight buff to how some of his CC will work by increasing the knock-back distance of his Whole Hog ultimate. While some of these changes make little differences it might possibly improve quality of life of everyone playing the game. Some other heroes will be more affected by the changes such as Mei whose entire kit revolves around her effective use of CC. Her Blizzard ultimate duration is reduced by .75 seconds going from 5-4.25 second long. These are the types of changes needed to help keep in check the more oppressive heroes.
There is a lot to love about Overwatch throughout it’s entire life-span, but it got to the point where the developers needed to find a clear direction for the game. They seem to be willing to listen to what the community is looking for and tailor the game accordingly. If they can figure out the CC problems with experimental cards like this one that possibly will make it into the actual game, the state of the game could see a drastic improvement to the overall Overwatch experience.
Source: Overwatch Forums
