In a Twitch stream detailing the content roadmap for Overwatch 2, executive maker Jared Neuss explained the resolution of PvE content.
“PvE progression hasn’t made the progress we expected,” Neuss said. “The team has created a lot of amazing content, so there are some incredible missions that are exciting. There are brand new enemies that are a lot of fun to fight and some incredible and ridiculous hero abilities. But unfortunately, the effort required to combine All of that in a delight in the quality of Blizzard that we can offer you is huge, and there is no end in sight or a set end date by which we can release this to the world.
“So we find ourselves faced with another difficult choice. Do we continue to dedicate all our efforts to PvE, hoping to get there at some point in the future, or do we stick to this set of values that we have? Aligned and focused in live games and focused on serving everyone? It is clear that we cannot fulfill this original vision of PvE that was presented in 2019. That means that we may not provide this committed hero mode with skill trees, this The progression? long-term skill power is no longer part of our plans and we know this will be disappointing for many of you, so we tried to communicate about it before communicating about the roadmap. It’s been very complicated for many of us and. for a lot of team members who put their heart and soul into these kinds of things.
Overwatch 2’s PvE mode was intended to be a vital differentiator between the original game and its sequel. In 2019, we were able to enter PvE, which was intended to introduce new hero abilities, co-op attacks, and a leveling system. But when Overwatch 2 launched, the long-awaited PvE mode isn’t one of them. Instead, Blizzard promised that Overwatch 2’s PvE would arrive sometime in 2023 as seasonal content.
Even though the original vision of PvE mode was removed, there is still a lot of content in the works of Overwatch 2. On Twitter, the Overwatch account shared a symbol detailing plans for Overwatch 2 Season 5, Season 6, Season 7, and beyond. Story missions are shown to be coming to Overwatch 2 in Season 6, along with a new hero. So while the ambitious PvE mode is rarely a huge part of Overwatch’s future, perhaps story missions can help fill that in. null for the players.
#Overwatch2: A look into the future ✨ Join us as we share more highlights on everything we have planned for 2023, adding new events, PvE, new heroes, new maps and more. ?https://t. co/FEyTC2p7eL pic. twitterArraycom/lGd1uABbfN
In an interview with GameSpot, Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller explained some of the upcoming PvE additions to Overwatch 2 as a replacement for Hero Mode.
“We’ve got a lot of news this year, and even if you take a look at Season 6, it’s the most important season we’ve introduced in Overwatch Hitale,” Keller said. “This season we’re hosting a PvE event. We have a whole new type of PvE content that we’re releasing with our Solo Hero Mastery missions. . . So players can see that we’re still involved in PvE and that we’re doing more with the story than ever before. to do it in a different way than we originally talked about.
Neuss expanded on this point by saying that Blizzard is absolutely moving away from Overwatch 2 PvE.
“We know that if we stick to the seasonal cadence, we can release things throughout the seasons in a way that we can successfully plan for and that we think will be exciting for the players,” Neuss said. “That, specifically, gives us time to adapt to the next thing for players before we release it, and I think we want to move away from this concept of this big, singular PvE launch moment and look towards ‘No, we’re going to do PvE stuff all the time. We have all those plans. Season 6 has another 3 versions, and we have many other versions in the coming seasons. “
We rated Overwatch 2 wonderful in our review, saying that the sequel “breathes new life into what was once the sharpest multiplayer shooter out there, before its edges were seriously weakened due to Blizzard’s diversion of attention. “
Logan Plant is a freelancer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has more than seven years of experience in the video game industry with signatures at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.