One of the biggest growing pains for Overwatch 2 was getting players on board with new heroes being locked behind either payments or battle pass progress. For those players who yearn for the old days of Overwatch, there’s good news: All new heroes will be free starting in season 10.
The free hero news is the headliner of today’s developer update from director Aaron Keller. Beginning in season 10, new characters Blizzard introduces to the hero shooter will automatically be unlocked for players at launch. In addition, any and all Overwatch 2 heroes players still don’t have unlocked will also become available, effectively reverting the hero unlock progression/monetization that’s been in place since the sequel update originally launched.
Keller noted any new players will still need to “complete the first-time user experience” to unlock all heroes, but all new heroes will unlock for free once new players make the original Overwatch roster available. And yes, the new hero unlocks include new hero Venture, who will be available for all players—completely free—when season 10 launches.
There are more changes in store for season 10 as well, including a limited-time trial of the next major mode to enter the game, Clash. Clash will be playable on the new map Hanaoka, which Keller previously teased at BlizzCon 2023. There are also plans for more new maps and map updates in season 11, with new Push map Runasapi giving players a glimpse into Illari’s Peru, a map rework coming to Colosseo, and more significant map updates coming sometime beyond season 11 slated for Dorado, Circuit Royale, Numbani, and Havana.
And while it might not be as exciting as new maps, the dev update also revealed new ways for players to obtain and customize old Mythic skins in the new Mythic Shop, as well as increasing the amount of coins players earn for progressing through the battle pass to 600 per season.
Finally, Keller noted the big gameplay shifts in season nine and promised the team was taking player feedback to heart as the Overwatch team continually looks to “refresh the core” of the gameplay experience. “Our vision in the long term is to maintain a regular heartbeat in the game by consistently introducing new or updated systems, shaking up the meta, implementing rank resets, and introducing new rewards,” Keller said.
It sounds like Overwatch 2 players should expect a big swing in gameplay to become more of the norm as the game continues in 2024. At the very least, they’ll have an easy time coming to grips with new heroes when season 10 launches on April 16.
