Blizzard is attempting to reshape the way players approach and play Overwatch 2 heading into season five. Whether it’s through the gameplay itself, the cosmetics in the game, or the battle pass progression, it seems clear that the devs don’t want us to have a stale experience.
Though Overwatch 2 is largely staying the same, there are a few key changes that Blizzard is making with season five—which starts on Tuesday, June 13—that are meant to give us a fresh look. I’m not sure that any of these changes are groundbreaking, but as the developers continue to prepare for the PvE story missions coming in season six, they’ve made it clear they don’t want things to get too boring in the meantime.
With season five lacking the inclusion of a new hero or map, Blizzard is taking us all on a fanciful adventure with a role-play aspect to the game called “Questwatch” that will feature numerous exciting thematic skins like Demon Lord Reinhardt and Astronomer Zenyatta.
You’ll likely notice most of these thematic and gameplay changes relatively quickly, but some of them have a little bit more depth to them than others. Here are the three biggest changes coming to Overwatch 2 in season five.
Battle pass progression: Questwatch
Unlike previous seasons, Blizzard is taking a slightly different approach to battle pass progression in Overwatch 2 season five to help fit its fantasy role-play theme. While players will still level up from tier one to 80 the same way as they always have, there will be a “Questwatch” story that evolves as players earn experience.
YouTube creator Master Ian Gamer posted a preview of the battle pass content on June 12 that included a glimpse of the fresh approach by Blizzard, and it won’t necessarily change the way we play the game. But it will add just a little bit of fun flavor to the way we all enjoy our battle pass leveling experience.
Related: Overwatch 2 roadmap suggests season 5 content will be a hard pivot from season 4
Players can unlock different parts of the Questwatch role-play experience at various tiers of the battle pass, with the first coming at the very beginning. From there, new parts of the Questwatch campaign are unlocked at tiers 10, 20, 26, 40, 45, 60, 65, 70, and 80. The experience itself seems to be largely a dialogue between heroes who are participating in this role-play campaign.
Mythic Adventurer Tracer skin progression
Along the same lines of battle pass progression, this will be the first season in which players can unlock a Mythic skin before tier 80. To go along with the Questwatch role-play, players will earn the base level of Tracer’s Adventurer skin at tier 45. The skin will have light armor, crossbow-like Pulse Pistols, and blue as its primary color.
Related: All customization options for Mythic Adventurer Tracer skin in Overwatch 2
Players will get access to a hooded armor aesthetic at tier 65 and the tier 80 skin will come with a more fully plated armor set. The skin will have three different weapon options, three armor options, and three colorway options. The colorway options will include blue, red, and teal.
Hero balance: One-shot snipers and DPS crowd control
Nerfs to Junker Queen and buffs to Lifeweaver were among the most obvious changes that Blizzard could have made coming into season five. But Blizzard is truly shifting its philosophies in a couple of other key aspects of hero balance on June 13 with changes to a few other heroes.
Related: Overwatch dev teases massive hero balance changes coming in season 5
In a Dev Take post last week, game director Aaron Keller noted that the hero design team is tweaking its approaches to one-shot sniper heroes as well as crowd control on DPS heroes. With stronger damage falloff to Widowmaker and a nerf to Hanzo’s overall damage, the game’s two sniper heroes will no longer be quite as threatening. Meanwhile, an adjustment to the way enemies see Hanzo’s Sonic Arrow is intended to make the mechanic feel a little bit more fair to players who are tired of getting helplessly one-shot as they walk around corners.
Additionally, Blizzard is adding more crowd control back to a pair of DPS heroes. Mei and Cassidy had some of the more powerful CC in their kits stripped away from them when OW made the shift to five-vs-five last October, but that’s coming back beginning in season five.
Related: Overwatch 2 season 5 early patch notes
Mei’s primary fire will once again build up to a large slow on players after 1.5 seconds of continued thermo-blasting, and Cassidy’s Magnetic Grenade will get a crowd control effect similar to what Flashbang used to provide.
