It is an interesting statement, isn’t it? Blizzard Entertainment wants Overwatch 2’s multiplayer meta to be “in chaos” and disarray when it comes out. Every new chapter comes with brand new characters, that’s how it works in Overwatch’s world. The original game came with 21 heroes but over the years the number rose to 31.
It is safe to say Overwatch 2 will come with its own new set of heroes, a couple of which are already confirmed (kind of). One of the characters we know about is Sojourn, the first black woman in the game, then we have the beloved Echo who first appeared as an android in one of Overwatch’s cinematics.
Jeff Kaplan’s previous comments indicate that Echo will be a playable character in Overwatch 2, although that is yet to be officially confirmed. According to Blizzard, the development team wants the multiplayer meta for Overwatch 2 to be “in chaos” when the game comes out – the studio wants the competitive Overwatch 2 scene to be in as much disarray as it was when they added D.Va, Mei and Genji into the beta back in the day. Other than Echo and Sojourn, who else can we expect in the Overwatch 2? Nothing is confirmed at this point but it sounds like there are some crazy hero ideas for Overwatch 2.
Every so often, we’ll do this thing where we’ll get everyone on the team to just go ‘Crazy hero ideas – let’s go! ‘Everyone will do a thumbnail of what the hero might be, what their abilities might be, and once – just entirely in jest – someone even came up with a hero that was a pizza. So we get some crazy ideas out of these sessions. We do it because it’s a great time to burn off steam, but we do get some great ideas out of these meetings. We still have some of these ideas, actually, that are back-burnered.
One of the most out-there characters perhaps was Wrecking Ball, a giant ball piloted by a hamster named Hammond. Blizzard made it work into the game’s meta so at this point “anything is possible for these heroes,” says Overwatch 2 technical director John Lafleur.
What drives us to them is simply, ‘What is their story, and what is the message we’re trying to get across with them? What could their abilities be?’ When those three things go together and we have a nice story that everyone engages with, suddenly it gels and we can start making plans to put it into the game. But there’s little pieces of all kinds of things we play around with.
Surely whatever heroes arrive in Overwatch 2 will, without a doubt, compliment the meta and the game’s freshly redesigned roster of heroes. Rest assured, even though Overwatch 2 will redefine Overwatch, the heroes will still be identifiable. Players have spent countless hours playing and learning these heroes, it all can not be just thrown out the window.
Source: Extracted from Edge Magazine January 2020 Issue