Blizzard is removing the grind (or paywall) required to unlock new heroes upon release in Overwatch 2. Rather than having to pay for the battle pass to immediately unlock a new hero upon release, or grind for hours to get them through the free track, Blizzard is going to simply just give them to everyone.
“Heroes are one of the most exciting additions to the game and we want all of our players to have immediate access to them when they launch, which is why I’m thrilled to share that Venture and all future heroes will be free for all players when they launch,” game director Aaron Keller announced during today's developer update. “Starting with Venture, heroes will no longer be unlocked through the Battle Pass. This includes all previous Overwatch 2 heroes.”
Blizzard originally used "competitive balance" as justification for locking heroes behind the battle pass or forcing players to hit Tier 55 on the free track. Although it was never quite clear what competitive balance had to do with it since players could pay to unlock these heroes immediately anyway.
In any case, this is widely viewed as a good movie. But that's not the only change coming to Overwatch 2.
Blizzard is also introducing a new way to unlock Mythic skins.
"We'd like to give everyone more choice in how they unlock and upgrade Mythic skins," Keller said. "Our goal is to give you more power over which Mythic Skin you would like to work towards."
Starting with Season 10, Blizzard will debut the Mythic Shop. This will allow you to work towards past and current Seasonal Mythic hero skins as you progress through the Premium Battle Pass.
"You get to decide how far into each Mythic skin you would like to build. So, for example, if you don't want to fully unlock all of a skin's color or model variations, you can spread your progression towards other Mythic hero skins," Blizzard briefly explained, promising more details as we get closer to Season 10.
Seasonal Mythic hero skins will be available two seasons after their debut, so Mythic hero skins from Seasons 1 through 7 will be available in the Mythic Shop starting with Season 10.
In addition to these changes, Blizzard will continue to provide updates to the game's Competitive mode. Newer, updated systems, shaking up PvP, rank resets and new rewards are some of the updates Blizzard will continue doing, although they are still determining how often.
There are also new maps on the way. Runasapi is the first map on the way. It's a Push mpa, set in Peru, that will arrive in Season 11. There's also a new mode, Clash, with two new maps releasing later this year. Looking even further head, beyond Season 12, Blizzard is looking at a season that will focus on map reworks.
These are some of the main highlights discussed in the latest Overwatch 2 developer update. Check out the full video below!