Overwatch 2 Game Director Aaron Keller has clarified information about upcoming gameplay experiments after talk of faster respawns sparked backlash.
Coming in Season 8, the Overwatch 2 devs will be testing out new gameplay mechanics to improve the experience, but the example given didn’t sit right with the community.
In a blog post, Aaron Keller explained that the team would be running some experiments next season and used faster respawns as an example writing, “For instance, what would happen if spawn times were drastically reduced? Look for those to start in Season 8.”
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However, the idea of faster respawns rubbed some community members the wrong way, with OWL pros even revealing the concept had been tested in alpha and was “terrible.” In response, Keller clarified how such experiments would be run in OW2.
On November 20, Keller broke his silence on the controversy by addressing concerns that Overwatch 2 players have about experiments ruining their games.
“Faster respawn times was an example for short (i.e. limited time) experiments that we would like to run starting in S8,” he explained.
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Keller further noted that these experiments would not affect every part of the game and pointed out that ranked competitive matches wouldn’t be impacted.
Late reply, sorry! Faster respawn times was an example for short (i.e. limited time) experiments that we would like to run starting in S8. These would not be permanent and would not affect all areas of the game, especially comp.
— Aaron Keller (@aaronkellerOW) November 20, 2023
Additionally, the director stated that the UI will make it “obvious” that an experiment is being conducted to not confuse players when they queue up.
When a player inquired about the possibility of any experiments being so successful they become permanent, Keller replied that the point is to find things that make the game better for everyone or help tune certain game modes.
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It’s not clear if the hypothetical respawn changes are actually coming, but at least now the fears players had about them should be alleviated.
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