As promised, today April 26 Blizzard Entertainment officially launched the Overwatch 2 Limited PvP Beta, which can be attended by the lucky players invited by Blizzard and all those who will take advantage of the Twitch Drops.
For the first time ever, the general public of fans on PC can test the many novelties packaged by Blizzard Entertainment, from the new 5vs5 configuration to the heavy relocation of the role of the tanks, passing through the new heroine Sojourn and the new maps. The news for those coming from the first Overwatch is numerous, so the development partner has prepared a very long post with the notes of the PvP Beta Patch of April 26th.
The most striking change is obviously the one implemented to the game formula, which went from 6v6 to 5v5. For Quick Match, Competitive and Queue Roles modes, the team formation now consists of 1 Tank hero, 2 Support heroes and 2 Attack heroes. For Classic Quick Match mode, Open Role Queue, and Arcade modes such as CLB or Mysterious Heroes, the number of players in a team is now 5 instead of 6. “Having one less player on each team means that individual contributions are much more relevant to winning,” Blizzard assures.
The Escort mode also debuts, currently available on two maps, Toronto and Rome. The game takes place with two opposing teams vying for control of a single shared objective: the Handyman Robot Treadweather TS-1, which is initially located in the center of the map. At the same time, conquest maps have been removed from both Quick Matches and Competitive Matches.
“After reviewing all of our maps and game modes, we noticed that Conquest maps have always been the least appreciated by many members of our community,” Blizzard explained. However, Hanamura Temple, Temple of Anubis, Volskaya, Paris and Horizon Lunar Colony will continue to be available for Custom Matches and workshops.
There are also big changes to the score screen, with a new look more similar to other competitive sports and games. Now, in fact, it shows statistics such as eliminations and deaths for all players in the game in real-time. On the hero’s side, Doomfist became a tank and Sojourn made his debut among the attackers. The newcomer possesses the following skills:
- Rail Rifle: Shoots high-frequency projectiles that generate energy on impact
- Rail Cannon Alternative Fire Mode: High Impact Shot That Consumes Stored Energy
- Destructive Shot: Launch a burst of energy that slows down and inflicts damage on enemies within it
- Energetic Slip: Slide to the ground that can turn into a big jump
- Overclock – Ultra Ability: The energy of the Rail Cannon automatically charges for a short time and the shots pierce the enemies
Find more details on the news and reworks of all the characters on the official Overwatch website.