Blizzard has announced a major overhaul to the basic attributes of veteran characters from its flagship team shooter. Starting April 14th, the second season of the title will bring substantial changes to Mercy, Reaper and Pharah. Specific skills that previously only functioned as temporary advantages are now part of the permanent kit of each of these heroes. The change alters the dynamics of competitive matches.
Lead hero designer Alec Dawson detailed the changes in an official post last Friday. The development team’s main objective involves balancing the power level of the classic characters in relation to the new cast members. The perk system introduced in the previous season generated complaints from the community for adding an excessive layer of complexity to direct confrontations. The decision to transfer these characteristics to innate abilities aims to simplify visual and tactical understanding during intense combat. Jogadores reported difficulties identifying which modifiers were active on opponents in fractions of a second. Direct integration solves this readability problem. The studio intends to maintain the original identity of each class
