Blizzard’s Overwatch team has been pretty mum lately especially when it comes to talking about new heroes coming into the widely played game. The team has a very good reason to keep things quiet. They learned a hard lesson, Sombra.
Jeff Kaplan, Overwatch game director, jumped into the fray when people stated that releasing new characters would be a great way to get gamers think less of balance. Kaplan stated that the company will be releasing new heroes. He stated that he does not think that people will care less about balance though. The reason why the development team does not talk about new heroes development more is that they took the community feedback with regards to Sombra ARG to heart.
As gamers can recall, the Sombra ARG had endlessly teased Sombra with hype leading to more hype and countdown clocks. This whipped the Overwatch community into frenzy and ultimately led to the character being hyped too much. And when the character was finally released, some Overwatch fans were disappointed with her kit. Blizzard admitted that the promotion for the Sombra character was a bit over the top.
The community had their hands in on the deed too. The community speculated about Doomfist, led by Terry Crews. Blizzard seems to have learned its lesson about teasing heroes a little bit too much. The company from here on out would think twice before harping on the same string for Overwatch fans, as reported by PVP Live.
Elsewhere, Kaplan talks about hero balancing and how Blizzard is doing it. Kaplan explains why heroes are often compensated when they are nerfed. Kaplan says that many players think of things in black and white and a hero either needs a buff or a nerf as an example. The way the Overwatch team approaches things is from a more objective stance, many players do as well. Kaplan says that they want to represent both the people playing the hero or those gamers who are playing against that hero, as published by PCGamesN.
