With only a few weeks left in its current season, Blizzard has announced an exciting new change for Overwatch 2 coming early next month—and it should be familiar for long-time players.
In a Developer Update this morning, Game Director Aaron Keller announced that, starting with Season 10, all new heroes will be immediately unlocked when they launch, and as such, all existing heroes will also be unlocked for players who have completed the first-time user tutorials. This means players don’t need to grind out levels of the Battle Pass to unlock new heroes in all game modes.
The timing for this change is perfect, as Overwatch 2 is set to receive its 40th hero, Venture, in Season 10. All players will have immediate access to this new damage-class character as soon as they’re added to the game.
Now, if this bold new policy of making all heroes available to all players for free sounds familiar… it’s because that’s how the original version of the game used to function. One of the most controversial changes in the transition to Overwatch 2 was the decision to gate heroes behind Battle Pass progression, instead of simply adding them to the game for all to use. After 18 months in service, the updated F2P game will revert back to the old method of character acquisition, but time will tell if the gesture will help win back lapsed fans.
Other upcoming changes announced include a new Mythic Shop, overhauling the method of earning Mythic hero skins. Players will be able to set how much progress they want to make on each given Mythic skin, allowing them to unlock components up to a chosen point instead of unlocking all the model’s variations and colours. This shop will also include past Mythic skins, with seasonal skins available two seasons after their initial release—so Mythic skins from Overwatch 2‘s first 7 seasons will be available in the Mythic Shop from the start of Season 10.
The new season will also grant coins to players as they progress through the Battle Pass’ Free and Premium tracks, with the free coins per season increasing from 540 to 600.
Keller detailed the team’s commitment “to give the game a regular heartbeat” by adding “newer, updated systems, shaking up PvP, rank resets, and new rewards,” as well as continuing to balance Overwatch 2 as they have in the current season.
Overwatch 2 will also be adding a new map in Season 10—Hanaoka, a new section of Hanamura and the first map made specifically for the new game mode, Clash. A limited playtest of this new map and mode will come at the start Two new Clash maps will follow later this year, while a new Push Map, Runasapi, will arrive in Season 11. Keller added that at some point beyond Season 12, the team is “looking at creating a season that will be focused on map reworks,” as part of their mission to increase how much effort they put into live maps, in comparison to the effort of developing new ones.
As for Venture, the Damage hero was revealed at BlizzCon 2023 as an archaeologist with “an unquenchable thirst for treasures and hidden secrets,” which brings the ability to dig into the ground to their kit. They’ll be the first non-binary hero in Overwatch 2, and the second Canadian hero on the roster (or third, if you count Pharah). Players can take them for a spin when Season 10 launches on April 10.
In the meantime, Overwatch 2‘s collaboration event with Cowboy Bebop is still underway until March 25. Fans can purchase skins for Cassidy, Ashe, Sombra, and Mauga based on Spike, Faye, Ed, and Jet. A free Ein skin for Wrecking Ball is also attainable for free, by completing 12 event challenges. Season 10 will bring another unusual crossover—a Porsche skin for D.Va.
