Overwatch 2’s Big Midseason Update Just Hit the Wrong Target

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Players have been eagerly anticipating the latest update to Overwatch 2, excited for both the new story content and the typical gameplay tweaks. The story mode is especially popular with fans who enjoy the game’s background and universe, and Blizzard has committed to adding more story content with each new season. This update includes some helpful changes, like reducing Wrecking Ball’s health and speeding up Brigitte’s healing ability, plus a tweak to Lifeweaver that should help him stay alive longer. However, many players are unhappy with the buffs given to the Damage hero Ashe, and disappointed that the Mercy character hasn’t received any changes.

Overwatch 2’s Ashe Buff Could Make Her a Menace

A major challenge in balancing Overwatch 2 and the original game is how differently it plays on PC versus consoles. This has led to situations where a hero might be powerful on consoles but easily countered on PC – for example, Torbjorn used to be a big threat on consoles but weak on PC, and Pharah remains stronger on PlayStation and Xbox because players who can reliably counter her are harder to find. Recently, Ashe has become a clear example of this imbalance. While she’s considered a fairly average hero on PC, she’s been very effective on consoles. With her latest update, she’s likely to become overpowered on those platforms.

Ashe in Overwatch 2 is getting a significant damage boost. Her effective range has been increased, meaning she can deal full damage from further away before the damage starts to decrease. Previously, this drop-off started at 30-50 meters, but now it begins at 40-60 meters. This allows her to stay safer while still dealing consistent damage, making it harder for enemies to close the distance and potentially letting her control matches more effectively. Combined with support from a Mercy player, Ashe could become a very powerful character in the later stages of Overwatch 2 Season 19. Given her existing strength on both PC and console, this buff is a risky move that could lead to balance issues.

Ashe wasn’t affected by any other adjustments in the latest Overwatch 2 update, so her abilities—like Dynamite and BOB—remain as powerful as before, even with her increased range.

Players have been consistently asking for adjustments to Tracer, as she’s been dominating matches for weeks. The community generally dislikes her current damage output of 6 per shot, making it hard for heroes like Echo to be effective. While projectile size was adjusted, many hoped Tracer’s overall power would be reduced, but that didn’t happen. It feels strange that Ashe received a buff while Tracer remained unchanged, and it’s disappointing to see another hero players want updated remain untouched.

Overwatch 2’s Mercy Remains a Weak Link

For a long time, Overwatch 2 players have been asking for changes to Mercy. Ideas range from completely new powers to adjustments like making her ‘Flash Heal’ a standard ability and giving her a different bonus. While Mercy will likely always have dedicated players, and she’ll be useful for amplifying the damage of a powerful hero like Ashe, the core problem remains: she doesn’t have many opportunities to actively make plays happen, aside from her often-difficult and controversial ‘Resurrect’ ability, which frequently feels unfair to opponents.

Mercy’s abilities were last updated at the beginning of Season 18 on August 26th, replacing the Winged Reach ability with Divine Momentum. She hasn’t received any further changes in over 75 days.

Although a significant overhaul for Mercy would be better suited for Season 20 – which Blizzard is promoting as a major update for the game – there was still hope she could receive some improvements, like a faster healing ability, in the current patch. Many Mercy players are disappointed to see other heroes, such as Reinhardt, becoming more impactful in Overwatch 2, while Mercy feels left behind, and it’s unclear if this will change. While the latest patch has some good points, the lack of attention to Mercy, combined with buffs for Ashe and the continued strength of Tracer, are noticeable shortcomings. Hopefully, the balancing adjustments planned for Season 20 will address heroes who are too weak or too strong, as there are some potential issues that need to be resolved before the end of Season 19.

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2025-11-13 03:05