My Thoughts On Perks in Overwatch

Overwatch 2’s new perks feature has been the biggest shakeup to the gameplay experience since the launch of Overwatch 2 and the switch to 5v5. With the addition of unlockable modifiers that can change how a hero plays in both minor and major ways.

Here are my thoughts about the system. What I like about it and the downsides I see.

The Good

Ability to adapt playstyle mid game

As perks start being unlocked after the first few fights are over, and the player presumably has a better sense of the enemy team’s playstyle and how best to counteract it, perks give players a new tool to lean into a specific play style that may give them an advantage for the rest of the match.

For a useful example of this, consider Orisa’s Level 3 perks. There’s a clear delineation between a more offensive style using the Charged Javelin, and a defensive style using Protective Barrier. At the moment you level up a player can consider whether their team needs more offensive or defensive strength and choose accordingly.

Say that the team has been able to sustain itself well enough in team fights, but missed out on getting the final blows necessary to gain the upper hand. Or on the flipside the team have had short, bloody fights where they get the kills but not without sacrificing too many team members on their own side.

Giving players the flexibility to build a hero better suited to the conditions of the match they are playing, without needing to flex to a new hero, is a great way to make the game both more dynamic and competitive.

Bring back some old favourites

One welcome surprise for long-time Overwatch players are the couple of perks that bring back old hero abilities that were removed from the game years ago.

Orisa’s Shield

Firstly Orisa’s shield perk that we’ve already discussed. From before Orisa was retooled as a more offensive brawling tank for Overwatch 2. Seeing this shield again always gives me flashbacks to the double shield days, and not necessarily in a good way.

Reaper’s Soul Globes.

A relic of the old days where he had to run around picking up items in order to recover health from damaging enemies. Until perks launched they only lived on in this spray, which must have been a mystery to newer players.

Hanzo’s Scatter Arrows

The cause of many a frustrating headshot around a corner back in the early Overwatch 1 days. Scatter arrows make their return with this optional perk. Although I think in a more balanced form.

Bringing these abilities back is certainly a nice piece of nostalgia for those of us who remember them. It’s also encouraging to see the devs are willing to retool and reimagine these abilities for the current game. The optional nature of perks has given the devs a bit more freedom to add some more off-the-wall ideas into the game.

Potential Issues

Clear better options leads to less strategic variety

In the good aspects of perks section I talked about how I liked perks that support focusing on one particular playstyle. Unfortunately that choice matters less in cases where there’s a clear better option.

Take Tracer’s Level 3 perks for example. Based on the discussions and gameplay in the OWCS there seems to be a consensus that the Flashback perk that effectively give Tracer 6 blinks (with a recall in the middle) is the better option every time.

If there’s not a strategic decision to make between the choices, then there isn’t going to be an increase in the variety of playstyles being used. All you’ve done is added a buff to the hero that requires a few button presses to activate.

The devs have said that perks will be looked at and actively buffed/nerfed along with hero stats and abilities. So hopefully they can work towards balancing all heroes perks to be in a state where there are two viable options for each.

Another reason not to switch heroes

One concern that I do have about the perks, is that it is another disincentive for hero switching. Hero swapping and counter swapping mid game is one of the most engaging parts of game strategy in Overwatch in my opinion.

With perks in the game, flexing onto another hero not only reduces your ultimate charge but also you start from nothing on your perk levels. With some of the perks being very impactful and crucial to playing heroes at the highest level. Having to go without a fully perked up hero for a time mid match, when facing a team with all their hero perks, could be a significant disadvantage.

The Devs have made some allowance for this. You gain levels much faster on your new hero, so the time spent without perks is relatively short. However it’s hard to imagine this isn’t a further factor discouraging counter swapping in the game.

Anything that discourages counter swapping in game will end up diluting some of Overwatch’s uniqueness, which is a real shame in my opinion.

Final Thoughts

I’ve always believed that the secret to Overwatch’s success is that it almost perfectly straddles the line between the MOBA and FPS genres. You can do well at the game and have fun whether you focus more on pure aiming skills, or on the counter picking and strategy side.

The addition of perks seems to move Overwatch closer to the MOBA end of this continuum. Whether that’s for better or for worse probably depends on whether you think about the game as primarily a shooter game, or a teamplay and tactics game.