'Overwatch' Developer Update: New Heroes, Maps And Game Modes Are Coming

Jeff Kaplan, game director of Overwatch , just released another Developer Update talking about new heroes, maps and game modes. Kaplan is one of the best game directors, always happy to go out of his way to interact with the community and assure them the Overwatch team is hard at work on some new amazing stuff.

Here’s a full list of everything Kaplan talked about that isn’t already on the PTR. Keep in mind Kaplan has already said some of this stuff might not come to fruition; the Overwatch team works on a lot of stuff and some of it just doesn't make the cut.

• Symmetra, the least powerful hero in Overwatch, is finally getting some love. Kaplan knows she’s a bit underpowered right now, and his team is looking into a long-term fix to make her viable. “Changes for Symmetra aren’t as easy as couple of number tweaks,” Kaplan said. Symmetra will most definitely not be a healer, even if that means they have to take her out of the support class. They are trying to make her strong while also staying true to her character.

• There is one hero that’s close to completion, who will be seeing “the light of day sooner than later,” according to Kaplan. It sounds a lot like Sombra , the highly anticipated hero the Overwatch team has been teasing ever since the game first launched.

• There’s another hero in the pipeline at Blizzard, but it’s far from completion. They are still using placer models to test it out; nothing has been uniquely designed for the hero so they have to use preexisting graphics. This hero won’t be ready until sometime next year.

• The Overwatch team is hard at work on making maps, with one map very far along. They have already started adding art assets and really fleshing out the story of this new environment. There’s another map that’s also being worked on, but it’s nowhere near completion.

• New game modes are coming, and the Overwatch team has been hard at work coming up with new maps. There are four in “prototype developer only stages” that they are experimenting with. Not all will be made, most will never make it into the actual game.

• An upcoming update will allow players to use multiple voice lines and emotes in the same game.

Are you happy with Kaplan’s Overwatch Developer Update? Tell us in the comments!