As Season 16 Approaches In Overwatch 2, Freja Gets Buffs, Perks Get Perkier, And Stadium Info Drops Next Week

As we close in on the launch of Season 16 in Overwatch 2, it's time to sit with the F2P shooter's director and review the Freja demo weekend, how Perks have been received by players, and tease more info about the new Stadium mode coming. Wait, we're not sitting with the director? The post is called "Director's Take," for crying out loud. Oh. It's Associate Game Director Alec Dawson this time around? Fine, close enough, let's dive in.

First, the feedback on new hero Freja has been mostly positive following her demo weekend. The bola-sporting hero will, however, receive a number of buffs before their debut in the new season. These buffs mostly come in the form of upgrades to ensure kills are landing. During tests, while Freja did damage just fine, they weren't actually finishing up with the kills as expected. Revdraw Crossbow will now fire 12 bolts instead of 8, and Bola Shot has seen more damage over time and a greater radius added. That should help a bit.

Perks have actually been a pretty positive addition to the game, despite them making things a bit more challenging on the balance side of things. However, the team wants to avoid the whole "you really should only run THIS perk on THIS hero" meta and instead offer variety that takes playstyle and preference into account. That does mean you can expect a few nerfs to a few overperforming perks in addition to some new perks. Triple blink Tracer? Yeah, that won't be a thing. A few heroes are getting existing perks swapped with more defining perks, too.

6v6 continues to do well despite the "2 tank limit" being imposed on players. The mode's audience size remains stable, even if it isn't the "main" mode chosen by players. 

Finally, expect an onslaught of information next week regarding the game's new "Stadium" mode. In the meantime, you can read up on what we know so far on the wiki.