Blizzard has delivered a controversial change to Moira in its latest Overwatch 2 patch that has some players questioning balance priorities. With the launch of Overwatch 2 and the shift to 5v5 team battles, gameplay balance shifted Support characters into a much stronger position. The result has Overwatch 2 players wary of changes that strengthen Supports, or further encourage them to do damage. That's exactly what Blizzard appears to have done with Moira, though.Supports in Overwatch 2 are more capable than ever of sustaining damage on their own. Due to the way Overwatch 2 queues work, some DPS players are even queuing as Support and solely focusing on doing damage. It's led to some controversy, with a vocal number of Overwatch 2 players arguing that Supports are the strongest characters in the game when they should be the most vulnerable. Blizzard, however, has shown no indication of seeing an issue.Moira has been a specific target of criticism because of her ability to deal lots of damage, often at the expense of healing. Her Biotic Orb ability showcases this dichotomy, as Moira can only throw either a damaging orb or a healing orb. Instead of encouraging Moira players to use their healing orb more often, like some players want, Blizzard's latest Overwatch 2 change may encourage players to use her damaging orb more.
The update to Moira in Overwatch 2's January 5 patch says, "Dealing damage with Biotic Orb now restores a small amount of Biotic Energy." The critical argument is that this will encourage players to use the damaging Biotic Orb instead of the healing Biotic Orb. In other words, giving Moira players more Biotic Energy for healing doesn't actually get them to heal. If the criticism is that Moiras aren't healing enough, that's a very valid point.
To Blizzard's credit, there is a view of the situation where this is the correct decision. If Blizzard sees that Moira players are almost always using the damaging Biotic Orb, and if Blizzard sees that Moira players are often not healing due to a lack of Biotic Energy, then this fix works out perfectly. It doesn't actually increase Moira's damage, since they're already spamming damaging Biotic Orbs, and it gives them Biotic Energy to heal more without forcing them to.
Controversy aside, Moira players are probably very happy with this change. It's a straight buff with no real downside. Having more Biotic Energy means more healing when they feel like it. If they don't feel like healing, then Moiras still play the same as before. The change shouldn't be disruptive, at the very least.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
