High-skilled Overwatch 2 players are upset that Blizzard will not be nerfing DPS hero Sojourn because lower-skilled players are not as lethal with her. This has Overwatch 2 Esports pros and other talented players making their displeasure with the decision heard on social media.
Hero balancing is a touchy subject in Overwatch. No one likes when their favorite hero receives nerfs. Balancing is further complicated when having to consider changes that affect different levels of skill. A complaint going back to the original Overwatch, the divide between "high-skilled" and "lower ranked" levels sometimes dictates how much of a buff or nerf a particular hero can get. The latest controversy involves new-to-Overwatch 2 hero Sojourn and her effect on the game at both levels.
During a Twitter Spaces discussion, Overwatch 2 developers went over their thinking about who would be getting buffs and nerfs in the next Overwatch 2 hero balance patch set to release on November 15. One notable omission was Sojourn who has become a mainstay in the higher ranks of the Competitive ladder and on Overwatch esports teams. In part of a clip making the rounds, Lead Hero Designer Alec Dawson claimed that the developers didn't want to make changes at higher levels which would in turn make the character play much worse at lower levels. This is not what some players wanted to hear and they made their displeasure known.
Some Overwatch 2 players are not fans of deciding on hero balance changes based on pick rate and win rate percentages at particular skill levels. As she is now, Sojourn has movement ability cooldowns and a potential one-shot kill secondary fire ability that can charge pretty quickly just by spamming shots and hitting glancing blows. These abilities as they are makes Sojourn a must-pick at higher levels and stagnate the metagame for high-level Overwatch 2 players and pros. They would like to see nerfs that increase the cooldown of her power slide and maybe implement damage fall-off distance to her rail gun.
Meanwhile, the "lower ranked players" feel like the pros of the game are complaining about making balance changes at the behest of a small, vocal, and well-connected percentage of the player base is unfair to them. These players do not want to feel punished because they hit fewer of those secondary fire shots. It's a delicate dance trying to cater to both sides of the skill spectrum and balancing falls into a cycle of either side taking a loss or getting a win depending on how the Overwatch 2 player base adjusts after the changes.
Overwatch 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
