'Overwatch 2' Mid-Season Patch Delayed Due To 'Critical Issue'

Overwatch Mei — Mei in her animated featurette for Overwatch Overwatch 2

KEY POINTS

The patch will be deployed on Thursday instead
Balance changes and OWL incentives were affected by the delay
Mei will also be brought back to the game once the patch goes live

An entire slate of changes for "Overwatch 2" has been pushed back due to major issues, sparking outrage within the fanbase.

The mid-season update, which was meant to target problematic heroes like Zarya and Sombra, failed to launch on its intended release date, which was Tuesday, following an official announcement from the developers. The issue itself was not specified.

This affected more than just the balancing of certain heroes. Due to the delay, Mei, who was previously disabled over a game-breaking exploit involving her Ice Wall and Kiriko's Swift Step, will remain unusable until the patch is deployed.

Additionally, bug fixes and content updates as well as the perks and incentives for players who watched the Overwatch League event between Oct. 30 and Nov. 4 have also been pushed back. However, daily and weekly challenges have been refreshed alongside the usual offerings in the in-game store.

Overwatch 2 - Zarya — Zarya uses her Particle Cannon to melt even the toughest of enemies down Overwatch 2

This is not the first time that the mid-season patch was delayed, Dexerto said. It was originally meant to be deployed by late October, but Blizzard opted to settle for a mid-November release instead.

The patch was due to bring some much-needed changes to the way some heroes in the game work.

Fans have been hoping for some major tweaks to Zarya following the latter's dominance in pub games since her damage output far outpaces that of many other heroes in the game. She is set to have her barrier's duration reduced and its cooldown increased to let players have more opportunities to counter her.

Sombra and Genji are also getting nerfed in the mid-season patch. The former's hacking capabilities are getting limited to prevent repeat hacks against the same target, while the latter's damage output is getting mitigated via a damage tweak and max ammo reduction.

D.Va's offensive prowess is getting toned down as well. Her primary weapon's cone angle will be bigger, and the bump damage she causes while using Boosters is getting reduced. Meanwhile, the invulnerability window on Kiriko after she uses Swift Step will be shortened slightly to make her slightly more vulnerable when diving.

The balance patch will be deployed on Thursday at 11 a.m. PST.