In the summer of 2023, Blizzard debuted Overwatch 2“Flashpoint, a combination of control and assault in which the teams race to take a series of territorial points. Flashpoint was the first new type of map for the series, because the unpopular Push shot next to Overwatch 2And something great. It was also a kind of disaster.
Almost immediately after launching, Reddit filled complaints about the draft map of the mode. Quickly forward to Overwatch 2 Season 17, which began on Tuesday, with a set of redesigned Flashpoint maps and this is a completely different story. Blizzard’s more relaxed approach to let people play Overwatch 2 The way they want to turn Flashpoint into a great time.
Two years ago Overwatch 2 The design team said in a series of interviews of the Round Table before the premiere of the mode that they wanted the vision line to play a key role in Flashpoint. They hoped that players would basically create opportunities to fight – on the way to their destination. Well, it didn’t work like that. Players got lost on too long routes to each ignition point, the matches were boring and predictable, and in the center of all problems there was a set of really long corridors.
The original Suravas and the new junk city were rigidly designed so that one of several monotonous paths to the same location had to be went, and the choice was mainly an illusion. One option always ran near the opposite team’s revival point, while different was usually more circular or could even lead you in the wrong direction.
Experienced players each time followed the optimal route, and all the marudels who went differently were to guarantee the blur or would not help in the fight, which was supposed to be the distance. Even when the action finally exploded alone at the payment point, it was predictable and did not differ much from the control of the game. The enemy team would always be approaching the same direction for fear of exhausting time or the bulldozer will be left if they were approaching too close to your revival point. This is what Blizzard wanted, so it had to be done.
This will not be the case after the update in the middle of season 17. The routes are shorter in Suravas and redesigning a new rubbish, first of all, but there are also full of different buildings that can be hidden and shortcuts to other areas that make these random street struggles originally predict that it will happen much more likely that it will happen. It’s less like a series of islands related to long corridors, and more like a giant polygon with a series of turning, connected streets and divided levels to play.
Drawing allows for greater creativity in how you also use the specific skills of your hero, and you can already see it on the new Aatlis map. Flying characters can completely avoid chokes or keep unlucky opponents in the building. Genjis and widowmakers can plan killings by hiding in careless ones, while flanks such as Echo and Tracer have many more options for the surprise of enemies. Flashpoint has gone through being the weakest mode to the one that plays like a natural extension of philosophy behind Perks Hero and the stadium mode. You can play it as you want with a hero you prefer, and probably even to come up with strategies that developers never intended.
This helps that Blizzard has also given some of the real Flashpoint locations to redesign, making them more separate visually and simply more fun. For example, the Sura Temple now has a center and a lower layer that you can do, and the stairs lead to a small platform, where you can keep the ground more effectively. The new junk garbage, the most boring objective location of the map, has more possibilities leading to the payment point and less bottlenecks, so the battles never play in the same way twice.
These and dozens of other minor improvements – novel sight blockers, larger entrances to the ignition point, more maneuvering areas when you are in place – make Flashpoint feel much more free and more unpredictable. So save the thought of Flashpoint if it appears in a roulette to vote in the map before the round. It is basic Overwatch 2Now is the best mode.
