The year in review developer update released earlier revealed that there are a lot of things planned for Overwatch in the coming year. Having been released in May 2016, they have had a busy year, adding new game modes, two new heroes, and a new map. They aren’t stopping there though, pushing onward with plans to add so much more.

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Blizzard has done a wonderful job with this game, winning awards and pleasing a huge fan base. They have a great habit of listening to their players and doing what they can to create these brilliant games that people love to play. They balance things out as often and quickly as possible without taking away from the game and the experience that players have. With the new year looming over us and coming in fast, Blizzard is looking forward to keeping their Overwatch train going strong.

New Maps

Earlier this year at Blizzcon, Blizzard announced a new map coming out in 2017, called Oasis. It has been confirmed that the map is still on its way and should arrive on time. Jeff Kaplan (Overwatch Game Director) also mentions new more new maps on the way, singling out one particular map that will be a “traditional game mode” – but sadly there won’t be any information on that until next year.

Players love to see new maps and new modes available to play, and the new Arcade Game Mode on the PTR is one such game mode that players have been excited about lately. Kaplan talks about how the feedback from this game mode has been helping to develop new maps and new game modes, also saying “if it’s really fun as a new game mode, maybe at some point we could introduce it to the core map rotation.”

Custom Communication Options

Kaplan talks about a change to the communication wheel coming in 2017 – something that has in the past been used for selecting voice lines to quickly communicate with team members, or emotes to taunt and troll the enemy team. The overhaul will give up to four voice lines and four emotes, allowing you to add the ones you have unlocked to your will. “You will also be able to use custom key bindings to set a particular button to to trigger a particular voice line or emote.”

Sprays will also be getting their own wheel, and even though only one spray will appear in the environment at any given time, you will still be able to add up to four sprays to the wheel, allowing you to use whatever spray you want at any given time for any given scenario.

Even though it’s a small thing, it will make a lot of voice lines, sprays, and emotes more valuable to you.

Players will also see a new option to automatically join the team chat, rather than stay in their own party chat (though you can still switch back if you wish). This change is being introduced to encourage players to communicate with the team more, rather than just their close friends. This will function similarly to the “stay in group” button that was recently introduced to Overwatch, where it will automatically add the entire party to the team chat.

Multiple New Heroes

It has been suspected for a long time that this would happen, especially after seeing two new heroes added this year (Ana and Sombra). Kaplan confirmed this, stating that new heroes will be on the way in 2017. Kaplan also talked about how the team would often work on more content than they release, talking about Genji in particular and explaining how the Ninja in Overwatch was plagued with constant shelving as they ran into trouble with him, before trying something new, and repeating this several times throughout a 18 month period before he was finally released.

We have some really fun prototypes, so I hope those see the light of day in 2017

Keeping all that in mind, one hero was teased as being “very promising”. No details were revealed, but it does confirm that new heroes are on the way, and this one in particular is going through the art department whilst in the prototype stage – the development team beginning to flesh out the personality to match the character. This information will no doubt lead players on a chase to see who can find information about the new hero, much like it did with Sombra.

Custom Server Browsing

It’s been a top requested feature.

This is something everyone has wanted for a long time, and it looks like it’s finally on its way in 2017. Overwatch will soon allow players to create custom games and list them as public. In turn, other players will able able to view the list of all public games and join one. Kaplan does continue on to say that this will be worked on more, expanding the feature.

Other changes

There are other changes coming, including more balance changes and spectator modes (which have been desired for a long time, especially for competitive play), among other unannounced changes.

Over all, it’s going to be a huge year for Overwatch, and I’m sure everyone is happy with the announcements and upcoming changes. Blizzard is working hard on this title to ensure it remains a fan favourite and a strong game, whether it’s by creating lovely short videos or releasing comics for the lore buffs, or maybe even just helping troubled players. I for one am very excited to see where Overwatch takes us in the new year.

Don’t forget to comment below, and let us know your thoughts on the upcoming changes and tell us your favourite heroes. Also, check out this awesome fan art!!!