No doubt many players will first mention the new Flashpoint PvP mode or Illari the game’s new Support Heroine. But in our opinion, it is the Hero Mastery System Missions mode that could become a major element of Season 6 on Overwatch 2. This game mode offers solo challenges in a specific environment, resembling a sort of dynamic shooting range. Thus, players will be able to train on a specific character in increasingly difficult challenges, with a world ranking and rewards at stake.
We were able to take advantage of access to the Closed Beta of Season 6, allowing us to test this game mode for almost two weeks in preview.
The author of this article had the opportunity to chat with Aaron Keller (Game Director) responsible for Overwatch 2 and Jared Neuss (Executive Producer) responsible for this content on OW2.
More Season 6 content:
Heroic Mastery Missions, a new PvE mode
While Blizzard has canceled the development of some PvE content, the developers have nevertheless continued to work on purely Player versus Environment game modes. Thus, the Heroic Mastery Missions mode is a fairly well-rounded type of content that could find quite a distinct audience and probably far from OW 2’s PvP regulars.
The Heroic Mastery Missions mode is like a training area for players, through various timed challenges. Much more complete than the usual shooting range, this one allows you to play a specific hero in small levels of increasing difficulty.
The goal is to complete the level as quickly as possible, eliminating the enemies scattered around the area. Each challenge is more complex than the previous one, with special elements dedicated to the character you play. Thus, Ange will need to use his dash on ally, his Heal and his rez spell, while Reinhardt’s charge will allow him to pass his levels more quickly.
The Heroic Mastery Mission mode will be available upon the release of Season 6. It will be accessible to all players, free of charge, with no specific duration. For the moment, only a few heroes are available (5 playable heroes on the Beta) for this game mode, each with their own levels. The developers mentioned the gradual arrival of additional characters, with each new season.
By completing each level on time, you can unlock the additional difficulty. Better, depending on your final score, you will get rewards specific to this game mode.
Our opinion on heroic mastery mode
It is considered that an FPS or Hero shooter needs tools to make learning a character easier and faster. While the shooting range is far too basic to really learn how to master a new hero, this game mode is clearly more suited to this task.
If visually speaking the Heroic Mastery Missions mode is closer to the test tool for developers, its design is ideal for providing content that is both fun and educational. The fact that each character has specific tiers, showcasing their entire kit, is also a great way to make each experience a bit more unique. This also extends the life of this game mode, since you can discover or rediscover unique abilities on heroes that you do not play or play little.
Speaking of lifespan, the idea of offering a ranking on each level will push a small part of players to try different strategies to increase their score.
“We can’t wait to discover all the wacky strategies that players have found to get the best scores. This is something that we really anticipate on our side since the development phase of this project. »
Aaron Keller (Game Director) responsible for Overwatch 2
Especially since this ranking will also make it possible to obtain rewards directly linked to this game mode (understand that it will not be possible to unlock them otherwise), which should encourage a large slice of players to try this novelty.
If we really appreciate the concept, which makes us think of training modes known as on Rocket League or tools like AIM Lab, some small shadows are still present. First of all, the minimalist design of the levels contrasts greatly with the rest of the game, to the point that some players might find that the work has been sloppy, or that the mode is still in development.
In addition, the scoring system for your run, allowing you to be classified, is quite difficult to understand. It will take time for the community to figure out what is the best method to maximize their points.
Additionally, while we welcome the initiative to add this game mode, we consider it to come a bit late in Overwatch 2’s life cycle. new users (one of the original targets of this game mode) are becoming rare. It would have been particularly interesting to offer such a tool at the release of OW 2, to allow beginners to learn to master the different heroes.
Finally, this game mode only offers 5 heroes at its launch (including two Tanks), thus limiting its interest and its lifespan (even with the world ranking). This gives the impression that this solution was developed by a small team, and that the studio decided to add it to the content of Season 6 rather than allowing more time to flesh it out.
In short, a good idea, which we welcome and which has a lot of potential but which could suffer from a release a little early for our taste.
As a reminder, heroic mastery missions, Overwatch 2’s new PvP mode, is one of the main new features of Season 6 of the game. You can play it as soon as Season 6 is released and access it for free, without a Pass. Season.