The Overwatch 2 developers will not be moving forward with yet another controversial Moira rework that completely changed her Damage Orb.
Moira has proven to be a difficult hero to balance since her release in Overwatch 1 with the developers trying a number of whacky ideas that never seem to get through the experimental phase.
During the second Overwatch 2 beta, the devs tried once again to change up how Moira functions by giving her a new Necrotic Orb ability that would debuff opponents hit by it, causing them to deal significantly less damage.
This ability was so powerful it would make Genji’s Dragon Blade ultimate deal as much damage as a traditional melee attack and players were not happy, which seems to have caused the devs to cancel the change.
Moira’s new Orb needs a nerf ASAP…🎥 @Flats_OW pic.twitter.com/AdREbTpska
— Overwatch 2 News (@OscarINTEL) July 12, 2022
Moira’s OW2 ability scrapped ahead of release
In a July 28 blog post, the developers went over why they decided to cancel this rework, citing how the change made Moira too passive, while still remarking how the ability seemed balance.
“The main reason for its removal is that the overall gameplay loop became too passive for many players,” they explained.
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“The power that Necrotic Orb brought to the table necessitated a long cooldown to make the effect impactful but not overly frustrating to play against. However, this meant many players would just hold the ability for the perfect moment, which had the side effect of decreasing the amount of ‘cool stuff happening’ in moment-to-moment gameplay and shifting too much of it into healing.”
Additionally, for fans of the Overwatch League, the change will be reverted in time for OWL’s return on August 11 with the talon support hero returning to her state prior to the Necrotic Orb update.
It’s unclear what the Overwatch 2 team has in store for Moira next or if they’re going to even attempt reworking her once again, but she remains to be one of the hardest heroes to balance in the entire game.
We will have to see what ends up happening in a third beta before Overwatch 2 launches as a free-to-play experience on October 4.