[Update #2]: Overwatch 2's Halloween Terror update has now arrived alongside a brand new co-op mission and sadly only three new legendary skins.

[Update]: Despite recent statements to the contrary, Overwatch 2 will be releasing a mid-season update with nerfs to Sombra, Genji, Zarya and D.Va.

If you were hoping that with Overwatch 2 Blizzard would finally change their ways and start releasing balance updates faster, I'm afraid you're out of luck. According to the latest development blog, the Overwatch 2 team will only be releasing balance changes with each two-month season. So I hope you like seeing Zarya, Sombra, Genji and Sojourn all over the place in Competitive Play, because they're not going anywhere for a while.

“While some heroes are performing better than others, and there are differences across player skill levels, we have been happy to see that no hero’s overall power level is far out of line with our goals,” explains the developer update. "Every hero on the roster has a win-rate between 45% and 55%, and we are not planning any immediate balance changes based on what we are seeing, with the exception of a targeted adjustment to Zarya in Total Mayhem which should go live with our next major patch on October 25.”

“Instead, our team is planning to make a series of balance changes for Season Two that are in line with our design goal of ensuring the overall game feels balanced and fair while giving each season a more distinct identity. While we’ll continue looking at hero performance and listening to player feedback prior to finalizing any specific changes to balance for Season Two, we want to share more about what we are seeing so far.”

Needless to say I heavily disagree with this approach as we've been down this road before with the original game, and it didn't end well. Once a meta becomes firmly entrenched and powerful hero combinations start dominating over everything else, waiting multiple months to fix things is only going to result in people losing interest and leaving the game. As such, I can only hope Blizzard reconsiders their position as any sort of perceived seasonal flavor is far less important than giving players the ability to play whatever heroes they enjoy without feeling like they're holding their team back.

Unfortunately, the bad news doesn't end there as Blizzard has revealed that Overwatch 2's Quick and Competitive Play are both going to be using seasonal map pools. Again the reason is a misguided attempt to make each season feel unique and exciting, though as you might recall from the original game, this is just going to end with each season becoming more and more stagnant as players get sick and tired of playing on the same few maps. I especially don't understand why this affects Quick Play since it's the default 'messing around' game mode and should thus be as wacky and diverse as possible to keep things fun for everyone.

Whatever the case may be, here's the full map pool for Season 1 which thankfully does contain a good chunk of Overwatch 2's maps:

Control

Ilios - Evening Lighting
Lijiang Tower - Dawn Lighting
Oasis - Night Lighting
Nepal - Morning Lighting
Busan - Night Lighting

Escort

Circuit royal – Night Lighting
Dorado - Evening Lighting
Route 66 - Night Lighting
Gibraltar - Morning Lighting
Junkertown - Morning Lighting

Hybrid

Midtown - Morning Lighting
King’s Row - Evening Lighting
Eichenwalde - Evening Lighting
Hollywood - Morning Lighting
Paraíso - Morning Lighting

Push

New Queen Street - Morning Lighting
Colosseo - Evening Lighting
Esperança - Morning Lighting

Once Blizzard announces the next big update, or hopefully does a 180° on some of today's topics, I'll make sure to let you know. Until then, you can read more about Overwatch 2's future over at the official website.