Blizzard announces new Gameplay features for Overwatch

Well, it looks like Blizzard are really going in hard on their fight against toxicity and bad behaviour in their game.

They've been going after toxicity for months now - here's an article about the 'avoid as team-mate' option they implemented not long ago. And I can't blame them, Online Games attract a wealth of toxicity and bad behaviour, simply because of the nature of Multiplayer gaming.

Let's go over those new social features really quick.

Firstly, they're adding the option to list as 'Looking for Group', which means you can now actively seek players that want to party up and play the game with you. That rocks!

But also, bigger picture, they're adding these new 'Endorsement' options, which give you the opportunity to upvote players you have played with based on certain elements represented in the game.

The endorsements come in 3 flavours, depending on how you want to promote your fellow players after matches. Firstly there's sportsmanship, which covers pretty much just playing the game well and being a good sport in game. Secondly there's Good Teammate, which recognizes good teamwork on your team, and gives you the option to congratulate your teammate. Lastly, there's Shot Caller, which applies to players who are good at taking control of the team and coordinating them.

These are so welcome - It's great to see Blizzard, Jeff and the Overwatch team take affirmative action of their communities, as oppose to games like CS:GO and CoD, which are still rife with toxicity.

The new looking for group option will also allow for players to tailor their experience, allowing for the host to implement hero restrictions. That sounds neat, although alluding to removing a degree of player agency. The looking for group system is optional, and only available at player discretion.

Here's big news with this developer update though, Attack and Defense have been merged into a single class called Damage. That kind of makes sense, given that in higher levels of competitive play, successful teams divert from the Attack, Defense, Tank, Support structure of the Hero system in favour of simply good team compositions.

Also, the Symmetra changes will be going live in the next patch - putting her into the Damage class of heroes, and completely changing up her whole character, including a new ultimate ability, a rework of her turret system and her shielding system. Significant changes will also be hitting Horizon Lunar Colony.

There's more to come of all of this - across America's Summer, so our winter, 2 more social features will be coming our way.