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Overwatch 2 Tracer damage bug to remain in play because she'd be weak without it

While Blizzard acknowledged the bug, it also claimed said bug actually seems to keep Tracer on par with other characters.

TJ Denzer

November 21, 2022 7:50 AM

Image via Activision Blizzard

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It’s not often we see a bug in a video game that would be considered an asset to the game, but that seems to be the case with Overwatch 2 and particularly Tracer. Players discovered that Tracer seems to have a bug where her damage doesn’t fall off beyond a certain range. Blizzard also acknowledged and addressed said bug, but instead of disabling Tracer as it has done with other characters recently, the director claims the bug is keeping Tracer’s overall power on part with other characters.

This interesting turn of events recently took place over on the Overwatch Subreddit in a thread pointing out Tracer’s apparent issue. Players complained that Tracer seems to have a bug that keeps her damage from falling off after a certain range as many of the characters in the game do. Tracer is meant to be a short-range and speedy burst character and skirmisher, not a long-range threat. Blizzard agrees, but they’re not going to bench Tracer and fix her in the next patch. Instead, Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller said the bug is actually keeping Tracer viable right now.

Keller went on to say that if the team did adjust Tracer (since the damage dropoff issue is still definitely a bug), it would be an adjustment of her whole kit to make up for weakening her if they fix the damage dropoff bug.

“While the sharp damage dropoff for Tracer is definitely a bug, her overall power level has been okay,” Keller wrote. “We are not planning to disable Tracer, and when we fix the bug, we will also look at additional changes to her kit to compensate.”

Funny enough, Keller also revealed that looking back at previous builds showed the Tracer damage dropoff bug was actually in play for a few patches, but no one seemingly noticed till now. Previously, we’ve seen characters like Lucio and Mei temporarily benched for outright manipulating matches with their bugs (allowing players to do things like reach parts of the map they weren’t supposed to reach.

Bugs still seem to be an issue in Overwatch 2 after its launch, but it seems sometimes they are also a boon. Stay tuned for more info on the Tracer bug in Overwatch 2 in future patch notes and news.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.