Overwatch 2 Menu Change Could Be Bad News for PvE Fans

Overwatch 2 recently updated the Play menu to feature a larger button for Hero Mastery, but a smaller button for Missions. This small adjustment seems to suggest a change in priority for Overwatch 2, and could mean new PvE missions are a long way off.

Recently, Overwatch 2 released a huge patch for the halfway mark of Season 9. This sizable update gave buffs to nearly half the roster of playable characters, and introduced a new game mode called Hero Mastery: Gauntlet – a new co-op PvE challenge that has players fend off waves of AI NPCs.

However, the introduction of this new Hero Mastery game mode brought an unexpected change to the Play menu that could be bad news for fans of the game’s Story Missions. As of the patch, Missions have been moved from the larger cards to the smaller buttons on the right side of the screen, in favor of Hero Mastery, which has taken its place in the main game modes. This subtle change suggests Overwatch 2's Hero Mastery mode may be a higher priority than Story Missions going forward.

Though its co-op story mode was one of the biggest selling points for Overwatch 2, the PvE missions have seen several setbacks over the last year. In May 2023, Overwatch 2 revealed many of its plans for PvE had been canceled. It finally released the first Story Missions in Season 6 in August 2023, but there have been no further updates from Overwatch 2 about them since then. With several PvE devs being impacted by the Microsoft layoffs, followed by this most recent menu change, some fans fear they may never see new Story Missions in Overwatch 2.

Not all is lost for PvE fans in Overwatch 2, however. The company has yet to officially state anything about the future of Story Missions, so more could still come in the future. Additionally, though it lacks the narrative element of the Story Missions, Hero Mastery is both free and popular, and the new Gauntlet mode could be the unsung hero of Overwatch 2. Regardless, fans will have to wait and see what Blizzard has in