Blizzard is testing changes to damage falloff on hitscan weapons, possibly because of the inherent changes to each class in Overwatch 2.
Overwatch has another batch of balance changes on the Experimental card. While many of these get introduced to regular queues as they are, some remain dormant until later deployment and some are discarded entirely.
In the case of latest DPS changes, it's possible Blizzard devs are trying to find a balance between the newfound powers in Overwatch 2 and the current state of DPS heroes.
Namely, all DPS heroes will be moving faster when the sequel drops, meaning they will have an easier time when repositioning and kiting enemies which is why it's possible that the damage dropoff changes from Experimental are being tested - to make sure these heroes aren't able to comfortably pick you off from as much of a distance while having improved manoeuvrability.
Hitscan damage falloff will be down to 30 per cent of weapon damage at max range instead of previous 50 per cent and it will hit the following heroes:
- Ashe
- Baptiste
- Bastion
- McCree
- Soldier: 76
- Widowmaker
- Wrecking Ball
Wrecking Ball and Baptiste are the outliers here since they are not DPS but their own inherent changes in OW2 will be significant too. If, for example, a Pharah will not be able to knock Hammond back as effectively as before, it should technically be balanced out with lower damage from the hamster at max range.
Similarly, Baptiste will have health regeneration in the future so it would be extremely annoying to deal with him at long range, provided you don't one-tap him.
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Meanwhile, Widowmaker will not be as affected since her falloff range will be moved from 60-85 metres to 70-100. Soldier 76 will ignore damage falloff when Tactical Visor is active.
