---
title: 'Ex-Pro Turned Overwatch Balance Team: Custa''s Revenge'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=L403Q-r8-3M'
video_id: 'L403Q-r8-3M'
date: 2026-07-23
duration_sec: 2346
channel: 'sunshinebread'
---

# Ex-Pro Turned Overwatch Balance Team: Custa's Revenge

> Source: [Ex-Pro Turned Overwatch Balance Team: Custa's Revenge](https://youtube.com/watch?v=L403Q-r8-3M)

## Summary

In this interview, former Overwatch pro player and caster Custa, now an associate hero designer on the Overwatch 2 balance team, discusses recent balance changes, design philosophy, hero reworks, and the challenges of balancing for both casual and competitive players.

### Key Points

- **Tracer Nerf Rationale** [01:14] — Tracer's projectile size was reverted, but spread remains high. The goal was to hit the 5.75 damage per pellet target. Her perks were considered too strong, so they were nerfed alongside the buff to her kit.
- **Global Passive Changes** [02:23] — The DPS passive (reduced healing) is now global for all heroes. The global health regen passive also applies to everyone. This makes being pocketed less valuable across the board.
- **Flanker Sub-Role for Tracer** [03:12] — Tracer was placed in the flanker sub-role. Health packs now give 150 HP to flankers. If the role doesn't work, heroes can be moved between roles.
- **Mobility Creep and Potential Slowdown** [04:47] — The game has become very fast. The team is internally considering slowing down heroes by increasing cooldowns on mobility abilities by 1-2 seconds to improve game feel.
- **Doomfist Bugs** [05:39] — Doomfist has many bugs, especially with slam and punch. The team is aware and looking into fixes, but it's complex due to backend changes.
- **Custa's Personal Rank** [06:44] — Custa is currently GM5 on support and Masters 1 on DPS. He plays less than before but still maintains high rank.
- **Balancing: Stats vs Personal Experience** [07:23] — Balance decisions are a combination of stats, player feedback, and personal gameplay experience. The goal is to make the game as good as possible.
- **Hero Bans and New Heroes** [08:02] — The balance team doesn't directly handle hero bans, but they monitor ban data. New heroes like Freya and Vendetta were strong on release, leading to high ban rates. They aim to avoid heroes being banned 70% of the time.
- **Balance Team Composition** [10:43] — The two main balance designers are Custa and Josh. Josh has been with Overwatch since day one and provides a long-term perspective, especially on mobility creep.
- **Mercy and Accessibility** [11:52] — Mercy is important for new players as she requires no mechanics. The philosophy is that not every hero needs to be viable at the highest level, but all should be viable at every rank.
- **Moira and Simple Heroes** [13:08] — Moira is intentionally kept from being too strong because her simple kit can become frustrating at high levels. The team balances for all ranks, not just top-tier.
- **Tracer and Genji Nerfs** [15:23] — Despite being popular, Tracer and Genji are nerfed to ensure other heroes have time in the meta. The goal is to avoid a stale meta where only these heroes are viable.
- **Sombra Reworks** [17:39] — Sombra is a candidate for rework due to frustration with invisibility and ability lock. The team aims to find solutions for such problematic heroes this year.
- **6v6 Balance** [18:46] — Custa and Josh work on 6v6 balance, trying to keep parity with 5v5. Changes are focused on heroes that over- or under-index in 6v6, like Wrecking Ball.
- **Reinhardt Verticality** [20:04] — Reinhardt lacks vertical mobility, which is intentional. Adding it could homogenize heroes. His strength on flat maps is balanced by weakness on vertical maps.
- **Favorite Meta** [24:20] — Custa's favorite meta was the 2016 double Zen, double Tracer, Lucio, Symmetra meta. He also enjoyed the solo Mercy triple tank double sniper meta from 2018.
- **Ripple Effects of Changes** [26:07] — Every change affects other heroes. For example, buffing Tracer makes it harder for Vendetta to survive. The team considers these interactions.
- **Sub-Role Assignment** [27:00] — Sub-roles were limited to avoid complexity. Tracer is in flanker, but she might fit better in specialist or sharpshooter. The team is cautious about changing roles quickly.
- **Sombra Opportunist Change** [29:52] — Sombra's opportunist passive now requires damaging an enemy to see them through walls (recon role). She also gains the ability to see if any enemy has ultimate, regardless of hack.
- **Custa's Journey to Blizzard** [31:44] — Custa transitioned from pro player to caster, then took game design courses and networked. He applied for an associate hero designer role and got the job about a year ago.
- **Kiriko TP Cleanse Removal** [33:11] — Kiriko's teleport no longer cleanses her. This was deemed unnecessary since her Suzu already cleanses. Sombra's translocator still cleanses because she goes invisible.
- **Influence from Other Games** [34:55] — The team looks at other games like Deadlock for inspiration. They observe what players enjoy and adapt ideas, following the principle 'good artists copy, great artists steal.'
- **Biggest Perk of Working at Blizzard** [35:59] — Custa values the opportunity to work on the game he loves, which gave him his career as a pro and caster. He enjoys talking to the community and balancing the game.

### Conclusion

Custa provides deep insights into Overwatch 2 balance philosophy, emphasizing the need to cater to both casual and competitive players while managing mobility creep and hero frustration. The interview highlights the complexity of balancing a live game with a diverse hero roster.

## Transcript

Me? Sit down. Oh god. Okay, first of all, hi. I'm such a I'm so happy to see you. I watched you in
yesterday. >> Until yesterday? the Megatron was on the dev team, so I'm kind of just a bum, I think. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Okay, uh so first of all, happy to
time. How much time do you have for this? I have all day. We've got the Let's see how the first 5 minutes go and then I'll tell you how much time I have. >> Maybe, you know, put put some ink on your thumb and you can put it there,
>> Sign it as Custer. Oh, where is it? That's me. Woah, look trying to get everybody. That's cool. That's cool. All right, uh you may want careful. >> Yeah.
>> Why did you nerf Tracer? Uh which time? Okay, I was looking at the thing and we did the math. Okay. >> She's 5.75 per per pellet now, correct? WHY DID YOU DO THAT, MAN? Her projectile size has been undone. So Oh my goodness.
Oh my goodness, really? Yeah, so that the goal is to try and hit the profit at 5.75 damage thing. We've undone some of the changes. The spread change is still bit high spread, but the projectile changes undone. We weren't really happy
with how it ended up coming through. >> Now, uh I noticed also you trade you changed her minor and her major I I do think that her perks are pretty like piss broken. Part of my French. Uh how long have you guys been planning on
cuz we did the change where it like didn't give her two blinks up front with the major. We're like, "Maybe this will help." It didn't. She she's still just blinks. So at this point we're like, especially with the minor perk that also
just had too many, so when we made this change that is on paper a buff to her kit, we're like, okay, this is the time to take away the the OP perks. I I even
pretty OP. Now, can she still take health perks when she is full HP? Yes. Okay. And she has the flanker sub role now, so perks are like really good for >> Well, see, I'm I'm very interested in the it's cuz is global passive still in
passive is now global for everybody. So, everybody seconds and you regen. >> Yes, that that is still a thing for everybody and the DPS passive is now global as well. It's applied to
make them take less healing by percentage. Okay, so being in a team pocketed is is less valuable. >> Yes. Across the board. That's >> Um I'm very surprised that you think that the flanker
know that Tracer is like a very health pack heavy character. game of regen and with how little HP she has, 175, you take
basically. >> Yeah. So, she she definitely is the compared to like Reaper who who has like much higher did you only put her in the flanker
she would be a different category better? We could see her going into a think there is some benefits of like now a mini pack is a mega pack for Tracer gives 150 health. Maybe it's not as beneficial and I will say like if we
feel like Tracer isn't getting enough, we're more than happy to move uh heroes between roles. Like she would be better in another role, that can easily be done roles, if we don't feel like they're cutting through. Maybe the flanker sub
role just sucks and we we don't know. Do you think you'll be making changes like going to be changing between like flanker and DPS or 100%. I could see that happening. Um it's kind of like perks. Like we don't know how it's all
in. There were a ton of perks that immediately were like, "These aren't We'll be making those changes to some of the perks as well. >> Yeah, we kind of stuck the landing. The team did a great job.
Okay, so this there's like this kind of design philosophy with Overwatch 2 where characters. I mean, we saw like jetpack cat and whatever. Um Overwatch 1 as like competing during that time, so you know like we have characters like Zen,
Sigma that are like slower, maybe not very high mobility. Uh how do you feel Overwatch 1 characters are going to do starting in season 1 of Overwatch 2 when like they kind of suck? Yeah, well, I wouldn't say they suck. I would say
that has come into the game more and more as time has gone on. Players like the battlefield fast. We did in May Domina and intentionally made it so that she didn't have mobility, right? For to sort of like fit those fantasies, but
the game is very fast. Uh Domina, the new tank. She doesn't have a mobility. she's like the the first like poke tank and Sigma. It's so funny you added a like uh four more other hyper mobile guys. Yeah, yeah, so Domina is
I have mobility is definitely a very big thing. It's actually something that we are looking at internally. I'm not saying this is going to happen, but we how would it feel if we started slowing a lot of these characters down? Not in
like a crazy way, but like how would it feel if we went across all the heroes second longer cool down on mobility? What if this wasn't as fast and stuff like that?" Trying to feel out what would be good and if if it feels good
for the game because as much as it the game being slow isn't super fun in a >> I think we all played like during like double shield Yeah, so we don't want to agree with you that hyper mobility can be an issue that does come up,
heroes. Why does Doomfist have so many bugs? Well, this is the get quick done one. Doomfist slam is like very slam punch bad, yeah. >> There's a lot of things that are going
around in the back end of that and changing certain things has like trickled down effects. It's something that we have looked into. It's looking to. As you can tell we've been really busy as of recent thing, but
>> yeah. it is something that I personally want to look at moving forward because I the issues. passionate about it's something that we do want to look into to try and find a
way to sort of appease both people cuz like I also think it's worth mentioning some things that players want isn't good for that or healthy for the hero or not accessible or you know these types of things you know if we
certain things can move the ceiling of how good Doomfist is too high and we battlefield too much more than he already is. Now, how much do you still play Overwatch? I play Overwatch definitely not as much as I used to
but I you know I'm still I'm GM5 on support I'm like masters one on DPS so I the GM5? >> Yeah. Yeah. I the definitely the thing stepped away from games before and you're like I play and I'm like man I'm
playing like trash because it's just like I don't remember what's good >> doesn't feel good cuz you have the eyes of a human but you're watching a noob. And I'm just like half a step slow like I can see myself and I get put in these
games where it's like oh I'm in a champ four lobby and here is me like oh god I'm going to get beat up so Okay. Uh do you think your own games impact your balancing decisions or is it mostly from looking
at stats overall? I would say it's a combination of absolutely everything. Whenever we're looking at balance it's we look at the stats we look at you know things but then also the feedback that everyone gives like it's all put
best and healthiest for the game. >> All right. I we don't have any personal though. Is that possible? Uh I I guess that's but I would say like at the end of the day,
game as good as possible and make it as that's what we strive for every day. Now, your team, do they have anything to do with hero bans? Uh in the system, not that much, no.
Okay. Are you looking at hero ban data and you're seeing like people are perma- age heroes. I know Wu Kong is getting banned a lot. People are using the to avoid characters that are kind of like piss piss broken on launch.
Yeah, so what obviously the safe side is strong is the the wording that people out, you want them to feel effective. You want them to feel fun. Yeah, and and exactly. We don't want the Life Weaver situation again. Freya and
of like >> Yes, they are. Freya was very one shot capability with the double recon bolts. Vendetta is very prickly as than anyone else in the game, and she feels Yeah, that's a good way to say it.
>> She's very oppressive to play against. Like her it's funny because like we have the stats. The death rate of Vendetta is like 20% higher than every other hero. she just dies all the time, but she trades so effectively that and that's
like she can't eat out of spawn, right? Like we're trying to slow her down from just like turbo inting in over and over again. So, what we're trying to do is understand what are the issues that are coming in with these new hero releases
cuz we don't want a hero to come out and then Vendetta's banned 70% of the time, and people can't even play her even if they would do want to. So, we're trying we're trying to find and make sure we strike these balances. But I also think
a part of that like Wu Kong, I actually think was stronger than Vendetta and Yeah, that's very interesting. But he wasn't banned as much because as a support, he's fun, but as a support, it doesn't feel as oppressive to play
against as a player, right? Compared to Vendetta and Fraya. So, I think DPS Same thing with Hazard almost to a degree. Like, when they're really lobby, and that's going to lead to more bans.
do you have some co-workers on the balance team that you think are just not be on the balance team because they are dogs? No. That We don't We don't have We don't have a We don't have anyone on our team
like I you know I obviously uh we're not a bunch of like champ players running really good eye for the game and understanding for the game. It's sort of like language like a like in thing or like the just like the concept
thinking about Overwatch like through this lens as like a pro player. Um don't know unless like they're taught to you or unless you were like in this sort have like a coach and he's like this is what trading means and this is whatever.
has this sort of like like resource of trading and like a kind of e-sports whatever understanding of the game? I right? So, yeah, well,
so so to put it in context, uh the two major people who do most of the balancing is me and uh someone on our team named Josh. And he's he's great at all the way through Overwatch 1, and he's like a master at playing the game.
He He has been there since day one of Overwatch, and he has a really good anything, I think the thing he does best is I actually come in with a lot of lot on balance of like I'm like you guys, I'm like I want this thing, and
some things aren't the way they are. >> Like what? Like, I would say like mobility creep is a big thing that Josh is very aware of, right? Like, I think without things like what
Josh is doing and holding back, there there is potential for especially you want the hero to move fast, you want it to be fun, but Josh and our job as balance designers is to make sure that just because something is fun and crazy
And I think that's what we're always trying to do. And I think having a good knowledge of the game is important to be able to sort of apply those Mercy in all caps and I actually have a very specific question. Now, I have the
opinion that not every character in the game needs to be viable at the highest level. Like I I think there are some I actually I play Overwatch because Mercy like exists. Like I don't I don't play I have like 100 hours on her. I
play like hitscan and Tracer and stuff, but as like a new player to play a character like Mercy that just doesn't require any mechanics where I can just like learn how the game works without needing to aim or whatever. I
both very helpful for the game and also should not be viable at the highest you know, they they don't take mechanics. Just don't need to be good. Do you have this philosophy where it's okay for a
amongst good players or do you try to balance so that every single character can be played at the highest level? I think first and foremost every hero should be at least viable at every rank, right? And like you know, even to the
great I think Orisa has the worst win rate in the game, but she's still she's But she's she's so viable even at the highest ranks because of what her kit does. I think there are definitely like balance ideas of like we don't want to
make Moira really good in the game because people get really frustrated. she's a very accessible hero, one of the more popular heroes that we have in our right? >> you don't want to make her good. Is that
that because you think that her kit is too simple for her to be very good? It'd >> I think especially for a lot of players, those things are the same, right? She so simple because what it leads to is this like everyone has to play this
little bit of that that sticking power if I mean I like we always balanced and they can be played at any rate. There is no any hero that is bad at any rank, but we do want to make sure that certain heroes aren't
feel like very um a very accessible and easy to play and get value from. Okay. But you are trying Okay, but let's say if you see these
simple that are being you know played a lot in like high elo or like in OverWatch eSports or if they Do you have like a little bit of like prejudice against like the the
don't think that character should be in this lobby. Do you ever feel that way don't think I have any prejudice against those kind of things, right? Like I think every hero like I'm not like I'm not going to buff
Moira because then she'd be played in pro play and that would be the worst that's how I felt when I was a pro player. But I that's not that's not true for all of the balance and the balance decisions that are being made, right?
Like for us it's less or it's more about the health of the game and making sure all ranks, right? Like let's even use like an example that happened recently. Like Bastion the fire rate going up and he became Oh yeah yeah
yeah he did. Yes he did. Yes he did. across all all ranks, right? And I think he is a great example of a hero that with a small nudge in one one direction sort of tips the balance of the how the balance can kind of go. So even though
Bastion isn't a hero that even his win rate wasn't the craziest thing in the from a player's perspective players are like the game is unplayable because So it's just trying to find that balance of like certain heroes
certain players have a certain acceptance of some heroes being really strong. Does that make sense? Like Tracer most players are pretty fine with good for so long. because you brought up earlier that
banned a lot. It feels bad to play against her cuz she can enter brains value. >> Yes. Right? Um why why why do you keep like nerfing Tracer if like you keep adding the characters to the game that
really good at like dueling? Like you are you so good at like doing the base? character such a good good Oh, you have like all these all-rounder characters that are so high-powered, but you keep tweaking like Tracer and Genji and like
characters that people tend to be okay with like being viable when there are Like you have to have hands to kill somebody on Genji. Yeah. Okay. What why why do you keep touching Genji, bro? Okay, I think the idea is that
Tracer. They love Tracer, Genji, Reinhardt, all those kind of heroes. fun." Like I agree with you, but at some point it's important to make sure that around and making sure that every hero at least has like their time in the sun,
>> Okay, but like four days. >> Yeah, for Well, he Okay, that's because his win rate went up to like 57% like getting power crept, but now he's like just he's like normal.
wanted to make the buff so he's good. We He definitely He went back down a little was still strong and he has been strong the last couple of seasons. He's been people didn't play him on control, they didn't play him on Flashpoint, they
because it's not you know, his super strength, but with this number tweak great, but that doesn't mean he always needs to stay there. We want to make back. Alani got the buff to her damage recently. She's been playable in a way
got his Discord damage up recently that heroes are being moved around and it doesn't feel like, "Oh, we're just going to make Tracer, Genji, Reinhardt the best heroes in the game, and that's
>> And if you want to play these other heroes, tough luck. People like Tracer heroes feel like they're viable and that they have their moments in the meta. All the game, uh there are some characters people just hate even though they're not
Sombra is a character that comes to mind. People don't like playing against like a little of reworks on Sombra. I'm times where you've just changed her entire kit. Is it like very
rework and people just continue to ban the character? So, I haven't been on the team since we've done uh any serious reworks for any of the characters. It is promised in the spotlight. We are looking to do. Sombra is definitely one
things that I'm really looking to do a solution for these characters. These characters isn't a good, you know, match for the game." You know, Sombra invisibility and
ability lock are just always going to be a frustrating thing to have. You know, another great example of a hero that like does the most healing in the game Whenever Lifeweaver gets strong, people get really frustrated because it's hard
can punish Lifeweaver. So, trying to find good solutions to these problems um through reworks, and that's the goal for this year. Okay. So, this year we will be seeing a lot of hero reworks. Okay.
Now, how many of those did you have a hand in? Uh those uh pretty closely on. Really? All right, that's very interesting. Wait. Mm. Oh, yeah. Now, it was said before that you guys were not going to do that
leave it in the water, but it seems that that philosophy has changed recently where you guys like see the love people have for 6v6. Uh how much are you yourself working on 6v6 balance? Yeah, I So, we work together, uh me and Josh, on
the 6v6 balance. It's something that's always going back and forth. We don't want to make too many changes to the main game mode because we want to make main game mode feels like it's trickling down to 6v6, so it doesn't feel like
there's this like huge balance gap and also like understanding of the game >> Yeah. That's why it's part of like, you know, you saw in the 6v6 balance patch like more trying to deal with the characters that are over indexing or
under indexing based on the 6v6 game mode, right? Like people like wrecking absolute menace, all these kind of things, right? So those are the main things that we're looking to change in 6v6, but we're trying to keep parity
possible. Okay. >> Where it can be done. Hm. Now, someone asked this question uh And we talked about about mobility, derpy sometimes, and
mobility creep while also making the game fun and not be like double shield. >> Yeah. Do you guys have any intention to add like new mobility cool downs to original Overwatch 1 characters in order to help them keep up?
which characters do you think that don't have mobility should have mobility? Uh Like Brigette can like fly now and >> Yeah, the little hover and stuff like keep asking about Ryan in the chat. I think a lot of like Ryan players are
very passionate about their hero, and they really want him to be good, which makes sense. Do you feel that Ryan has a problem with mobility? I think he has issues with verticality. Like I think he's very strong on even playing fields,
Like he is, you know, if you're just looking at the numbers of win rate, he's >> does very good, yeah. >> He's a He The thing about Reinhardt is he's a menace when he's strong, but if he can't play the way that he wants to
Dorado, good luck. Maybe you have a jetpack cat now, so maybe it'll be >> Yeah, I was thinking, too. It seems like rather than like giving Ryan cities, you he has like the pedal, or you add like jetpack cat who can just like They can
>> Yeah, I guess the the question is like, is it healthy for Reinhardt to have verticality in his kit? It's like, is this better for the game? Is this going to make everything better? Like, yeah, it might be more fun for the Reinhardt
it might be more fun for the Reinhardt players, but it's like, well,
Reinhardt's really good at what he's at, but he does have some clear weaknesses did really well in Overwatch 1. >> an intentional game design that he does >> Yeah, and I I understand where this is coming from cuz in Overwatch 2 a lot of
homogenized. >> Yes. Um but, you know, hopefully within the the kits that you see today and all that kind of stuff moving forward, it you know, certain things of the same Right. I I think that's really good like
like are intentional. It's not like Anna doesn't have wall climb because they good. >> Then she can snipe from the high ground going to climb back up and then she's going to become harder to punish. Like
doesn't need mobility. She has cool downs to be able to fill in those gaps. asked. So, some characters have mobility cool downs to get back from spawn. Like you said like Vendetta and some characters don't. Do you like make
have like up time in the fight, they're actually like able to think about like Sigma for example takes like a long time to get back. Is Sigma like Is Sigma a because he has less mobility? Uh
so, I would say that like the mobility of characters is very as well. Like Sigma is a like he doesn't have mobility because he doesn't need very durable, right? He has like so many defensive cool downs. He is able to play
like, I think overall Sigma's weaknesses he doesn't have mobility, but he is very defensive. So, that's like that's the push and pull of these heroes. While Vendetta, I guess
Vendetta is not the best example. Like Yeah, Vendetta is very strong at a a lot doesn't have like a lot of durability in the fight, but he's just very difficult to pin down. Yeah. Do you work on Symmetra at all? Uh not
>> Thank god. Okay. Guys, no Symmetra questions. Why can't the new Japanese guy wall climb? Is he actually Japanese? >> So, this is this is a question that I actually the exact same answer to what the question we just answered of like he
didn't need it. Like yeah, if we could have get thrown on me he's Japanese, why He his kit didn't need wall climb. I think you give him verticality, he moves us close towards the homogenization of like he can just go
doesn't have verticality. That's a limitation of the hero. Someone said >> [laughter] >> Well, we've broken the birthright uh >> bro. Yeah, I know. I know. But, you know, You might need to do like a 23 and
a park where he can wall climb in the future and he'll be like learning >> Crusty, you're a pro player, bro. Yeah. What was the most fun meta? Uh okay, this is actually a deep cut for
the for the real ones. My favorite meta of all time was 2016, maybe 2015 late beta. >> Wow. Double Zen, double Tracer, Lucio, >> my god. Where Symmetra used to give 50 shields
to everyone. She'd just look at you as a soft target, put 50 shields on you. >> enjoy competing the most during that meta? So, I was the Zen player. So, what it would kind of was is like it was you, it was two Zen players and a Lucio
Symmetra fighting against two raid boss Tracers. You're sick. >> Cuz they're like 200 HP per or kit. Dude, you don't understand what it was like. It was it it was like a game within a game. It was it It so fun. That
is difficult. You're right. The The other if it was one that isn't super far back, I actually loved and this is when I was the most successful. It was when it was solo Mercy triple
tank double sniper meta. Where it was like Widow Hanzo Orisa Roadhog D.Va. When was that? >> This is 20 end of 2018 when Hanzo got buffed. That's going into the playoffs cuz playing as a solo Mercy in that game
was like it was so complicated and it was so much fun. So, that was That's mine. That was That was when Scott storm arrows first came into the game. Mhm. I counter questions and I feel like across the board the sentiment is we just don't
>> Or to be like all-rounders because then they all become the same. So, guys I'm not going to ask him any more questions about like why can't Doomfist um >> Yeah. Um Uh it's okay.
Oh, yeah. When you balance are you thinking that uh say for example like used to be like a very like run-together comp. When you're making Mercy changes I think when you make any change like especially to a character like Mercy
effects. Like >> maybe Mercy's a bad example. How about you thinking about Wrecking Ball? Yeah, you know, all all the time all those you know, a part of me is like okay, we're buffing Tracer back. That probably
someone who can like hound down a Vendetta. It's going to be hard for her So, like there's definitely anytime you make a change to someone you're like okay, who is this affecting the most, right? Like who is getting you know,
almost like when we buff Zenyatta's discord orb. That makes Zenyatta more viable. He's better. That's probably better against Sigma, right? where like we make these tanks stronger all that kind of stuff. That's why this season 21
we don't know. There's too many moving factors. We got five new heroes. We got coming in. It's going to be we're kind of throwing everything at the wall and decide who gets what sub role? I don't mean to like harp on this like Tracer
literally like a flanker. Like I like I I think it's funny that you have like a a hard hit scan role like Hanzo or Cass, Ash, whatever. And then you have like a How did you decide where people go? Cuz some of them they seem pretty mismatched
to me. So one of the big things that we really wanted to avoid is having too many sub roles. When we first When you introduce a system we don't want hey now sub roles all do and how they affect and which heroes are in which categories. So
limited. So if even if you pull up like the DPS category, so Tracer's in the flanker sub role, right? Well, you don't Tracer doesn't really make sense in damage. >> You really What if she's just damage?
behind walls that are low? No, but if she has to do damage to them to be able Yeah, so the recon is it's not anyone below. You have to have damage to them and then see them behind walls. And then you will see them behind walls.
Uh the uh specialist one is you reload after eliminations. Tracer doesn't really have issues reloading and then the Ooh, okay, that's interesting to me. game? >> reloading, but if you think about Tracer
mean? >> Yeah. Tracer's like the funny uptime hero, you know? And you know going to Sorry, I I have like a interested that like you said that. That's very interesting.
better in the specialist role than the um >> don't see Tracer getting like a lot of utility out of like in like maybe I don't know I don't know what I'm saying low elo and high play or or like low elo
wrong cuz I know that Tracer's like the health pack hero, but I mean I just think that her HP is so low. The the health pack thing doesn't feel that scan role is called. >> Sharpshooter. Sharpshooter. I think that
actually. >> Yeah, that that could be on Tracer. Like like we're not going to you know, we've seen the issue with perks of we give very quickly. Um so we're trying to avoid those types of things.
now Overwatch has a very large casual player base, right? It's kind of like hard to remember that when you play like ranked like how much of the Overwatch player base like percentage-wise do you think
are just like arcade, quick play, like stadium, like chill guys? I think there's a lot and I think that there's a huge percentage of the player don't want to speak too much here. I'm not sure how much is there, but like I
casual players and I think it's important that we're you know we when we balance, we are balancing from you know, we want the high-level and then trickle down, but we also sorry about that. I also make changes to like
sides of like how is this going to affect the top end? Is this good for original of like how do we balance heroes like Moira and Mercy to make sure that it's acceptable by you know, all players of all ranks.
Someone was talking about Sombra. I don't know if this has been caught, but uh because Sombra is in the um recon recon sub role, she her opportunist passive has changed so that she doesn't
just automatically see everyone below 50% through walls. She now has to damage it because that's she's within the recon, but we gave Sombra the ability where she will now see everyone's ultimate if they have it regardless of
being hacked. Wow. Just like you uh see someone >> always see over all time as Sombra? >> You will see if someone has ultimate whenever they do.
Um so it's it was kind of us leaning to it like how how do we make Sombra feel driven for her. We wanted to change things up with her opportunist passive. It is I don't know if it's pingable. That's a great question.
because if you're all tracking But if you're all tracking, but the it's tracking and it's also a guarantee of like it's a really interesting thing cool when I'm like I'm going to go out of stealth. I'm going to freeze her.
could have tracked that, but it's like always very clear and deliberate. So it allows you to play around that. I think Have you ever been peer pressured? Like actual like someone comes to you and
they're like Custa, I know you, bro. I had I have a tournament. OWCS is coming up. I need you to buff Echo. Please. Has that ever happened? My DMs are not open. I will not take these these requests. >> Has anybody tried? No. No
>> ever been put in a position where you you feel like pressure from previous like peers to make certain changes to the game? No. I don't I don't think anyone's pressured me yet. Yeah. How long have you been on the dev team?
About just over a year. Wow. Okay. >> Yeah. So no, I haven't been pressured did you land over there? How did you go from being a pro player to being a Overwatch Blizzard player? So why I was a casting for a few years back
in '22, '23 and I was trying to figure out you know, I want to get out of life and my career? So I actually came to one of these in 2023, I think it was. >> Oh, yay. And I I sat down with the the
the lead balance designer and I was like, hey, I you know, I I learned a lot >> You asked for a job? >> No, I didn't ask for a job. I but I was really cool thing. I would love to pursue game design as a career. So I
courses and all that kind of stuff and I actually was able to talk to Alec and hey, I what are things that you would recommend hey, going through QA is a good opportunity, learning so much." All that
things. I started learning coding. I started doing all that type of stuff. And then, about a year later from that, a job for an associate hero designer applied and got the job.
want six per pellet. Six per pellet? Yeah. Okay, six per pellet. Okay. might be misremembering things coming in the next patch. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, all time.
>> Okay. Do you follow Overwatch esports at all? Yeah, I I follow bits and pieces. Less than less than I used to, obviously. things. It's like as with all balance things, I love to keep an eye on what
really strong in their eyes. Cuz, honestly, what is strong in pro it what is pro in ranked games. Like, Kiriko, people in the game." She's still being played all the time, but that's just cuz her
meta. She's so >> Kiriko so so so slippery. Um so, that's I actually This is another change that I'm not sure if you're aware of. Kiriko TP no longer cleanses her in moving forward. I I'm not going to
>> Yeah, so it was one of those things that when we cuz we have a Zuki, he has his teleport. On run has a phase out when she uses her E. And it's something that like we had cleanses on those setups and we were like, "This feels unnecessary."
>> we're like, "Let's take a step back and be like, who else is doing this? Do we think this is unnecessary?" Kiriko Suzu already cleanses her. She can TP so she doesn't need this." On the other hand, though, like some characters we're
she will still cleanse on her translocator because she goes into cleanse, then it becomes very difficult kind of insight into how we came to some of those decisions and stuff like that.
Um now, on the topic of like a how you like come like these decisions or whatever, there are a lot more games competing in like to be. Like I know Valorant came out and that was kind of like the the thing that
Uh and now we have like Marvel Rivals, which is a big deal. Do you ever look to those games and like pull ideas from them or see like a constant thing that you guys pull that might influence your
decision-making when it comes to hero design? I would say I you know, we we every every new hero that comes out in every new game. Uh Like I I've been playing a lot of Deadlock recently. I love I love that
made a lot of really interesting kits. They got a lot of really interesting things together, of course, you know, we'd be remiss to not look into what players are enjoying, right? Like You know, like good artists copy, great
Um, do you think invisibility ooh, how do Zarya, Baptiste, Mei, Orisa, uh these are the ones I think. Invincibility? I think invincibility is something that is used
certain situations where it feels like it's necessary. Um, Zarya like the invincibility, those I-frames I think are important to sort of like understand saving opportunity. Uh but it needs to
a lot of frustration around those abilities. So, trying not to add them where we don't feel like they're needed. Uh all right, one last question. Okay, let's get nice and light. What do you think is the biggest perk or benefit of
working for Blizzard? I get to work on the game that I love. I've Overwatch gave me everything that I have in my life. I've been playing for caster and now being able to work on the game, I just I get to
balance for the game that I've you know, wanted to work on for so long like these where I get to talk with people like you, people who love the game, people in chat who love the game and and of like rally behind all the
That's really awesome, man. Okay, I will take your word for it, but I really Guys, can we get some hearts in the chat for Kusta? Appreciate you. X OWL player, X caster, X pro, current tracer buffer. Thank you so much for that, by the way.
>> [laughter] >> Thank you. Oh, thank you so much, man. Chat, I think it's so easy to be an interviewer cuz I'm extremely interested so long and I think a lot of us are just like not very high-rank players. So, for
things to say, I have a lot to absorb. Like I was talking about Overwatch streamers and while like I want to talk, I don't really have quiet. Because these are the people who have
like been in the scene, right? Kusta has like special For example, like the the meta and stuff, you know what I mean? He just has like insights that like I that there's like I don't know. I think there's a lot of value in um
uh asking like uh questions and I really deeply appreciate, by the way, there are a lot of questions that I read didn't read because I felt that they were relevant. For example, somebody
Everybody's YDK. Kept asking about sound design and like while I would love to doesn't do sound design. Or somebody during that game was asking about mythics and we were just talking to the mythic designer but that was not Kusta.
Kusta's on the balance team. Um and so, I did try to keep it to questions that don't want them to be like a fish out of water or whatever. But I have interviewed multiple people now. We asked about top 500 why like the
challenge system sucks so bad. Um we asked about like hero design, we asked about like mythic design philosophy, why certain skins get made. if you feel like your question was ignored, like I'm very sorry
time. I don't want to hog them too much. And uh yeah, that that was very They they me the a lot of time of day. Check it out. Pow chicka pow pow. Fry and burger patty. This is, I'm not kidding, my younger brother
kidding, my younger brother lived on this for years. Like, all he would He's like autistic. He's like on like the autism spectrum. So, sometimes like a safe foods or like not safe foods or whatever. And for him, he would like
kind of gravitate towards like plain noodles with butter on them. And then like plain burger patty and like french fries. And I feel like I'm sort of like >> [laughter]
Yeah, I I again, I really appreciate you guys like being like chill about like unique. I think it's something we're capable of doing. It's very fun. I will capable of doing. It's very fun. I will be playing the game.