Tracer mains can breathe a sigh of relief. Despite a bug being recently discovered with the damage hero in Overwatch 2, Blizzard says she won't be temporarily banished.
Perhaps less relieving is the knowledge that it's because, without the bug, Tracer would be pretty damn underwhelming. Right now, the issue is that Tracer has zero fall-off damage under 20 meters. It's a pretty big range to be inputting maximum damage. Apparently, pro players had noticed the bug not long after Overwatch 2's launch, but has only just come to light among the wider playerbase.
Game director Aaron Keller confirmed that the bug has "seemingly been in the game for the last few builds" in a Reddit response. However, it seems to be providing a needed buff to Tracer's kit. "While the sharp damage drop-off for Tracer is definitely a bug, her overall power level has been okay," Keller said. "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."
huge_bug_tracer_has_no_fall_off_under_20_meters from r/Overwatch
It's a different story from the fates suffered by fellow damage heroes Mei, Torbjorn and Bastion. The latter two were pulled from the roster in some capacity early after launch, with Bastion in particular taking a while to return to the fray. Shortly after Mei was frozen out for almost three weeks, her return delayed by a "critical issue" that pushed back the mid-season patch by two days.
Tracer has been sitting around A or B tier on most lists knocking around, and the community seems pretty split on whether she's actually a problem right now. But Blizzard seems sure that giving Tracer the correct damage drop-off will send her spiralling down the list of viable heroes. So for now, think of the whole thing as a bit of bug-led game balancing.
