Overwatch just made back coverage much tougher

Alongside the big Reign of Talon update for Monitoringplayers noted what appears to be a small but major change in how players used to try to reduce payload. There is a new energy right now Monitoringan excitement that hasn't been at this level for quite some time. After removing the “2” from its name and going back to just being “Monitoring“, Blizzard is trying to take the game in a new, reworked direction away from the familiar seasonal format.

Celebrating 10 years in 2026, Monitoring initiates a major review in the future. Focus on stronger storytelling focused storytelling using film and motion sequences, Monitoring not only restores its seasonal count, but adds a year-long story arc that players will experience throughout 2026. Five new heroes are available in Season 1, the game's user interface has been completely updated, and hero sub-roles have been added for the three class types Tank, Damage, and Support. While all of this is on the more obvious side of the Rise of Talon update, players have been quick to spot some of the smaller and more subtle tweaks since the patch launched.

Family

Overwatch Director Confirms Hero Redesign After Community Backlash

After a wave of community backlash, Overwatch director Aaron Keller confirms that the team is working on a redesign for a Season 1 character.

Overwatch back protectors are now harder to remove

Inside the massive Rise of Talon patch notes for Monitoringplayers noticed that the payload game mode got an interesting tweak. Specifically, heroes defending the payload in escort or hybrid-like game modes are “more likely” to notice when a sneaky player taps it by calling it up with a voice line. Not only that, heroes will now automatically call out to teammates using a voice line when an invisible hero like Sombra is nearby.

Click or tap the games that match the category

These changes have already had a major impact on the idea of ”back capping” the payload, a technique the attacking team typically uses to flank behind the defending team in an attempt to move the payload behind enemy lines. Monitoring characters like Sombra could use stealth to infiltrate behind the defending team and move the payload, hoping they wouldn't notice. Obviously, this tactic makes for some sneaky and smart plays, but with these higher detection tweaks and voice line announcements, it's going to be much harder to cover the payload than before.

In fact, players have already started talking about the tweaks, with many bemoaning the changes and calling them dumbing down the game, while others are disappointed that unique and clever plays are essentially being removed from these game modes. Fans argue that playing the goal is a skill and if a player or team can't do that, getting distracted by focusing on kills, then that's on them. However, there are some in the community who hope that these changes will not spell the end of the technique, as there is still a chance that players will miss or ignore callouts and get out of position while Sombra goes in for a stealthy payload move. Time will tell how much this change will change teams that resort to this tactic.

Despite concerns about the payload changes, Monitoring saw a huge increase in players with the launch of Season 1. The rebranding and overhaul has seemingly rekindled the community as the game managed to reach its highest number of weekend players in over a year, while the February 10th launch itself broke the game's original concurrent player record by reaching over 165,000. The reboot has clearly resonated with players and with 5 more heroes arriving later in 2026, Blizzard hopes to keep this positive momentum well beyond the launch period.