What you need to know
- While most players are excited for Overwatch 2's new Lifeweaver support hero, many are concerned about the ways in which his Life Grip ability could be used for trolling.
- Since Life Grip allows Lifeweaver to pull allies to them without permission, many worry that griefers will use him to yank teammates into hazards.
- Blizzard says that when the new hero is added at the start of Season 4, "guardrails" will be in place to prevent these mishaps.
- Lifeweaver is scheduled to become available when Overwatch 2 Season 4 kicks off on April 11, 2023.
While Overwatch 2's new support hero Lifeweaver has most fans incredibly excited to play him in Season 4, many have expressed concerns about the potential ways his abilities could be used to troll teammates. Specifically, Lifeweaver's Life Grip has proven to be quite controversial, as it allows him to pull an ally directly to him without permission from the player on the receiving end.
While it was designed to be used as a clutch save for teammates caught out in a bad position, many worry that Lifeweaver griefers will use Life Grip to pull their allies into environmental hazards for cheap laughs. Overwatch 2 YouTuber Stylosa actually shared a clip of this being done in a preview build on Twitter, resulting in the exacerbation of these fears. After noticing the community's concerns, though, Blizzard has attempted to assuage them by promising that this was only possible in the preview build due to a bug, and that the developers have "guardrails" in place to prevent mishaps like these from happening in the future.
"This was the result of a bug in the preview build," wrote the developers in a direct reply to Stylosa's Twitter video. "We’ve already put guardrails in place to prevent these type[s] of…miscalculations…once Lifeweaver officially goes live in Season 4."
This was the result of a bug in the preview build. We’ve already put guardrails in place to prevent these type of… miscalculations… once Lifeweaver officially goes live in Season 4 🌸April 4, 2023
Presumably, this means that you won't be able to use Life Grip on allies while next to a hazard, or while you're in midair over one yourself. That's great news, although the community overall still seems to be very on the fence about Life Grip. While you won't be able to use the ability to yank your allies into death pits, poor uses of it could still ruin a teammate's flank attempt or prevent them from making valuable plays.
Imagine playing Reinhardt and landing a huge Earthshatter, only for your Lifeweaver to pull you away from your helpless and vulnerable victims because "you're overextending." Many players are worried about Lifeweaver having that much control over them, and I don't blame them. Notably, Blizzard has confirmed that you'll be able to cancel the effects of Life Grip by using a movement ability, but should you really have to waste a cooldown just to get control of your character back from a teammate that made a bad call?
Ultimately, Life Grip is a uniquely contentious ability, and it will be interesting to see if and how it gets tweaked once the wider community gets its hands on Lifeweaver and provides feedback. At least we (hopefully) won't have to worry about trolls pulling us off the map with the newest Overwatch 2 hero.
Overwatch 2 is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4. Season 4 is scheduled to go live on April 11, 2023, at which point both Lifeweaver and the new season's Battle Pass will become available. If you're a new player and want a head start on progression, consider getting the Ultimate Battle Pass Bundle once Season 4 comes out. It includes Premium Battle Pass access, 20 instant Battle Pass levels, 2,000 Overwatch coins, and a Beekeeper Sigma skin.
