Although Blizzard recognised the issue, they said that Tracer appears to be on par with other characters despite it.
It’s uncommon for a video game flaw to really improve the experience, but Tracer in Overwatch 2 and in general looks to be the exception. Tracer Overwatch appears to have a glitch where her damage does not decrease at a certain threshold, according to players. However, the director maintains that the error is maintaining Tracer’s overall power similar to other characters rather than denying Tracer overwatch like it did with prior personas. Blizzard acknowledged the issue and repaired it as well.
A discussion on Tracer’s probable issue on the Overwatch Subreddit brought up a fascinating development just now. Contrary to many of the game’s characters, Tracer Overwatch reportedly has a bug that prevents her damage from decreasing beyond a certain point. Tracer Overwatch is intended to be a short-range, quick-burst character and skirmisher rather than a long-range danger. Blizzard agrees, however Tracer won’t be fixed and benched in a subsequent release. According to Overwatch 2’s game director Aaron Keller, Tracer is now being kept alive by the problem.
Keller went on to add that if the team adjusted Tracer’s overwatch (because the damage dropoff issue is still a bug), it would be an adjustment of her entire kit to make up for weakening her if the damage dropoff fault is fixed.
Tracer’s unexpected damage drop is undoubtedly a problem, but Keller said that generally, her power level has been sufficient. We could consider changing her kit to make up for it if the problem is fixed. We don’t want Tracer turned off.
The Tracer damage dropoff issue has been there for a few patches, Keller added, but no one had noticed it until recently, according to a review of prior versions. Characters like Lucio and Mei have already seen temporary benching for blatantly impacting games with their bugs (enabling players to do things like accessing regions of the map they weren’t supposed to reach).
Even while they occasionally appear to be helpful, Overwatch 2’s problems still seem to be a problem. Further information on the Overwatch 2 Tracer issue will be included in upcoming patch notes and releases.