The next season of Overwatch 2 is pretty packed with content compared to other odd-numbered seasons, and developer Blizzard is going all-out with its investments into Stadium mode and player choice for the game.
Season 17 is chock full of charming retro vibes, featuring a mythic skin for D.va, the resident gamer hero, an 8-bit Reinhardt skin and new heroes for Stadium, the most important mode in Overwatch.
A new map is also arriving for one of the game's most underutilized core game modes, although you can choose not to play it if you don't want to thanks to the debut of the map voting system.
As always, Season 17 will also introduce a suite of new events and ways to earn free cosmetics. Here's what you have to look forward to when the update launches on June 24.
Players will have equally-weighted votes to choose their next competitive map. Blizzard/Screenshot by CNET
Map voting is the next way to empower players during matchmaking
The Overwatch 2 developers have been hard at work the past few seasons, fine-tuning the game to make each individual match feel more fun.
Between tinkering with a limited return to the 6v6 match format by adding back the second tank player, adding hero perks that personalize Overwatch's cast of characters and implementing competitive mode hero bans, Blizzard is creating more ways for you to feel like you have a substantial impact on the outcome of your games.
The Season 17 update will further empower you by letting you exercise some influence over what map you'll play on. That doesn't mean you'll be able to choose a map before you queue for matchmaking, but it does mean you won't necessarily get stuck playing on Havana five times in a row.
Starting in Season 17, you'll be presented with three maps before the game starts. Each player has an equally-weighted vote for which map they want to play on and once everyone has voted, the game randomly picks one of the votes and then locks in that map.
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