Overwatch 2 Is Ditching One Of Its PvE Modes In Season 11

Ahead of Overwatch 2’s new season, developer Blizzard has announced the removal of one of the game’s PvE modes. If you’re a fan of Hero Mastery Gauntlet, tough luck, as it’ll no longer be available to play starting Season 11.

“Hero Mastery Gauntlet was intended to bring the high score-chasing excitement of Hero Mastery missions into a multiplayer format,” reads an update in the Blizzard forums. “Unfortunately, it hasn’t resonated with players in the ways that we hoped.”

If you’re wondering about the Lifetime Challenges for the mode, these will remain active until the end of Season 10. This includes competing on the mode’s top 500 leaderboards.

Blizzard added that Individual Hero Mastery Solo Courses will continue to be available, and there’ll be more courses added in upcoming seasons.

Hero Mastery Gauntlet has groups of three players banding together in tower defense-style matches, fighting against waves of bots. It spans across 10 rounds, and there are four difficulty options to choose from.

According to discussions by the community, the reception from many players wasn’t especially positive, with some hoping Blizzard would, at some point, iterate on the idea enough to entice players to return to it.

Blizzard announced it was scrapping the long-awaited Hero mode back in 2023. In March of this year, reports indicated that the developer is doubling down on PvP content. Overwatch 2 Season 11 is set to begin in June, although Blizzard is yet to disclose an official start date.