After months of anticipation, Overwatch 2 was finally released on October 4, 2022. However, this launch was far from perfect. With various server issues and bugs plaguing the game, many players were unable to properly experience Blizzard’s latest FPS. To make up for this lost time, Blizzard is offering a new legendary skin and weapon charm to all players who log in from October 25 through the end of Season One.
The launch of Overwatch 2 was not all smooth sailing. Players were joining never-ending queues to access the game, only to get disconnected once they finally started playing. Overwatch suffered from DDoS attacks, making the servers even more saturated. Blizzard even had to remove two heroes from the game to update their abilities, as they were way too powerful in their current state.
On top of those technical issues, players also had trouble with some more specific aspects of Overwatch 2. The biggest concern was related to the SMS Protect feature, supposed to prevent toxic players from creating another account after being banned. Unfortunately, this feature caused various issues, blocking players with a pre-paid phone plan from accessing the game. Blizzard eventually removed this feature for those who already owned a copy of the original Overwatch.
The new business model of Overwatch 2 also raised some eyebrows. Unlike its predecessor, Overwatch 2 is free-to-play. It now features a Battle Pass like most live service games, allowing players to unlock additional content if they play enough games to level up their Battle Pass. The default Battle Pass is free, but Blizzard also offers a Premium Battle Pass for those who would like more cosmetic content.
New players who managed to defeat the queue times and launch Overwatch 2 without being disconnected faced another setback. For those who didn’t own the original game, Blizzard launched the First Time User Experience. This feature limits the number of available heroes, unlocking them after 100 games played – or about 25 hours worth of gameplay.
All these changes in Overwatch’s structure combined with the technical issues at launch left players with a sour aftertaste. To make up for this shaky launch, Overwatch is trying to entice players to come back to the game by offering a new legendary skin and weapon charm. All players who launch Overwatch 2 between October 25 and the end of Season One will receive the Cursed Captain Reaper legendary skin and a Health Pack weapon charm. Overwatch 2 will also run several Double Match XP weekends but Blizzard hasn’t yet announced the specific dates.
Blizzard is still addressing some of the issues impacting the overall player experience in Overwatch 2. The game is already more stable than it was at launch and should keep on getting better over the next few days.
Overwatch 2 is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows.
