In the latest turn of Overwatch 2 versus its own fans, it has come to light that the community has abandoned the game’s PvE lobbies.
As reported by Tech4Gamers, there are still people playing PvE, but the unpopularity of the mode has bad consequences for those players. They deal with long wait times, apparently as long as five minutes.
Blizzard has implemented adding AI teammates to mitigate this issue, but this comes with its own new issues. Those AI teammates are acting erratically, using Ultimates at the wrong time, or going off the map.
At the moment, players who are going through Overwatch 2’s PvE, they are sticking to pre-made groups. Those players who can set this up for themselves and their friends can at least get around these other issues,
For those who aren’t really Overwatch 2 fans, it is important to get a bit more context about this situation to understand it. Blizzard sold its fans on Overwatch 2 remedying all of the issues with the first Overwatch, so much so that they were able to justify taking the original Overwatch down.
A lot of that was dependent on very ambitious promises when it comes to Overwatch 2’s PvE. But Blizzard was forced to take back all those promises. To summarize game director Aaron Keller’s comments, Blizzard realized after the fact that they just didn’t have the capacity to build all the content that they promised fans, at the level and amount that would make their community satisfied.
This was a particularly bitter pill to swallow for the community, because they do feel, perhaps correctly, that they were tricked into accepting Blizzard’s removal of the original Overwatch. Many players also associate very strongly with the game’s many characters, and this content included the promise of fully fleshed out story campaigns for all of them.
As late as last August, Keller said that the company cannot turn back the clock on those dashed promises, so all they can do is move forward. But fans are not happy now, with the perceived small amount of PvE content available now that fans have to keep playing again and again, as well as the cost of the content.
Perhaps the pending merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard could lead to the changes the franchise needs. Microsoft will want to realize Overwatch’s potential, and that’s not happening if the community continues to turn on the game.
