I picked up the game in 2016 and was instantly hooked like so many others. Overwatch remained my favourite shooter for years - even during the draught of content on the run up to OW2.

While it retains its charming design, wonderful cast of characters and some of the best multiplayer maps I've ever played on, OW2 brought a few enormous fundamental downgrades that leave it critically flawed. Let me explain;

#1 - Heroes in battlepass

The biggest change, this alone put all the nails in the coffin.

Overwatch is a game based around hero picks and team synergy. Every single character brings unique advantages, pairing well with some and poorly with others. Overwatch used to have a few heroes introduced every year completely free for everyone to play. Overwatch 2 now expects you to either grind to unlock new characters, or pony up cash for the Battlepass to play them on release (or £9 each for old characters).

This doesn't sound game breaking at a first glance, but now consider the fact you can queue into competitive games without the full roster of characters.

This is a core gameplay feature, in a competitive game, behind a paywall.

How can there be fair competition if one team has more options than the other? And purely because they paid for it? Sounds a bit like pay to win, but I'll let you decide for yourself.

#2 - The battlepass itself, and the new approach to cosmetics

I've never really been opposed to the idea of battlepass systems, but compared to other games OW2's passes are a joke. Each pass has 80 levels of stuff, usually 8 skins (with a very nice customisable one at the end) and a bunch of other stuff to pad it out - as is the norm. This filler stuff ranges from titles and nameplates to emotes. I believe they've recently added credits in there, which is a great step forward, but doesn't undo the aforementioned critical misstep of including core gameplay features behind a paywall.

Cosmetics have always been a huge part of Overwatch, the skins are designed by insanely talented artists with equally talented modellers. These skins continue to be fantastic, but the prices are insulting. Legendary skins (ones that aren't just recolours) are on average around £20+ each.

These used to be obtained via lootboxes, you'd get one every level up which tends to be insanely frequent. In my time playing I only bought boxes on a few occasions and still managed to get most skins for most characters. Most people's argument for them bringing in the store was that the generous lootbox system was losing them money - this is simply wrong. In 2019 (3 years after launch) Overwatch had already made $1billion via lootboxes.

There's now essentially no free way to get skins, unless you want to grind challenges for months on end for a single legendary.

#3 - The PvE

I never had too much interest in the PvE - but it was the driving point behind the whole idea of Overwatch 2.

That's what we were told anyway, it ended up just being a bait and switch to implement all these new monetisation systems. Hell, even after the "cancellation" of PvE we're still getting PvE missions? Except they're now being sold as individual packs, just another way to squeeze your wallet.

In Summary

If you like competitive shooters - Overwatch 2 has no competitive integrity.

If you like collecting cosmetics - Overwatch 2 expects you to hand over your entire wallet

The game is fun, I still feel the experience I love so much in there, it's just damaged by such intrusive greed I can't recommend it to anyone.

[h1] Overwatch 2 has no respect for you, it's an attempt to pry open your wallet while masquerading as the game it used to be. [/h1] I picked up the game in 2016 and was instantly hooked like so many others. Overwatch remained my favourite shooter for years - even during the draught of content on the run up to OW2. While it retains its charming design, wonderful cast of characters and some of the best multiplayer maps I've ever played on, OW2 brought a few [i]enormous fundamental downgrades[/i] that leave it critically flawed. Let me explain; [b] #1 - Heroes in battlepass [/b] The biggest change, this alone put all the nails in the coffin. Overwatch is a game based around hero picks and team synergy. Every single character brings unique advantages, pairing well with some and poorly with others. Overwatch used to have a few heroes introduced every year completely free for everyone to play. Overwatch 2 now expects you to either grind to unlock new characters, or pony up cash for the Battlepass to play them on release (or £9 each for old characters). This doesn't sound game breaking at a first glance, but now consider the fact [b]you can queue into competitive games without the full roster of characters.[/b] This is a core gameplay feature, in a competitive game, behind a paywall. How can there be fair competition if one team has more options than the other? And purely because they paid for it? Sounds a bit like pay to win, but I'll let you decide for yourself. [b] #2 - The battlepass itself, and the new approach to cosmetics [/b] I've never really been opposed to the idea of battlepass systems, but compared to other games OW2's passes are a joke. Each pass has 80 levels of stuff, usually 8 skins (with a very nice customisable one at the end) and a bunch of other stuff to pad it out - as is the norm. This filler stuff ranges from titles and nameplates to emotes. I believe they've recently added credits in there, which is a great step forward, but doesn't undo the aforementioned critical misstep of including core gameplay features behind a paywall. Cosmetics have always been a huge part of Overwatch, the skins are designed by insanely talented artists with equally talented modellers. These skins continue to be fantastic, but the prices are insulting. Legendary skins (ones that aren't just recolours) are on average around £20+ each. These used to be obtained via lootboxes, you'd get one every level up which tends to be insanely frequent. In my time playing I only bought boxes on a few occasions and still managed to get most skins for most characters. Most people's argument for them bringing in the store was that the generous lootbox system was losing them money - this is simply wrong. In 2019 (3 years after launch) Overwatch had already made $1billion via lootboxes. There's now essentially no free way to get skins, unless you want to grind challenges for months on end for a single legendary. [b] #3 - The PvE [/b] I never had too much interest in the PvE - but it was the driving point behind the whole idea of Overwatch 2. That's what we were told anyway, it ended up just being a bait and switch to implement all these new monetisation systems. Hell, even after the "cancellation" of PvE we're still getting PvE missions? Except they're now being sold as individual packs, just another way to squeeze your wallet. [b] In Summary [/b] If you like competitive shooters - Overwatch 2 has no competitive integrity. If you like collecting cosmetics - Overwatch 2 expects you to hand over your entire wallet The game is fun, I still feel the experience I love so much in there, it's just damaged by such intrusive greed I can't recommend it to anyone.