Overwatch 2 Is Sounding More And More Like A Free-To-Play Nightmare

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Overwatch 2 is sounding more and more like a free-to-play nightmare:

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’s long anticipated sequel. “We want FTUE to welcome players more gradually to, as we’ve seen consistent feedback from new players feeling overwhelmed by numerous game modes and heroes,” Blizzard wrote. “New players begin with access to a limited set of game modes, heroes, and some other restrictions to onboard them more gradually.”

New players will have to win 50 quick play matches to unlock competitive mode, and complete roughly 100 matches to unlock all of’s existing 32 heroes. In-game chat and other game modes, meanwhile, will “rapidly” unlock in the early stage of onboarding. “This focused experience eases new players into the world ofby teaching them about different modes, rules, and other high-level aspects of the game in an approachable way,” Blizzard wrote.Quick-play matches often last around 10 to 15 minutes.

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Zero interest in this

How many times are you going to post this on twitter? Must be really slow news if you're going to post this 4 times in almost one week.

100 games 4 years playing Overwatch😂

Isn't this just how games in general work you play to earn and unlock things? I don't see an issue here.

Just read this article. What? Valorant unlocks agents, I believe League also has new players unlocking Champions. If anything, this unlock system will help retain new players in OW2. I don't understand this article. Has the author not played other games?

So is MultiVersus, Fall Guys, Paladins, Smite, Fortnite, Realm Royal, League of Legends and every other Free to Play game.

Sensationalism. Grinding new characters, weapons, etc. is the norm in all competitive games from League of Legends to Warzone. If you're mad about the $40 Watchpoint Pack to unlock everything - you rather pay $60 or $70 for a 'full game'? It's a $40 game you can grind to unlock.

We say the same thing every time a big publisher goes to a F2P styled game and everybody just gets used to it

If you wanna be a little cry baby, there’s stuff to complain about. But other than that, I really don’t see what there is to complain about, honestly. ON NO, A GRIND. Expected.

Never liked or played overwatch 🤷‍♂️ prefer PaladinsGame

Trying to convert play time into salary hours to prove your point makes absolutely no sense. You unlock characters by actually playing and enjoying the game, not by working. If the game made me fill out excel sheets to unlock characters, only then I would be mad too.

More nightmare inducing than their r34 community

'Either Grind or Buy the game Again' Welcome to Blizzard; we are as predatory in business as we are sexually

TLDR they’re calling it a f2p nightmare cause it has a battlepass with the new hero in it and it has a cash shop soooo bad /s

That Lbox paid 70 bil for 🤣🤣🤣👎

Not even gonna lie, probably won't even play it

Even without it, there’s just zero hype with it. Nothing is telling me “oh man. Can’t wait to play OW2”. At this point, we just need a game that is a successful competitor to Overwatch.

They gotta make their money somehow. It's a mobile game on a console.

we saw this trash the first time you posted it

5 days left until the game dies...

I'd like to have your nightmares cause they sound like heaven. Do you ever think before writing and posting anything on the internet?

It looks better than Valorant to me tbh

Garbage, stop spewing complete BS

Whoever wrote this has no idea about the game, or how to write an unbiased article that isn't filled with shameful misinformation. Yikes

People who complain about unlocking heros in Overwatch 2 must have never played a fighting game I grinded the hell out of Smash Ultimate to get the whole roster yall niggas just soft.

This is awful. I didn’t know that Kotaku is yellow journalism.

dear PlayOverwatch im not giving you my phone number to play a game ive played for years without having to give it. this is diablo 3's real money auction all over again, dont do it.

Probably the worst article I have ever read. At least be more obvious that you are hating on the game rather than try and help those who still don't understand stuff about it

Even if the launch of OW2 PvP ends up failing, Blizzard will make changes to try and get people in. They're not the kind of company to just let one of their games die unceremoniously, especially their newest IP.

How in the hell are you Twitter verified when you post nonsense like this....

kotaku being dogshit like always

Kotaku spinning stories for drama clicks again......

I bought it but I don't know what it is

terrible source of information. get your facts right and stop making flase clickbait headlines for likes. disgusting.

Extremely common Kotaku L

this is a really misleading title. ow2 is gonna be one of the more fair/ better f2p experiences out there tbh

Congrats, this is just a bad take and also just classist. Imagine a company that's fallen so far from grace trying to recoup by welcoming new players and your bozo 'journalist' just calls it a 'a F2P game that’s secretly $40 if you’ve never played before'

I stg ppl complained ab the game not teaching new players how to play gradually and as soon as it does it’s a bad thing

10 to 15 min it's ranked, not quick play. Huge journalism

Literally Valorant, League, Apex and Paladins all do what is being attacked It's standard free-to-play procedure for any type of hero shooter, have the basic agents unlocked and unlock the others by grinding and learning (or if you're in such a hurry, pay for it)

idk, doesn't blizz have problems with men stealing breast milk, sexual harassment/fratboy culture, and also they banned and took the prize money of a competitive Hearthstone player and Hong Kong resident for repeating a pro-HK slogan while his home was being taken over?

Common Kotaku L

Lol the changes might not excite you or I but look at other free to play games. Valorant, apex, HOTS, paladins, are all nightmares coming in as a new player. I'll be surprised if it's that bad.

Who wrote this shit?

Whoever wrote this needs rhe sack

SavedAClickBot

No clout?

This isn't it

OW lives in the head of gamers rent free I swear

Me when i love to write mediocre articles and spread misinformation

At the end of the day, Overwatch 2 is going to be a new start for a game franchise that supposedly was losing everything it once had. I am 100% confident saying that when time comes for the release of Overwatch 2, there will be nothing but praise for its new foundation

'Kotaku is sounding more and more like a free-to-read nightmare'

Terrible and biased article.

guys, leave to read about overwatch 2 in channels specialized in the game, here's the tip.

I think people are overreacting for this, as an old overwatch player I think this is a good change to prevent a lot of smurfs which was a big of a problem in the main game

Kotaku was garbage when I last went on there 7 years ago, and seems nothing has changed.

Proof that kotaku is clickbaity as hell 💀

What F2P Hero-Based games gives new players instant access to all heros for free?

Yikes, wtf is this article

This is all because people don’t know how to read. It all started when Free to Play was on the front ad graphic and people still think you need to buy the game. The game is promising and I’m excited for OW2 :)

This is a non issue

Average Kotaku false journalism L

Activision/Blizzard will disappoint. Again. And again

As a long time Overwatch player I appreciate the implementation of this boarding process for new players to ease them in. However, it doesn’t make sense that they can bypass it by owning watchpoint. Pay $40 to be overwhelmed and let long time players suffer…

common Kotaku L

Cring

I am super against this but sadly this was the only way for overwatch to recover all the popularity they had on their first years, but blame blizzard that they allowed to die on of the ips with the most potential

What a piece of sh1t article. They need to shut kotaku down already.

And... Valorant does the same thing, yet we praise them? Just say you don't like OW lol.

Never a bad time to get into a different shooter!

Didn’t Smash Bros. do the same thing though? You start out with a small group of characters and as you progress through the game you’ll unlock more.

I never played Overwatch? Can anybody tell me what this game is?

I think it only right to lock new players out of comp until they got to know the game better. In OW1, comp unlocks at lvl25, which is about 350k XP. To get there, you'd have to play over a hundred games of quickplay, so unlocking comp in OW2 might actually be faster than in OW1.

Ah, I see Kotaku has chosen *checks notes* misinformation as their new moto.

People are really saying ANYTHING to get angry clicks

And they REQUIRE a phone number on all platforms to even play the game... instant pass

Misinformation out the wazoo

Play paladins it’s way better

TEAM FORTRESS 2 SWEEP BABAY

Well if it becomes free to play at least u don't need to buy it for 50$ lol

But probably less so than what folks over there have to deal with. ABetterABK

This article is awful & spreads misinformation & misrepresents the changes being made. Anyone who plays Overwatch knows these are good changes.

It isn't overwhelming for a new player to have the option to play every hero. What is overwhelming for a new player is playing AGAINST every hero. This move only hurts consumers. L.

i dunno seems fine to me

How is it a nightmare? Seems like things a game should do when changing formats. Why do gamers only complain?

People should just stfu and wait until they play it. New players SHOULD be onboarded so they don't just jump into modes where they will be annihilated by veteran players that have mastery over each and every character. A real F2P nightmare is Halo Infinite.

Looking forward to giving OW2 some playtime before release. I will say that the season pass model for these types of games are fun to pursue but get a bit old imo so I hope newer content and events help keep OW2 players coming back. We shall see.

It's a shitfest for sure, and on top of it being morally objectionable to demand phone numbers to let people play - they don't allow all services. They are quite literally gatekeeping their so-called free-to-play game.

The game is done - Overwatch died and a F2P version with 3 new will ruin it’s reputation.

That's how Apex works from the beginning and it's the best FPS BR out there. I'm switching to OW2 from Apex though because I'm a console gamer and unstable 60fps is not for me anymore

I don't understand comparing the time spent in a game for how much you could earn working in a week. I paid to play World of Warcraft for hundreds of hours to get 'rewards'. If you enjoy what you're playing, isn't it sort of better that it's free?

Next, we'll have to unlock the hentai.

This is why Paladins solos Overflop 2

I’ll never play this trash. And by the way where’s my refund for the original Overwatch ? If I can no longer play it, I want a refund.

Kotaku consistently finding the perfect chemical combinations require to perfect the utter worst articles every time:

Less hacker is always a good thing. F2P means less cost to hack the game, blizzard did a good job here. Kotaku you guys always miss the point.

Lol Your new here

Wow, for once I actually agree with a Kotaku article. Ironically enough, these weird authoritarian practices they're being slammed for were only made possible by the very people your publication panders to.

So basically like the first one?

no such thing as a good game that starts out f2p

Ya this is becoming a real mess, I am becoming less and less excited for this game. Wanting my phone number to report me to the IRS, removing text chat, making new players purchase old heroes like wtf.

This is sincerely one of the dumbest & most obnoxious articles ive ever read. I can practically feel Gach straining w/the effort of trying to frame this complete non-issue as some kind of travesty. Oh no! A free game w/unlockables that you can also buy for $20 less than average!

I have huge issue with the SMS thing. Launch will fail because we cant just log in and play.

This aint about restricting people, but not to overwhelm new players and restrict smurfing in the game. This is just a good way to deal with both

How does this magazine get any impressions at all. Almost always a garbage take shitting on a game before it ever even releases lol.

I see nothing wrong with everything they are complaining in that article

Nah you're overreacting, kotaku,

Can’t believe their gonna charge $10 a skin

Nah

kotaku in shambles. Dying website. Good riddance.

isnt this the game known for the userbase screaming at each other for picking the wrong hero 10/10 good job making your game more toxic

Diablo Immortal is a thing and people are still surprised?

This is standard for F2P games though isn’t it.

Imagine being Kotaku

Such an L take smh

So much just wrong info in this article, this guy clearly doesnt play any of the F2P hero shooters on the market rn or else he would know so much of what was announced today are directly combatting the major common complaints from their systems.

this is why F2P needs to stop, i really dont care if it work out on other games, their has to be a differences than doing the same effin thing

With 32 characters that’s only 3 matches with each character not a big ask at all, especially if you get to choose the unlock order. And for most people soon as they reach a character they like they’ll stick with it for a bit anyway.

Wow this game had so much goodwill and now it sound like it’s just another nickel and dime F2P shooter.

To clarify, this an opinion based editorial. Another way to look at it is easing new players into the game so they aren't overwhelmed or rolled by more experienced players. Also Kiriko isnt OW2's first new character as the story suggests. Junker Queen and Sojourn are also new.

they made me add my phone today or else I could not play! 😡

.ethangach might want to change this, Kiriko is unlocked by purchasing the battle pass as well, which is $US10

Does it? Or are changes being tried for the betterment of players, but people are whining because it’s different, but if it stays the same it attracts, “it’s the same old shit,” crowd. Good ol’ internet, the place where outdated console owners cried about Cyberpunk now look…

Which is why you should play Gundam Evolution instead

I personally feel that smurfs make it a nightmare. I like to play competitive because it was competitive. Now there’s no real competition out there, just over powered players purposely placing low to pick on the noobs like me lol

Ya think?

i understand what they’re trying to do and that’s increase player count. The thing is overwatch is not a game you just hop in and play… not only that even if you’re good you need good teammates. it could work…but i can see a lot of disconnections.

It seems these Kotaku writers have never played a f2p title.

It seems these Kotaku writers have never played a f2p title.

Why do you consistently have bad takes?

Normal onboarding = Nightmare. Sure thing lol. This is akin to what Dota 2 does now. Even Splatoon 3 has an onboarding process.

Well the first one was an over priced loot box grind so it going in the direction of the most popular free to play games is fine with me

No it doesn't lol keep crying

Not defending OW2 but talk about a shit article, I'd say the only downfall thing and I wouldn't really call it that is characters being locked. The rest doesn't really make the game worse in any way lol.

Terrible article

When are devs gonna realize f2p ain't the way to go? It's live service, aka 50% half assed game in which they'll be working on it forever

Wait no this is actually a good Kotaku post. TLDR is that they're locking even the Overwatch 1 heroes behind gameplay unlock...

It doesn't matter because I'm not funding Blizzard and their mess.

Wtf Kotaku that last sentence?

you know a game lost steam when even r34 artists aren't bothering as much as they used to

Nahh looks alright like

How is this any different from Valorant or Apex Legends? It takes ages to earn those heroes too.

I can't wait to kick people for not having a hero unlocked in comp lol

'we want old players not swarmed with new ones, to make sure new ones aren't overwhelmed, and to limit people making extra accounts to steamroll lower ranks' Kotaku, the consistently worst game journalism site in existence: 'yikes this sounds pretty bad'

Nah

“Please restrict content and put it behind a grind wall!” - Said No One, Ever.

The game stopped being fun when they went all-in on the competitive part of the game. Sounds like Overwatch 2 is just continuing that trend.

Lol no it's not 💀 It's pretty simple

it's not really. new players will need to be onboarded. you can't just give people 30+ heroes and say 'have at it, do what you want'. this is a smart way to get players to learn and not be overwhelmed too. good design.

Blizz is run by people who hate gamers.

That's why PaladinsGame is better

and nobody is surprised And sadly im still going to play it because its the only fun competitive shooter on the market imo 🫠🫠🫠

👀

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