Back in June, we learned Overwatch 2 Will drop its controversial loot box. The industry celebrates, why not? Numerous countries around the world have ordered loot boxes to be equated with gambling, and the UK government has asked publishers to take steps to protect children from its adverse effects. Eighteen European countries also support measures requiring regulation of loot boxes.
For Overwatch – one of the biggest games that first popularized the use of loot boxes – turning their backs on and opting for the Battle Pass (as seen in Call of Duty, Apex Legends, Fortnite, and many others)…that’s a big move. earthquake. It has the potential to rewrite the rulebook, setting a precedent for responsible and engaging progression, while still monetizing the game. Because in essence, that’s everything. However, the implementation of Battle Pass is one of the worst games I’ve seen in a long time – probably the worst ever.
Let’s set up the scene. Overwatch is dead. There’s no going back to the original game now; it’s offline and completely replaced by Overwatch 2. The way you used to earn cosmetics and merchandise for various heroes – by opening loot boxes and getting random rewards – has been replaced by two battle passes (one paid, one free).
So, as a Mercy player, if I wanted to buy a cool outfit for my limp German medic, I had to go through a lengthy, unrewarding (and really boring) challenge for money. On Reddit, a user named u/Autumn_hi did the math and figured it would take you five years of gameplay to get all the new hero Kiriko stuff. By completing 11 challenges, you can earn up to 60 gold per week – so it’s only natural that getting 15,600 gold to get all her gear will take you 260 solid weeks of playing time.
If you fall in love with Kiriko, get her and immediately think “you know what, yeah, I’m going to be this support hero for life”, you can decide to take a shortcut and pay around £130 or real money to unlock it in coins instead And get cosmetics through that route.
On the free track of the Battle Pass, all players are working to unlock the same cosmetic items – so by the end of the season, everyone will have the same Roadhog skin as everyone else who has successfully survived the Ice Age. Compared to the motley nature of the first game, where everyone ran around in whatever skin RNGsus granted them, it looked a bit… rote.
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I miss loot boxes. I think it’s bad for kids and people with addictive personalities (hey, I have ADHD and I’m 100% obsessed with loot boxes), I understand the criticism of the system, but I still miss how they’re on watch Pioneer work. I think, for the most part, I miss how generous Blizzard is giving you for free. A few games a day, brazen victories all over the place, and you’ll soon have a few boxes to open and enough currency to pick up the skin you’ve been craving for weeks. Yes, I may never get the Devil Mercy skin I want by opening the box, but so what? I got some cool Moira skins that actually made me choose the character so I could use those skins.
After launch, Overwatch put together loot boxes; with the addition of Doom Protection and Deception Protection, even casual players, if they play semi-regularly, will end up with Legendary and Epic skins. Compared to the current system – which revolves entirely around grinding battle passes and completing irritating challenges – it’s well-designed. Imagine how many goals Blizzard had to miss in order to make the loot box look good. It would be impressive, if not so serious.
It seems to me that Blizzard could make a fairly definite change in Overwatch 2 that would achieve a kind of “best of both worlds” compromise. For the free track of the battle pass, why not enable random rewards? You can call them loot boxes if you like, but they actually let you earn three or four miscellaneous legacy rewards at semi-regular intervals while still tracking you forward to unlock paid battle passes as you go along Scheduled rewards on the track. This will motivate you to continue earning through the challenge, while also boosting morale as you play, as you’ll actually feel rewarded for your time – not as if you’re putting everything into being with everyone else content, too.
The service game continues to evolve, and there’s a good chance Blizzard will change its stance on F2P monetization and inject some justification for the progression and timing of its sequel.Take a cursory look at Reddit or Twitter will show you that people are not interested in the rhythm of the reward and the actual quality of the reward.
Loot boxes are a dirty topic in the game right now – and rightly so. The developers implemented them in a very predatory and greedy way. But they can be used as a great way to motivate players and encourage you to diversify your playstyle and preferred characters. If Blizzard can find the right balance between F2P battle passes and loot boxes, Overwatch 2 may have a chance in the future to undo the damage caused by its disastrous launch.
