Josh from over at fullsync.co.uk is back again! This time with some thoughts on Overwatch 2. Judging by the title, he’s got a few issues with it……..Let’s see what he thinks!
I love free-to-play titles, not just because they don’t cost a thing, but because they also tend to have a longer shelf life than games that come out with yearly releases. I’ve been playing the likes of Apex Legends for years and I know that Ninja Refinery enjoys dabbling in Fortnite now and again. So, when I heard Overwatch 2 was going to be free-to-play I was intrigued to try it out.
Now, I’ve never played the first Overwatch (OW) game before, but I have played Paladins developed by Evil Mojo Games and published by Hi-Rez Studios. It’s basically a clone of the original OW title except a little buggier. However, I’m finding as a game I’m preferring it more compared to Overwatch 2 which is just annoying the living daylights out of me.
And that’s why I’m writing this piece, to get my frustrations out about how much Overwatch 2 has annoyed me. Because it’s good for your mental health to discuss how you’re feeling and when I’m playing Overwatch 2 it’s often a feeling of irritation. So here are five things that have been annoying me since I’ve been playing the game.
1. The Battle Pass
Now, I’ve nothing against a game having a battle pass and I understand the necessity of having one to help fund free-to-play games. However, they should only be used to unlock additional items such as cosmetic skins for characters and weapons as well as sprays and other in-game items that have no impact on the game itself.
But with Overwatch 2, it feels like all the content the game has to offer is hidden behind the battle pass, including some of the game’s new characters. It also feels like it takes forever to level up and that’s even with a 20% Exp bonus I get for deciding to buy the battle pass on release.
2. Challenges
So, one of the ways you can level up your battle pass is through challenges, and there are a wide variety of different ones. You have daily, weekly, season and even individual challenges for specific classes. However, the challenges are very generic and incredibly pointless on occasion too because as a new player I can’t play competitive games but that happens to be just one of my challenges for that day. More on that in a minute.
The one thing I do quite like, is the in-game currency you use to buy the battle pass and in-game items is awarded for completing weekly challenges. The problem is that the amounts you can get are very small, and for the average person who may only be able to get on a few hours per week it’s impossible to achieve. Because you must complete several challenges to get anything.
3. Unlocking ranked mode
I understand that you don’t want players jumping right into ranked when they’re not ready and don’t understand how to play a game. But the requirements for new players to play ranked in Overwatch 2 is ridiculous.
Completing a tutorial and training I’m fine with. Making players play a set number of games is ok too. I’m even happy playing several games to assess where you should be ranked. However, having to achieve 50 wins in order to play ranked in Overwatch 2 is just far too much. And I’m not saying that because I can’t achieve that, because in time I will. But the problem is described by my next annoying point about the game.
4. Annoying players
This is quite possibly the most annoying point about Overwatch 2, the players. Now, I understand it is new, but it’s an incredibly easy game to pick up. You have certain classes of characters who are there to perform certain roles to compete in each of the game’s different modes. The problem is people are idiots and people don’t do their jobs. I, for example, like to play support class, specifically Moira. My job is to heal other players.
However, as well as dishing out over 5,000 healing on the regular I’m also outperforming players in damage too, and each team has two damage class characters on each team and a tank. All of which should really be outperforming me in that scenario. The problem is that people just run around thinking it’s a team deathmatch and so don’t stick together, and they don’t play the objective. Often leading to me racking up losses despite playing well.
And that is why sadly I am still yet to unlock ranked mode. Not because I’m not performing to a decent level, but because players refuse to play the game as it is intended.
5. Getting into games
Now, there were issues when the game launched and that is to be expected, especially with the hype around Overwatch 2. Those queue times slowly started to fall over the first couple of weeks. Now, you can expect to get in a game within a couple of minutes. However, if you play unranked like me right now, you can select which role you want to queue for. If you queue for support or all roles, you get bonus Exp toward your battle pass.
The annoying bit though is no one seems to want to play support, which isn’t an issue because I do. But it means you wait longer to play as damage or tank classes. Which then delays completing some of the challenges you are set. And because when you select all roles, no one wants to play support. You end up playing support 99% of the time anyway.
Even teaming up with my friend in the same queue for all roles, we often both get stuck as support. But, then again, because we don’t have a tank who tries to push the objective or damage classes who work together to help wipe out the opposition, despite all our hard work it’s often not enough to win us a game even with two solid supports.
Closing thoughts on Overwatch 2
It might sound like I’m ranting and raving about Overwatch 2 and that I don’t like the game. But I enjoy playing when I have a great team to play with. The game’s mechanics are solid, it’s not very buggy (although I am having issues playing on PS5). And when the game is played how it is meant to be played, it is an incredibly fun game. Sadly, the developers have just gone via the route of wanting to make as much money as possible. And players are stupid. So sadly Overwatch 2 is just frustrating right now.
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