Overwatch 2 has launched and saying it’s had issues is an understatement. Leading up to launch came news that you needed a phone number in order to play Overwatch 2. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but prepaid phones didn’t count. This meant that if you had Mint Mobile or similar, you wouldn’t be able to play the game. Imagine spending hundreds if not thousands of hours in Overwatch and not being able to play anymore because you had a prepaid phone.
If only that was the only issue they faced. At launch, they had long queue times to even load the game and even getting to the front of the queue didn’t mean you could play the game. A lot of people would sit in the queue, get to 0 people ahead of them, then get reset back to 40,000 people in front of them. For those that could get in, some reported that all of their stuff was missing from the first game. Not even just skins, but characters themselves had to be unlocked as if it was their first time playing.
To be fair these issues weren’t all Blizzard’s fault, on launch day they did experience a DDOS attack. Players were also able to bypass queue times by changing regions, personally I was instantly loading into games when I changed over to Asia’s servers. Blizzard also released a statement saying if you played Overwatch then you wouldn’t need a phone number in order to play the second game. Things are looking better for the game.
Battlepass
There is no word yet if Blizzard will be extending the season or battlepass. It would make sense if they did. People paid for the premium battle pass, but aren’t able to actually play it due to their issues. Getting some kind of compensation for the missed days could make a lot of people more forgiving toward the company. Even if they don’t extend the season, they could give some free tiers to those affected.
While Microsoft doesn’t own Activision Blizzard yet, the deal is getting closer to being done. Brazil just gave their approval and it’s possible that it’s done before January 1, 2023. There’s no telling if or what changes they would make, but it is possible that they would change the battlepass for Overwatch and Call of Duty to be like Halo’s. Halo’s battlepass doesn’t expire. You can go back to previous season’s battlepasses at anytime, so if you don’t complete it in the season, you can always go back to it in the future to do so. It’s entirely possible that Overwatch and Call of Duty could change to follow that model.
How are you liking Overwatch 2 so far? What issues have you come across?
