5 Things We’d Like To See In Overwatch 2

The world needs heroes, and also our suggestions.

Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2

For fans of hero shooters, the announcement of Overwatch 2 in 2019 was an exciting one, as it promised to build on the success of the original game with improved and expanded multiplayer, new heroes, map types and more. There’s even going to be a fully-fledged campaign with an RPG-like skill tree.

It was a long time before we heard more, but the team returned during BlizzCon 2021 to reveal more about the game, showing the full extent of the sequel’s potential. Having a Reinhardt who can better control and even stop charges is reason enough for a sequel, if you ask me.

Of course, with a game as beloved as Overwatch, wishlists for features people hope to see are as long as the River Nile, and as someone who dabbles in the game, I have some requests of my own. Blizzard, take notes: here’s some of the things I’d like to see in Overwatch 2.

 

1. No Battle Passes, But No Premium Loot Boxes Either

Loot Box

Alright, clearly Overwatch’s cosmetic system is going to be addressed in the sequel. Government regulation and the gaming industry as a whole seems to be circling the wagon around loot boxes, especially after studies have found a link to gambling. While Overwatch didn’t exactly start kickstart the loot box idea, or take it to its worst conclusions (FIFA UT and Battlefront 2 spring to mind), Overwatch arguably popularised the format for a lot of people, and they’ve been quite the little earner for Activision Blizzard too.

Premium loot boxes, even if they’re just for cosmetics, lead to FOMO when those annual events with special, limited-time skins come around, but it’s also worth noting that Overwatch’s content updates, which included new maps, modes and heroes, have always been free. This is possibly due to those loot boxes, and going the other way and forcing heroes and maps as DLC would just fragment the player base, dealing irreparable damage to the game’s longevity. It’d be shocking to see loot boxes stay in Overwatch 2, in their current form at least, leading to the question of what replaces them.

Clearly, Blizzard aren’t going to make you pay for new, gameplay-specific content in Overwatch 2 (at least in terms of multiplayer, god knows what they’re thinking with the co-op), but I just hope they don’t try to solve this problem with Battle Passes. This might just be me, but I can’t stand the idea of paying for a premium Battle Pass and being locked into playing a game religiously for two months in the hopes of reaching the highest tier.

With the system in place right now, especially when the limited events roll around, loot boxes allow me to earn content that I don’t need to pay for. However, a Battle Pass is an opportunity to pay for content I might not even unlock. It just doesn’t sit right with me. Battle Pass progression is often tied to completing challenges too, and I feel like that would also ruin Overwatch’s gameplay. Team compositions in matchmaking would be compromised because someone would have a challenge of earning 10,000 Transcendence healing with Zenyatta or something similar, and they’d blindly run their characters into teams which can easily counter them, effectively throwing matches for the rest of their team.

Perhaps a middle ground might be more appropriate. Some kind of premium transactions are going to remain in Overwatch, especially if they help fund the future development of content, and Overwatch currently has in-game currency that you can use to buy items, earned from playing sought-after roles or from receiving duplicate items in loot boxes. Allowing players to purchase coins to unlock skins and cosmetics directly, while keeping loot boxes for reaching new levels and other free rewards, might make the most sense.

Just please, no Battle Passes. I’m done with them.

 

2. A Campaign Mode That Incorporates As Many Characters As Possible

Overwatch 2

This might be a bit of a pipedream, considering that Blizzard have said that the campaign won’t be able to fit the entire roster into the natural progression of the story, but I’d like the game to be as accommodating as possible. The story will see a reformed Overwatch unite against the rise of the villainous Talon along with a new Omnic invasion thanks to Null Sector, but there’s a lot of wiggle room for exploration, either as part of the main campaign or in supplementary campaign levels post-launch.

While we’ll get a lot of focus on the Overwatch team, a level or two playing as Talon characters like Doomfist, Widowmaker, Sombra, Moira, Sigma and others would be nice. There’s also the characters that sit outside of Overwatch and Talon, like Roadhog and Junkrat, who could get some story focus with the Junker Queen if she becomes a new character. We could also do flashbacks to McCree and Ashe’s time in the Deadlock Gang together. Overwatch’s lore is vast yet also contains plenty of gaps, and these campaign missions could allow character and relationship specific deep dives that we haven’t seen yet.

I’d just like to see Blizzard take the opportunity while it’s there.

 

3. More Tanks And Supports (MAUGA! MAUGA! MAUGA!)

Mauga
Mauga

A new Overwatch game will come with new characters, such as the already confirmed Sojourn, along with some other already teased characters. Characters fit into one of three categories: Tanks, Damage and Support, and while more of every category is nice, Overwatch could do with more Tanks and especially Support characters. Right now it feels like there’s over double the amount of Damage characters than Tank and Support characters combined, so some new characters in those underrepresented classes would be great.

Also, I’m just going to take a moment to acknowledge my growing crush on an Overwatch character that isn’t even playable right now: Mauga. Just look at this absolute madlad. He looks like Roman Reigns in his Tribal Chief gimmick, only super swole. Make him playable, please. I need it. Blizzard teased him around the same time they introduced Baptiste, but found his abilities and kit didn’t fit the character so they created the character of Sigma instead using that kit.

Hopefully, we’ll see Mauga fully realised in Overwatch 2, probably with akimbo miniguns or something else equally silly.

 

4. Better Workshop Mode Incorporation

Overwatch

One of Overwatch’s best innovations was the introduction of the Workshop mode, which allowed players to tinker with lots of different settings to create their own match types. Since launch, the Workshop has been used for everything from weird deathmatch types, parkour courses, sumo wrestling, “dodge the train” game modes and even aim trainers. The mode also brought promise that some great modes would be highlighted more by Blizzard, but aside from Hero Gauntlet, nothing else has come of it.

There’s boundless creativity being shown off by a portion of the Overwatch community, and yet many people haven’t experienced what the Workshop has to offer. Perhaps Blizzard could use the Arcade mode to shine a spotlight on some of the more inventive and enjoyable modes, maybe even offer some kind of reward for players to try these modes.

 

5. Console Cross-Play

Overwatch

Cross-play is the future of multiplayer games at this point, as it helps ensure that server populations are healthy and that players from different platforms can still play together. Cross-play should be implemented in Overwatch 2, just like it has been in other multiplayer games, but specifically just console cross-play.

Due to the difference in controller vs mouse and keyboard, Overwatch has a couple of different balance changes between console and PC gameplay in live servers, which would make full cross-play a bit more of a nightmare. That shouldn’t stop console cross-play being a thing, so PlayStation and Xbox players can still enjoy the game together. Oh, and Switch players, I guess, though 60fps gameplay on PlayStation and Xbox might be a bit unfair vs the 30fps on the Switch. Then again, that hasn’t stopped Apex Legends.

 

Bonus: Delete Wrecking Ball

Nintendo Direct

Just get rid of him. It’d be better that way. #EndSpinToWin

Overwatch is available now for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch

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