Blizzard promises to make improvements to ‘Overwatch 2’’s reward system

Blizzard has promised to make some improvements to Overwatch 2‘s reward system, with the game’s battle pass system being consistently criticised by fans.

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Despite its popularity, Overwatch 2 has been consistently criticised for its reward system, with players complaining that the battle pass system feels unsatisfying.

The problems are partially due to the franchise’s shift to the free to play model with the launch of the sequel earlier this year. The original Overwatch rewarded players with loot boxes – certainly a controversial practice themselves, but one that Blizzard has so far struggled to find a satisfying alternative to.

The game’s executive producer Jared Neuss addressed these concerns in a blog post on the official Overwatch website, where he admitted that “aren’t completely satisfied with how everything feels right now.”

Neuss directly addressed the shift to the free-to-play model, celebrating it bringing new players to the game, but also conceded that it had been a “big shift.”

“I could say a lot here, but I think a good place to start is saying that we aren’t completely satisfied with how everything feels right now,” said Neuss. “There’s a lot we like about it—knocking out a bunch of daily/weekly challenges or getting something new for a hero you love can feel great! But we also recognize that today’s experience has opportunity for improvement that we need to focus on.”

Neuss stated that Blizzard wants players to feel “more rewarded just for sitting down and playing,” wanting them to have accomplishments to chase outside of their Competitive Rank and Battle Pass level.

“When you finish a session, we want you to feel good about the time you just spent in the game— even if you ended on an epic losing streak at two a.m. after saying that you wouldn’t end on a loss.”

As such, Neuss has laid out Blizzard’s short-term and long-term plans to address this problem. The short-term plans will be seen in Season two, which begins on December 6. Overwatch 2’s second season will make changes to the reward system, with each event offering a skin that players can earn by playing the game.

Neuss also noted that Blizzard will continue the Twitch drops programs, which sees fans unlocking skins and other in-game items through supporting Twitch streamers.

As for the long-term changes, Blizzard is planning to make a number of changes in season three: with planned alterations to the Battle Pass, more interesting challenges and the introduction of more play-focused progression systems.

In other Overwatch 2 news, Blizzard has admitted that the game’s long queue times are a result of not enough players choosing support heroes.

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