Blizzard Has Temporarily Removed Two Heroes From Overwatch 2

Enjoying the new heroes, but only playing because they retracted their phone number requirement.

I'm not sure I'm sold on the new Bastion just yet, but I'm sure I'll come around. Same as I felt with Symmetra ages ago.

I'm not really a fan of some of the new characters they have for Overwatch 2. Feels once again like a company wants to show off how political correct they are. And before anyone gets mad at me, we are talking about Activision here, one of the most disgusting software developers out there. Do you really think they suddenly care about women and minorities? No, they just want to distract us from the truth. Which is the reason a lot of their modern games such as Crash Bandicoot and Overwatch have this “progressive” characters.

@RareFan no I think overwatch has always been about heroes from all over the world

@OnlyItsMeReid
Yes, but let's be honest here. If you create in our current times a tall, muscular, lesbian woman of colour with a half-shaved head, you most likely just do this out of political reason. This is something that bothers me so much. Tracer was already a pretty cool female character. But been feminine is not considered progressive in our modern times, so they have to turn almost every female now into a more masculine character.

@RareFan Sounds like you're making assumptions and looking for a reason to take issue with something that ultimately doesn't matter. If you don't like the character, use a different one.

Blizzard is the WORST now. 10 years ago they were great. Now they are absolute garbage and don't even know how to put out their own game. Yikes! This is up there with the worst debacles in gaming ever, up there with Cyberpunk.

@RareFan regardless of the real reason, progressive characters are good just for representation’s sake. BUT it definitely comes off as pandering. I understand what you’re getting at.

@ComposedbyNone
Trust me, I'm open for female characters, black characters, or gay characters in video games, as long as the creators and the company create them honestly. One of my favourite franchises is Shantae, and and this game has a woman of colour as the in protagonist.

@RareFan What about Kimiko, she seems traditionally feminine?

This game has been a mess.

@NinjaWaddleDee
If you mean "Kiriko", then yes, she is okay. She feels a bit more honest compare to Junker Queen.

not sure if OW2 or some of these comments are more embarrassing

@RareFan What does creating characters "honestly" mean in this case? You're talking about a game filled with self-aware robots, an anthropomorphic gorilla, men the size of a car, jetting around maps with superpowers or cyborg abilities. There are many heroes in the game with feminine features, if you have no issue with diversity, then there shouldn't be an issue here as what you are asking for already exists otherwise.

@RareFan Okay you lost me

@RavenDuroi
Once again. It is the politics that bothers me. Most companies just create characters such as Junker Queen or the new version of Tawna from Crash 4 so that they not come off as sexist or racist or homophobic.

Guys, it is not hard to understand my point: Diversity is okay, if it is done honestly. If it is pandering, it is not okay.

These Overwatch comment sections are always toxic and off topic. I’m checking out in the future.

On topic, never noticed any issues with Bastion and Torb with my games, but it’s good to see that they’re at least actively fixing bugs.

Does the Game still run good on Switch?
Haven't played for nearly a Year

“Mass ddos attack” yeah uh I’m gonna pass on this game.
(Why couldn’t they just IP ban cheaters or something?)

Man the old Blizzard wouldn't have released such a broken and buggy game on launch. Activision ownership really screwed them up.

@RareFan tbh the distinction between “honest” and “pandering” exists in your mind and is based on nothing. Designers couldn’t possibly decide to make a diverse set of characters based on their sincere beliefs (either in diversity, or in having distinct and interesting characters with different body types) - nope, must be a fear of getting canceled.

@shining_nexus There’s some hilarious clips online…basically people found out a way to fire unlimited shots with Bastion’s ultimate (instead of the 3 it’s supposed to have). Not sure what’s up with Torb though.

@RareFan Is junker queen lesbian? I didn’t know this. I agree with crash 4, she looked so much more badass in her concept art, the design they went with feels like there trying to hard.

My main noooooooo!

@turntSNACO that’s funny. It reminds me of the Splatoon 3 unlimited specials bug from earlier.

@Azuris it runs good at 30 fps. A small latency, but I got used to it after a while. I play mostly on my Switch, but in competitive mode I jump on my PS5.

Usual b1tching in the comments mostly off topic. The Bastion glitch this relates to is actually hilarious, he can use his ult bombs about 20 times instead of the intended 3 so you can basically cover the map in massive red targets with bombs dropping all over the place like it's WW3.

@shining_nexus check youtube for the OW2 Bastion glitch, you won't be disappointed

Trying to play now but have to give these creeps my phone number? It won't work without it. Top comments suggests that was removed.

@turntSNACO
The cancel culture exists. And many companies listen to a handful of people that complain about something in a game. Look at Multiversus. They needed to change Velma's special move, because people looked too much into it.

Hope they fix the server issues soon.

@RareFan But who are you to decide if something is honest or pandering? Seems to me like it is moreso you that is making this political then the game devs.

I'm not enjoying the game and I'm really really fired up that my progress from the first game hasn't transitioned over yet. The system is clunky. I just want to play! I don't want to unlock characters that I've been using for years!!!!

@RareFan Cancel culture exists, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only conceivable reason to put a muscular woman in your game. So many people like Junker Queen’s design. Not because she represents their woke agenda or whatever - they just think she’s cool. Maybe designers at blizzard also thought it was a cool design and weren’t motivated solely by fear of a negative Kotaku article and a bad day on Twitter.

One thing I want to point out: look around this comment section. You’re the only one who seems offended by character choices. Nobody complaining about sexualized teenagers in skin-tight bodysuits or racial tropes. Your comments are the closest thing to outrage culture here.

@ATaco Yes, it is incredibly sad. The Blizzard from the 90's is so far removed from the Blizzard of today that it is difficult to even think of them as being the same company.

I always thought that the character designs in the Overwatch games all look hideous

@turntSNACO I'm not going to presume to speak for anyone else here, but one of the reasons someone might look at the new characters as more egregiously "woke" than any previous ones is because of recent events with Blizzard, which I'm sure you're probably familiar with if you've paid any attention to the news. We're talking about a company that has a big image problem, specifically with its treatment of vulnerable populations, making a new set of characters that seem less about being earnest and more about saying "we're sorry about the Cosby Rooms".

Hell, remember the China thing? You might not, because they announced Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 well before they should've to smooth things out.

Right now, Blizzard is in a very precarious spot, and even I feel dirty even playing OW2, so you can't really blame folks for being cynical.

@Malakhim24 Yes, Blizzard has effed up and continues to. Yes, they want their public image to improve. But I really just don’t see how these characters are political. “Sorry for harassing women - here’s a giant Australian lady with an axe?” These things just don’t connect for me.

But even if management did push these characters because of bad press, does that necessarily mean I should dislike them? They’re not out of place in this game, and they’re not written or conceived worse than just about anyone else. Why take objection to a muscular lady in a game with a playable hamster?

Is the concern that Blizzard is getting away with something because of these new heroes? I just don’t buy that if so. People aren’t fooled into thinking the company is totally different now because they added a couple more women of color and a self-proclaimed queen. Ultimately the company succeeds or fails based on whether enough people are excited to play the game.

@RareFan Your right. The same company that hid cameras in bathrooms or had the infamous Cosby room. However, I don't see them forcing progressivism down my throat (yet) and love the new heroes.

@Derringer
Everyone does this now. And people can see, that the companies just want to pander.

@turntSNACO The whole argument that it's pandering assumes the character designers and artists are equivalent with the management and executive types, who were largely the abusive and public image-minded ones. Do those people get final say in designs, etc? Sure, maybe, but that doesn't mean it was their idea.

@Malakhim24 I'm gonna speak for others and just say that the "anti-woke" crowd has had years of being riled up about making something out of nothing, and now they find targets for their angst.

If it could be proven, beyond a doubt, to the passive observer that the characters aren't politically-driven, the anti-woke would not change their stance — just their rationale.

@ChickenJoe Well said. We tend to say things like “Blizzard wants x”, but of course Blizzard is made up of a bunch of different interests at different levels within the organization.