Overwatch 2 Player Calculates '5 Year' F2P Grind To Unlock New Hero's Cosmetics

I don't know which is worse. Losing everything you grinded for in Overwatch...or playing Overwatch 2 knowing what you are letting yourself in for...

@GrailUK progress carries over so you don’t lose everything

I'm not sure why skins are important in a first person game where you can't even see them except at the lobby/end of game.

It seems to play exactly the same without them for me.

@xVAKAR1ANx Oh, then I am relieved for everyone lol

What did we expect? This is the same company that made Diablo mobile pay to win for $100,000+.

@SteamEngenius I’ve wondered this myself.

It might not be the same for everyone else, but the same reason why I will brush myself up in the morning is because I like how I present myself, knowing I look like this, and this look is good, so yes, skins matter to me if they look good, I like looking cool, I like looking a specific way. While yes this will not change gameplay in the slightest, It adds to my experience.

It also added another thing to work towards and unlock, so the fact that it’s so unrealistic of a goal to reach, it’s like it’s not even there.

Like I said, skins don’t matter to some people, a lot of people, so if you don’t care about skins, really, more power to you, but the fact that the progress to unlock said skins, feels like a mobile game and less then a ftp, on top of the 20 team kill challenge that’s an unrealistic goal. So it really sucks that the only way I will be getting skins now, is paying for it, or spending money on a bp that doesn’t even give me coins back.

Loot boxes was way more fun

The price of free-to-play

This isn't the price of free to play games, they don't have hundreds of hours worth of normal grinding just for cosmetics or hundreds of dollars worth of dlc.
Stuff like this is what gives most free to play games a bad rep, most of them are perfectly playable without spending a dime.

@TommyTendo We never know how good we have it till it’s gone.

This is a difficult situation as I don’t totally hate the free-to-play model. However, if it is only cosmetic extras that are paid extras then I am OK with it. I don’t think a game should be pay-to-win.
I think as we move away from sequels to a more constant improvement via DLC and upgrades type models there needs to be continued investment. Maybe a $2 a week subscription model for all players would be better

I imagine they'll loosen up the grind a bit before too long, stuff like this usually does get adjusted sooner rather than later, but still really goes to show how predatory the game's designed to be.

Feels pretty playing with fire though. With how much the player base dropped off for the first game, doing a sequel that doesn't really add anything new and making it aggressively monetized and grindy doesn't seem like a recipe for retaining a player base longterm which is crucial for a free to play game to be a success.

@Dr_Luigi Well said. Overwatch is meant to be the kind of game that people play for years. I’m glad they’ve found a way to monetise it that doesn’t affect gameplay in the slightest, and only means some people will have to wait a bit to get another new hat. Who needs all the cosmetics anyway? Also, genuine question, can you even wear all the cosmetics at the same time?

Yep, this is why I hate F2P. Wake up, brush your teeth, pack your lunch for the day and then get to work grinding so you can earn those 60 coins. It's like a job! Oh wait, you already have one of those? Oh ok, then just fork over some of that cash and you can skip the work these chumps are putting in.

People don't realize that unless they're ENTIRELY F2P then they wind up paying more in the long run than they would have if they had just bought the game for a single price at release...and if you don't then you have to be extremely picky about where you spend that hard earned free currency and wind up missing out on a bulk of the cosmetic content anyways. It's always a compromise with F2P.

@Dr_Luigi
Poor Activision/Blizzard needs all the money they can get. They're a start-up indie company you see. They can barely feed their employees. They NEED to monetize like this because if they aren't making a billion dollars per year then..well...how can they afford to keep the lights on!?

People still buy skins for first person games?
To each their own I guess.
I prefer the original look of a character.

@ATaco whaaat? Why are yoU complaining! Just spend 20 bucks on one of are re colors….what do you mean? Your made of money, you can afford it. Oh and buy this totally not simple junkerqueen skins for 20 dollars, and buy the battle pass!

I don't see why anyone would want to unlock all the skins. I never liked free to play games as a payment model, but this doesn't seem like the worst case I've seen.

@prismt It’s sucks because I’m sure there are people on the team who truly care, but the big money hungry business men just screw that up. The gameplay is still enjoyable, but so many things drag it down.

Skins are dumb anyway.

I mean won't Splatoon 3 take four to five years of grinding to complete the wardrobe due to updates? Getting all the Splatoon amiibo for the game will cost over $200+ as well.

It’s pretty depressing to see games heading in this direction. I’ll naturally never be playing this game, but there are too many who will to stop this sort of business practice from being profitable.

Meh. Junker Queen and Sojourn are better anyway.

And? So what, they're cosmetics, it's not content or abilities.

I think there's definitely a balance to be struck in f2p games. Overwatch sadly doesn't hit the mark.

Man, I have Lucio's Jazzy skin from Overwatch 1 - I have not played in a while. Does that mean it is gone forever. Ever?

I would argue that all ot does is ensures playthrough goals for whole five years, except the recent trends in freemium life expectancy may dampen the confidence indeed.😅

@SteamEngenius @Tendogamerxxx The same reason social media is a big thing especially with the current generation: because, save for a few possible exceptions, it responds to the call, "Look at me."

I do feel sorry for game companies. They just can't win at the moment. If they charge full price for a new game, people go crazy even though everything else in the world has gone up way more than video games in the last few decades. If they're free to play, people moan that they have to pay money for cosmetics.

They're literally giving you a game that if your not superficial is totally free.

But people are still like "man, this is what I hate about free 2 play, they still try and earn a living"

I am not too interested in the game, but having to pay or grind for cosmetics really wouldn't be an issue for me.
I simply don't buy them and don't specifically grind either. I don't even know why I should...

I mean, let's pretend the game didn't have those cosmetics: Would the game then be bad?
If yes, then why are you playing a bad game?
If no, then why do you need them, if it's fun even without them?

I like skins in a way too, but I don't understand how they could ever be so important.

If I recall correctly, EA's battlefront 2 had pay to win mechanics that were quickly condemned. I think that this stuff is always the start. It's a spectrum. First cosmetics, characters, then eventually pay to win. They're probably looking for a happy medium in the end for their shareholders. Players, meet the pot of warm water.....

@Big_Fudge
Don't fall for the "everything got more expensive" excuse.
The gaming market also grows and production costs are lower then in the past, especially now with digital games.
They are making record profits, even if they don't raise prices.

Also most pc games aren't even more expensive compared to what was normal 10 years ago.
Also a lot of smaller companies, with very little decelopment costs compared to the big ones, produce some awesome games, proving that spending this much money for games is unnecessary.

I more or less agree with you on the f2p front (depends on the individual game), but don't let them fool you into thinking they need to raise prices, when they clearly don't.

It’s a costume… you can unlock her for free. Why’s this an issue when Warframe has done the same thing for years?

Well, at least it IS free to play and not €80 ...unlike every single modern annual sports game ever that is barely about sports and more like a gambling addict's fever dream with a required €80 entry ticket.

Now i'm not into the whole genre or F2P-games in general, but how many different skins does a player need, anyway? (Let alone for a single character)

It’s very much in line with something like the cosmetics in Valorant. It’s how these games make their money, I don’t know what you expect. The majority of players will enjoy the game PERFECTLY FINE completely free of charge. A select number of hardcore fans will spend 100’s and sometimes 1000’s of dollars on skins and cosmetics. They need to keep the lights on somehow.

Somehow the Loot Boxes seem better, that's quite a feat Blizzard.

The reason these prices exist, are because there are people willing to pay out for them. Don't blame the company; they can set whatever price they like. But they will REPEAT the behavior, if people buy.

@GrailUK live service games are never going to last forever so all those cosmetics & what not you unlock in these games will become worthless when the game retires , look at call of duty you never get to keep any of your unlockables in that with every new release

It's ridiculous this is called Overwatch 2. It's not a sequel but just an update to the original game to milk more money from players. Such a scam!

It's silly to get upset about this.

The game is free to play, and the rewards are cosmetic things that really don't matter. Yeah, it's fun to have your character stand out with cool costumes, but how many of those do you really need anyway? Just don't buy it, play normally and look at the unlockable aesthetic stuff as fun bonuses rather than anything you need to really worry about.

i wouldnt be suprised if they changed it very soon, i miss overwatch 1s skin system, every skin could be bought with in game currency that you got from loot boxes, I could of probably bought every legendary skin in the game but now they're all locked and a bunch can only be bought with real money.....sucks

Makes it look like a short time that I only took, I think, 11 months to unlock all of Pokemon Picross from Free to Play grinding.

So will the progress carry over to the inevitable overwatch 3 they’ll have to make once this game breaks too?

@a_brave_new_geek

Everything carries over, I'm still rocking Jazzy to this day.

Why are people moaning about this? You get the full functionality of a game for free. If you want your imaginary character to wear a fancy bowler hat, you pay for it. Your social life and relationship chances don’t depend on imaginary pink crocs for your character, nor does it affect your chances of winning. People are so entitled nowadays, this really can’t be compared to the horror of pay2win.

I don’t care about skins but I usually buy a couple of things in game to support the company that provided hours of free entertainment.

@GrailUK it was said that everything will carry over at reveal in November 1st, 2019, so you a bit misunderstood the article due not knowing that old information.

@SViper I'm only human

@GrailUK yeah, we are. xD

This is why Splatoon 3 is not F2P. This is why Splatoon going F2P is a bad idea. All F2P roads lead to locking the best content behind impossible grinds and expensive paywalls.

@SteamEngenius Content matters in a game. Studies have shown that there is a real psychology employed upon players who feel like they are forced to wear basic or mundane armor/avatar skins. It begins to blur lines between their self-identity and their digital avatar; the psychological pressures to buy into the paywalls and battle passes begins to manipulate a person's sense of self, with enough time spent in the game.

Compare it to Apex Legends and the unlock system here is brutal. Given that OW players were used to the premium model already then this one is hard to stomach.

Suddenly paying $60 for a proper game feels much more of an attractive option.

There are frightening 1960s dystopian scifi stories about people wasting their survival rations, trading them for costumes for their dolls.

@BLD Ah cool! Thanks man. Love playing as Lucio.