Overwatch 2, we discover the new Battle Pass and the new heroine: Kiriko

Overwatch 2, we discover the new Battle Pass and the new heroine

A few weeks after the launch of Overwatch 2, which will take on the increasingly popular free live service model, Blizzard has unveiled the dynamics of the Battle Pass in the first season, as well as a new heroine, Kiriko, who will join the multi-ethnic cast of the game.

If you've been looking forward to the much-needed PvE, or hoped for a less aggressive system than the first Overwatch Chests, you might be disappointed. Let's find out the Overwatch 2 Battle Pass and the new heroine Kiriko in detail.

The Battle Pass

Overwatch 2, update calendar Let's cut the bull's head. Million dollar question: "What does PvE have to do with all this? When will we play the campaign? Will we be able to access all PvE content even without unlocking the characters involved?", We asked Aaron Keller directly and he replied: "Great questions, for which we don't have answers yet." In short, try again and you will be luckier, but not before 2023, because the highly anticipated PvE campaign is still on the high seas and will only start talking about it again next year.

Open and closed the PvE parenthesis, we come to the Battle Pass. As you may know, Overwatch 2 will be free-to-play and everyone will be able to download and play it without spending a cent. Those who already own Overwatch, or have bought the Observatory Package, will enjoy some benefits at the beginning of the season, but then we will all be in the same boat, or almost, because the Battle Pass also includes a Premium model. The idea is to distance yourself from the Chests system with the random rewards of the first Overwatch, which was very simple but also punishing, in some ways. Are we sure that the new Battle Pass is more advantageous?

We assume that Overwatch 2 will follow a seasonal pattern where each season will last nine weeks and will feature a theme, usually tied to a new hero or map that will be added at the start of that season. The first season, in this sense, is an anomaly, because it introduces three new characters: Sojourn and Queen of the Junker will be available immediately for all players, while Kiriko will be available only if you own Overwatch 1 or have bought the Premium Battle Pass. , otherwise you will have to unlock it by reaching a specific level of the Ordinary Battle Pass.

The second season of Overwatch 2 will add another character to the cast, but from the third onwards Blizzard will expand the roster every other season. In addition, new characters will not be able to be used immediately in Competitive mode, but only after a few weeks from the start of the season, so that more players can unlock them and learn how to use them, and Blizzard can monitor their introduction to resolve any balance problems. last minute. Remember that the Competitive is a serious matter!

Overwatch 2, Kiriko is a reward of the free Battle Pass At the beginning of the season, each player will have access to a free Battle Pass that has more than fifty levels, which correspond to aesthetic rewards such as poses, sprays, titles , the new weapon charms and so on. Players earn Experience Points or XP to level up simply by playing matches and completing weekly challenges which reward them with bonus XP. Challenges, however, cannot be completed in Custom Match or Training modes, but only by facing real opponents. To understand better, these are the rewards of the free Battle Pass in the first season: the new support heroine Kiriko at level 55, 2 legendary models, 2 charms, 2 souvenirs, 1 highlight and 15 aesthetic collectibles (titles, emotes, audio and so on via).

If that's not enough, you can always purchase the Premium version of the Battle Pass in the new game shop. The latter will offer different thematic packages every week, also offering you personalized content based on your preferences, in the sense of heroes played, roles chosen more often, and so on. The Premium Battle Pass, purchased at any time of the season, takes into account all levels already reached, plus adds the following content up to level 80: the new heroine Kiriko without reaching level 55, 15% more XP earned , 1 mythic model, 5 legendary models, 2 epic models, 3 highlights, 4 charms, 3 emotes, 3 souvenirs and 6 poses.

Overwatch 2, the Premium Battle Pass Not bad, right? The catch is that the Premium Battle Pass will cost 10 Euros in the Overwatch 2 virtual store, which corresponds to 1,000 Overwatch Coins, a new currency that will be earned by completing three weekly challenges, for a total of 60 Coins per week. This means that by completing these challenges every week throughout the season, you will eventually set aside 540 Coins, just over half of what is needed to purchase the next Premium Battle Pass. And this is where the donkey begins to fall.

Battle Passes are designed to earn the developer through microtransactions, but in the vast majority of cases they reward the most assiduous players so that they don't necessarily have to put hand to wallet. Blizzard's solution, on the other hand, would seem to force a little too much on the need to complete all the objectives, investing an amount of time that, by Overwatch standards, appears to be mammoth right now.

Overwatch 2, the weekly challenges It is clear that the great protagonists of the Battle Pass are the heroes and, as we have anticipated, from season 3 onwards they will be introduced in alternating seasons. Each year is expected to span six seasons, which means Blizzard will introduce three heroes a year. If you really don't want to spend a penny, you will have to complete all the weekly challenges for two seasons, and in doing so you should accumulate the necessary credit to purchase the Premium Battle Pass which includes the new hero.

In the unfortunate hypothesis you are unable to unlock a character during the season in which it is introduced, know that you will then have to buy it from the virtual store starting from the following season, presumably by spending the Overwatch Coins, that is the same currency needed to buy also the Premium Battle Pass, or unlock it by completing the weekly challenges.

Recap

Overwatch 2, summary of the launch So far the accounts add up, but the problem remains the time to devote to the game for climb the levels of the free Battle Pass and unlock the various contents. Even by drawing on the XP rewards of the weekly challenges, the most important rewards, such as Kiriko in season 1, are given at the highest levels of the Battle Pass and this means that you will have to play a lot, really a lot, to unlock these contents. It should come as no surprise to anyone that some fans of the game might decide not to wait and buy the Premium Battle Pass directly.

As we said, it is a controversial situation that is experiencing a not exactly warm welcome from the community, perhaps also because all the time it has had to wait for the release of an incomplete Overwatch 2 compared to initial intentions - that is, no PvE campaign - caused a general condition of fatigue. In any case, it must always be taken into account that, if you love the game and play it regularly, spending around 30 Euros per year to unlock many extras and support the company that produces it, is not such a scandalous expense.

Overwatch 2, the mythical model of Genji We must therefore hope that Blizzard enhances the Battle Passes with contents that live up to the expectations of the players and the commitment - economic or in terms of time - required of them. For the moment, the rewards offered in the Battle Pass appear to be very curated. The legendary models - which in any case will also appear in the shop, released from the Battle Passes and can be purchased with virtual or real currency - seem rich in details and much more detailed than in the past, also because the restyle of Overwatch 2 has also affected the complexity of the models 3D.

We particularly liked the idea of ​​the mythical model. There will be one per season, starting with Genji: the mythical model enjoys unique animations compared to all the others - for example, it changes the animation of the Ultra and the visor opens with a special animation - and can be customized by the player. through a plethora of alternatives. Really sorry to think that many players will have to wait a very long time before getting their hands on the mythical models of their favorite heroes.

Overwatch 2, Kiriko's skills Super intriguing even the new support character, Kiriko, and we don't see wait to learn more about his history and abilities. It seems this new heroine can attack by throwing kunai, heal or immunize teammates with her talismans, climb vertical surfaces like Genji or Hanzo, and teleport through all sorts of obstacles in the direction of a teammate. When she uses her Ultra, Kiriko materializes a row of torii, mystical Japanese ghostly gates, under which the whole group receives a temporary boost as long as she follows the fox as her spirit guide.

Obviously the potential of this heroine is all to be verified on the battlefield, but as far as the balance of Overwatch 2 is concerned, lead designer Aaron Keller and others have assured us a new path is being taken, very more attentive to the age-old problem of the so-called "hard counter": those characters, that is, who possess specific abilities capable of completely neutralizing the characteristics of certain heroes. Keller gave a specific example, explaining why Cassidy's Stun Grenade was changed: In Overwatch 1, Cassidy is practically a must-pick against the best Tracers, because the combination of Stun Grenade and Close-range Peacekeeper take her out in the blink of an eye. an eye.

The idea is to downsize these power ratios, especially now that the matches are played 5 vs 5, so that everyone can choose their favorite characters without feeling obliged to change them to counter some type of training. It might seem like a utopia, but the redesigns of characters like Doomfist - who has become a tank - or Bastion would seem to confirm Blizzard's intentions.

Overwatch 2, here are some unreleased legendary models At this point the only problem it is communication, which in recent months (years?) has been really lacking. We've only discovered now, for example, that special events such as Junkenstein's Revenge will return during the first season of Overwatch 2, with a whole new game mode. Blizzard sacrificed the marketing campaign to focus on the development of the game, and now the risk is that Overwatch 2 will go quietly, without all the hype that accompanied the launch - and updates - of the first title.

Keller assured us that in the weeks leading up to the release we will see an exponential increase in Blizzard's efforts in this regard, also because at this point good communication will be needed to convince both old and new players to try Overwatch 2 despite the controversial Battle Pass: there's an extraordinarily fun multiplayer title worth checking out, and it would be a shame to snub it just for that.

Have you noticed any errors?