enOverwatch 2 Announces Huge Content Drop for August - And Fans Aren’t Happy
You’d think that since Overwatch 2 announced its biggest content drop since the game’s release that fans would be happy. The long awaited PVE story missions will be available from August along with a co-op mode and a brand new support hero. But not is all what it seems. Blizzard have confirmed that the new story modes are not free to play. This comes as unwelcome news to fans who already paid for the base game before being forced to move to Overwatch 2.
What do we know so far? - Overwatch 2 August Updates
On June 11th, Blizzard released a full cinematic and gameplay trailer with all of the new features coming to the game. The update will officially drop on August 10th. While the focus will certainly be on the story mode, there’s plenty more content to come including a new female hero.
PVE Story mode
The story features huge armies of enemies taking over the city. You’ll need to work together with the heroes we already know and love to put a stop to the destruction. While it’s unclear if every hero will be available in this mode (and indeed, some are conspicuously absent from the trailer altogether), a number of fan favorites will be ready and waiting.
Overwatch 2 Flashpoint game mode
This is a brand new game mode for the core game. As we may expect from Overwatch 2, this will be a PVP mode. Fans of the classics can battle it out over brand new maps to see who can come out on top.
Hero mastery training mode
This isn’t just any training mode. This is hero mastery training mode. The trailer teases unique hero challenges that will allow players to hone their individual skills. While not necessarily designed for beginners, it can certainly improve your gameplay if you’ve hit a rut.
New Overwatch 2 Co-op event
A chance to work together! This event will see players go head to head with new enemies. It’s unclear if players will need to be partied up for this game mode or if solo queuing will be an option. But what is clear is that it seems like a lot of fun!
Updated firing range for target practice
Everyone loves an aim trainer, right? Now Overwatch 2 will have one built right into the game. You’ll be able to practice with every hero on the roster at the updated firing range.
Glimpse of the brand new hero
That’s really all we got, a single frame tease. From what we can see, the new hero appears to be female. She sports mechanical wings and what seems to be a mask over the lower part of her face. But that’s all we’ve got! There’s no indication as to what her skillset will be outside of “support” at the moment. We can only hope that she performs better than the last new Overwatch hero!
https://twitter.com/PlayOverwatch/status/1667950452443607047
So why aren’t fans happy with the Overwatch 2 updates?
All good things must come to an end. This is where things start getting a little sticky. While the new Overwatch 2 updates do seem extensive, fans are less than pleased to learn they’ll need to pay for the PVE story mode missions. They’re not exactly cheap either. While there are no AAA prices in sight, fans still need to pay $15-40 extra for these modes.
While this may be fine for new fans who only came to the game after the base game was made free, it affects older fans much more. Overwatch used to be priced highly. When older fans were forced to move to OW2, they didn’t exactly receive their money back. Now, they’re being asked to pay even more to unlock game content, which isn’t exactly fair. Blizzard will need to tread carefully in the future to ensure it doesn’t lose a loyal fan base.
