5 things to know from Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 Reddit AMA

Reddit saw developers at Blizzard Entertainment answer community questions on Wednesday. Overwatch 2, the free-to-play semi-sequel to the hero shooter that’s launching this October. Overwatch 2 developers, including game director Aaron Keller, answered some burning questions about Blizzard’s next game — like what’s going to happen to your existing credits and unopened loot boxes in Overwatch — but left some questions unanswered.

These are the five essential things you need to know Overwatch 2, especially if you’re an existing Overwatch player.

What happens to the existing? OverwatchWhat about currency and loot?

In short, all of your unspent money will transfer to Overwatch 2You can now open all of your boxes in October. What’s unclear is what you’ll be able to spend the old Overwatch currency on, should you already have all of the original game’s cosmetic items unlocked.

“We’ll share a more detailed explanation on all of these topics before Overwatch 2 goes live in October,” Jon Spector, commercial leader and vice president for Overwatch, said on Reddit. “To give you a quick answer now though, those existing currencies (credits, OWL tokens, and competitive points) will come with you into Overwatch 2. Loot boxes aren’t being converted into a new system. Overwatch 2, and ahead of launch, any unopened loot boxes will be automatically opened with your account receiving all the contents directly.”

Spector later clarified that “OW1Credits come along with you OW2However, our virtual currency will become the primary currency and you will also find things in it. OW2They will not be able to purchase this with the others. OW1 credits.”

What have the Overwatch teams done for the past three year?

If Overwatch 2 launches in “early access” in October, players will get access to three new heroes (Sojourn, Junker Queen, and an unannounced support character), a variety of hero reworks, six new maps, a new game mode called Push, a bunch of new cosmetics, and the game’s first battle pass. This launch content is a big hit with diehards. Overwatch players to ask, “That’s it?” After all, it’s been nearly three years since Blizzard announced Overwatch 2 and more than two years since the game’s latest hero, Echo, was added to the roster.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Here’s what game director Aaron Keller had to say when asked about the unexpectedly light number of new heroes on day one:

“For context, development of Overwatch 2 was initially split between the PvE and PvP sides of the game, and the way it was scheduled was to get most parts of the game completed once the game was ready to ship,” Keller said. “To be clear, there is no secret vault of completed heroes and other content that we’re holding for future seasons. The schedule for the development of PvE content and features grew longer as we worked on it. PvE features such as enemy units and hero talents use the same team resources as heroes. For us it’s more important to start shipping content as soon as we can rather than holding the release of the game in order to create more heroes. This is also the reason we’re so excited to go F2P and release content on a seasonal basis – namely to release content when it’s finished rather than holding it to put into a box.

“In order to succeed with our new plan long-term, we’ve grown and restructured the team. We’re over three times the size we were at launch. Beyond new characters, game modes and maps, we have huge plans. It takes time and planning to achieve these goals while creating season content. For instance, we have several heroes deep into development. The season 2 hero is almost finished, and we’re in varied stages of playtesting for the next 3 heroes, 2 of which are supports!”

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

OK, then what’s going on with Overwatch 2Are there PvE operations?

However OverwatchThe original game was a multiplayer only affair. This sequel brings with it single-player, cooperative, story-driven and mission-based content. Blizzard’s plan is to launch the PvE side of Overwatch 2 sometime in 2023, and the developer didn’t share much about the other half of the game during its Reddit AMA.

Keller however noted that Overwatch 2 will launch in “early access” to “indicate that this is just the start of many new things coming to the game,” and that the PvE campaign will be released as part of Blizzard’s live service approach.

“We’re not ready to talk about our PvE plans just yet, but it’s really important for us to make sure that people understand the lore and stakes going in,” said Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie, lead narrative designer and writer on Overwatch 2. “We’re working on new bios, and have other extremely cool plans that will surprise even long-term fans of the lore.”

Gavin Winter, systems designer for Overwatch 2The game’s PvE campaign tech component could allow for replacement of Assault-style maps by using some technology. Overwatch 2They will disappear in the sequel. (In case you haven’t been keeping up, maps like Hanamura, Temple of Anubis, and other “2CP” maps won’t be playable in core game modes in Overwatch 2Blizzard has cited player dissatisfaction with Assault map.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard is looking into guilds for Overwatch 2

As-is Overwatch isn’t a social game. However, this could be changing.

“We are looking to add more social systems to Overwatch 2, and a guild system is near the top of the list for us,” Keller said. “A feature like this is a great opportunity and something we’re really excited about, but it’s a huge lift, not just for large sections of our team but several other departments at Blizzard. We have put significant work towards this feature, but it’s too early to talk about specifics or when it might come out.”

Keller added that the Overwatch team is “starting to dig into” in-game tournaments for the sequel.

More existing heroes are changing, existing Assault maps aren’t

Overwatch heroes Symmetra and Brigitte, will see significant changes throughout the year Overwatch 2’s upcoming beta and when the game goes live. Moira will get unspecified “additional utility” during the beta. Symmetra’s don’t-call-it-a-rework will “improve her mobility and enable her to better react to the faster pace of 5v5 [team compositions],” senior hero designer Josh Noh said. Symmetra users should anticipate a quicker teleporter construction time and secondary fire projectile speeds. Brigitte will receive an unspecified modification to her Ultimate. Overwatch 2 launches.

Blizzard clarified, however that the Assault Map Hanamura was not being made into a Payload mapping. Overwatch 2Last week, they were a success. “Converting [Assault] maps to payload would be a huge effort and it’s not one we’ve undertaken,” Winter said.