Overwatch 2 unveils Season 1 & 2 roadmap and new hero Kiriko
The Overwatch 2 team outlines its plans for the future while also revealing the game's next playable character.
There's less than a month to go before Overwatch 2 arrives. Whether it arrives in early access or not depends on who you ask or seemingly what day it is, but regardless of the answer, Blizzard has a full Battle Pass ready to roll out for the game's opening season. Early Thursday morning, the publisher outlined what to expect from the game's opening weeks, while also unveiling new hero Kiriko.
As revealed on the Overwatch website, Overwatch 2's Season 1 roadmap will feature a variety of major additions, including a new game mode, six new maps, and three new playable heroes. We've met two of those heroes already: Sojourn and Junker Queen. The third was revealed on Thursday morning at this year's Tokyo Game Show. She's Kiriko, who brings teleportation abilities, kunai, and an adorable spirit fox into battle. Let's take a look at her moves in the image below.
Source: Blizzard
There are some big changes coming with Overwatch 2's transition to a free-to-play game. We already know that the original full-priced game is going away forever with the sequel's release. The way unlockables will work is changing, as well. The Season 1 Battle Pass will feature over 80 tiers. Blizzard is pledging that free Battle Pass users will always have a chance to unlock new heroes, though Premium Battle Pass owners will often be able to pick them up sooner. In Kiriko's case, she'll be available immediately to all Premium Battle Pass users and anyone who previously owned Overwatch who has the Founders Pack.
The Battle Passes will also be home to the new Mythic skins. These will go beyond the Legendary rarity in the sense that they will feature interchangeable color schemes and patterns. Mythic skins will mainly be available through the Premium Battle Pass, which will sell for 1,000 Overwatch Coins (roughly $10 USD). Overwatch Coins can be purchased with real money or through the completion of weekly challenges. More information on the Season 1 Battle Pass can be found in the aforementioned link to the Overwatch website.
Source: Blizzard
Blizzard has reiterated that PvE won't be coming until 2023, but has ample plans for PvP until that point. Season 2 is expected to feature a new tank hero, a new map, more than 30 new skins, and another new Mythic skin, all as part of a fresh Battle Pass. Season 2 is expected to begin on December 4 with more details coming at a later date. Once Season 2 deploys, a new hero will arrive every even-numbered season.
Source: Blizzard
Overwatch 2 will release on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on October 4, which will also mark the start of Season 1. There will undoubtedly be many questions about this game prior to its release and beyond and we will endeavor to answer many of them here at Shacknews, so be sure to follow the Overwatch 2 topic page for any updates.
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replyOzzie Mejia posted a new article, Overwatch 2 unveils Season 1 & 2 roadmap and new hero Kiriko
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2 months for a season? Aren't most other games seasons ~3 months?
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Anyone else tired of battlepass grinding? I don’t have time to grind all these stupid passes to unlock hero’s. I’ll probably limit my time playing this game.
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I don't really do many Battlepass games anymore. But are all of the battle passes still time limited? In where if you don't complete a pass you are shut out from that content even if you bought the pass? I thought Halo said with their Battlepasses that after you buy the pass and a new one comes out you can choose to go back and continue earning the rewards on older incomplete passes. But I don't know if that ever happened or if other games adopted that.
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None of the games I've played have done that, but it would definitely make me feel a little better about it.
Really, I think it just kinda sucks seeing so many games add these "play every day!" incentive structures.
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You play the game to level up the battle pass which gets you rewards. If you pay nothing you get rewards but you also see the stuff you get if you spent money. If you buy the BP later in a season then it works retroactively and it unlocks everything you otherwise wouldn't have.
The paid part of the battle pass has more/better items and some also have currency (like Fortnite and apparently OW2) where the BP can end up paying for itself if you play enough.
FOMO is why they're more effective than random loot boxes. Its also easy to justify spending the $10 if you've played a lot in a certain season and you see how much more loot you can retroactively get. Fortnite has made a gazillion dollars doing this and now apparently Warzone makes more money than all of Blizzard combined. That shit is super profitable.
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this is exactly what I was afraid of when they switched to a Free to Play model. I wish they would have stuck with their original release plans, but people kept bitching about those without fully understanding them. This is going to be so much worse :(
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Support god mL7 has been talking about Kiriko on stream, says that she’s the hardest support to get value out of while also being the most fun.
She sounds like a support Genji. At minimum the game needed an AOE cleanse now that there’s almost no shields now and anti-heals are extremely consistent as a result, but they also went ahead and made her a super aggro flex support.
Might replace Ana and Bap as my new main! -
There should be a Kiriko animated short coming at some point as well soon. An in-progress version leaked out last week from one of the studios working on localization.
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Ugh, she appears to be at tier 55 on the battle pass, assuming this image is correct.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/overwatch-2-battle-pass-details-whats-included-how-much-it-costs-and-everything-you-need-to-know/1100-6507528/?ftag=CAD-01-10abi2f-
Yeah, 55 seems super high. She is free for anyone who owns OW1 at least.
My understanding is that Activision is making them use Warzone’s BP as the model since that makes more money than anything Blizzard makes. I will be buying the BPs since Overwatch consistently has the best cosmetics, especially when we compare it to shooters like Apex and especially Warzone or Halo, but its annoying how blatantly it wants people to pay who otherwise wouldn’t.
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Think of her sort of like if Genji was a support.
Her primary fire is a dagger that does additional crit damage if you hit the critbox. Secondary fire is a heal that chases down allies. Her first ability is a projectile that on impact does an AOE cleanse as well as a split second of invulnerability. The cleanse is pretty important IMHO now that Ana nades are pretty much a guarantee with shields almost being deleted from the game, plus Junker Queen's ult also applies anti-heal.
Her mobility is a teleport that can zip her to any ally (according to mL7 the max distance is pretty far). She can also wall climb.
Her ultimate throws down a path which all of your teammates can also use. The path applies speed boost, increased attack speed, and speeds up allied cooldowns.
A bunch of content creators got to play her a few weeks ago. The support god mL7 said that she is the hardest support to get value out of and also the most fun to play because she's so clutch. It sounds like her skill ceiling will be insanely high like Ana's.
I'll still main Ana but I think she might replace Baptiste for my battle support, she sounds insanely fun and good -
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So Oct 4th I can just log in with my previous Overwatch account and be in it? I'll probably try ti out for a while. I enjoyed Overwatch for a bit
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