You can get an Overwatch 2 free legendary skin in October as part of a Blizzard compensation package being sent out to players of the multiplayer game following its troubled launch. In its first week, the beleaguered game has suffered from DDoS attacks, repeated OW2 server downtime, characters having to be temporarily removed after a ridiculous Overwatch 2 exploit, and repeated instances of an OW2 hero lockout bug preventing players from accessing a majority of the game’s roster.
“Since the launch of Overwatch 2, we’ve been blown away by your excitement, and incredibly moved by the sheer number of you experiencing our game,” Blizzard remarks in a post addressing its next steps for the FPS game. “But we know we have run into some significant issues as well.” It acknowledges the various challenges, “both anticipated and unexpected,” but says that it is happy that the team has “largely stabilised the game overall and made a lot of progression fixing or improving issues some of you are facing.”
As thanks for players who have stuck with the game through its many issues, Blizzard is reaching out with an olive branch. The first of these is a pair of freebies for all players who log in from October 25 through to the end of season one, which is currently scheduled for December 5. Logging in at any point during that time window will net you “an all-new Cursed Captain Reaper legendary skin and a Health Pack weapon charm.”
In addition, Blizzard says it is “planning to run several double match XP weekends” to “help make up for any lost time” as a result of server outages. The exact dates for these haven’t been confirmed yet, though Blizzard says it will announce them shortly. In addition, Blizzard has now assigned an official “Overwatch 2 known issues” forum post that it says will be kept up-to-date with all the latest news and information.
One of the most common complaints among returning fans is a lack of polish to the Overwatch 2 visual design. While it’s certainly a gorgeous game, many players are missing the previous game’s little touches, such as end-of-round player cards and the ‘on fire’ mechanic to highlight a match’s top performers. However, as more people play the game, consensus seems to be building that the overall gameplay is a lot of fun – so hopefully those other issues can be ironed out as development on the live service game continues.
We’ve gone over all the Overwatch 2 changes to get you up to speed on the new game, as well as the best Overwatch 2 PC settings to maximise your performance. Be sure to check out our Overwatch 2 tier list for the hottest picks, and our detailed breakdown of all Overwatch 2 characters and abilities to learn how to play everyone. Game director Aaron Keller has also teased the new Overwatch 2 season 2 hero, who he cryptically says is “someone players have seen before.”
