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Overwatch 2 hero lockout issue to be resolved “quickly”, Blizzard says

There's been a widespread Overwatch 2 hero lockout issue in Blizzard's multiplayer FPS game, which appears to be tied to an ongoing Bastion and Torbjörn fix

Overwatch 2 hero lockout issue to be resolved "quickly", Blizzard says: Overwatch 2 headshot of new hero Kiriko

If the recent Overwatch 2 hero lockout is stopping you from playing as almost all heroes in the multiplayer game, you’re not alone. Blizzard is making some changes to both Bastion and Torbjörn after reports of players being able to abuse their abilities and overuse them to devastating effect, and the hero lockout looks like an unintended side effect.

While Blizzard has obviously seen the problems with these two heroes in the FPS game, it appears as though locking out certain levels of play for both has created a much wider issue – many players are suffering from a first-time hero lock, meaning many of the heroes they’ve unlocked through play are currently unplayable.

Reports are emerging across the Overwatch subreddit and in the comments of official Blizzard posts about the issue, and one of our own at PCGamesN has told us that they and their whole group have suffered from the Overwatch 2 hero lockout. This also appears to be happening even if you’ve played the first Overwatch and merged your account too.

As of 7PM PST yesterday Blizzard acknowledged the Overwatch 2 hero lockout issue, saying, “The team is aware of a new issue that prevents players from accessing all their owned heroes. This is caused by an issue with our servers that tracks player progression. We are working to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible.”

It’s unclear exactly how widespread the roster locking issue is, and how many heroes are locked on average, as some report it being the whole unlockable roster, with others saying they’ve lost access to around half of the roster after the Overwatch 2 update.

Emergency maintenance also concluded earlier today, but many report that they still can’t access unlocked characters, with both Bastion and Torbjörn out for maintenance. An Overwatch 2 Bastion exploit was letting players spam his artillery ultimate instead of being locked into the three shot limit, while Torbjörn players have been using his Overload ability twice in row. This is why Bastion is currently unavailable in all game modes, and Torbjörn is only available in Quick Play.

There’s currently no update on when the Overwatch 2 hero lockout issue will be fixed, but Blizzard has made it clear that it is working on the problem and should have it resolved very soon. You can find out more on the official Blizzard forums, where any changes and updates should be laid out.

Despite the ongoing issues, if you need some help in Overwatch 2 we’ve got you covered. There’s a full list of all Overwatch 2 heroes we know so far, a complete Overwatch 2 tier list, and even a look into how the Overwatch 2 roles queue works.