Overwatch 2’s Wrath of the Bride excites me for the game’s future, but monetisation issues remain rampant
[ad_1]
When surveillance 2 was announced, Blizzard did a great song and dance about a key difference that would set the title apart from the first game: PvE. The developer placed a lot of importance on the story missions that would be coming to the game in a sequel of sorts, and rightfully so! For the first time ever, you could take on the Null Sector in the lush and vibrant world of Overwatch. The game’s brilliant and complicated story would no longer be hidden away in animated shorts, comics, or weird ARGs.
But, at launch, all of that was missing. Blizzard has let us know that Overwatch 2’s PvE content will be released gradually throughout 2023. Players will be dripping it as part of the game’s seasonal model, with new items appearing regularly to give us a sense of this growth and change. . world that heroes call home. If you’re interested in seeing what all the unique hero talents are about, or how the progression system will work, or what all these supposedly replayable missions have in store, you’ll have to wait.
Or is it you? Well, maybe not. The Halloween Terror event (which began on October 25 and runs until November 8) has brought a new co-op mode for a limited time: Wrath of the Bride. This excellent sequel to Junkenstein’s Revenge, a long-running Halloween tradition from the first Overwatch, is a precursor to the much-promised and now-delayed PvE content in Overwatch 2.
The mode is fun. Big fun. It makes the events of Archives or the original Junkenstein’s Revenge seem downright amateurish by comparison. Wrath of the Bride feels more like it’s designed to support Overwatch and its mechanics, which isn’t just a cheap addon that you can play once a year for about two weeks, just because Blizzard wants to give you something a little extra to get you started. Sign in and increase the numbers.
It is designed to better familiarize you with the newest members of the Overwatch roster. Launch Wrath of the Bride and you’ll be able to select Junker Queen, Ashe, Sojourn, or Kiriko, and then you’ll be thrust into a reimagined version of Eichenwalde with a Halloween theme. Separated from your team, you’re forced to fight your way through a horde of Zomnics (that’s Zombie Omnics, naturally) before teaming up with your friends for a white-knuckle finish. It’s actually quite scary. It’s something that flies through the seat of your pants. It has some intriguing shots of the heroes as mini-bosses. And it’s a proof of concept for Overwatch’s new era of co-op content, and in its setup I daresay it’s even reminiscent of some of Bungie’s best Destiny 2 experiments.
It’s a damn shame about… everything else. If you’ve been on this site lately, you know how we feel about Overwatch 2’s monetization, the lack of loot boxes, and how it’s dealing with the battle pass. None of that is good. In some cases, it’s actively bad, and Blizzard should be ashamed. The Halloween Terror event undoes all the goodwill generated by the sublime Wrath of the Bride mode by continuing the game’s monetization techniques: you don’t earn any skins by playing the mode. Sure, you can pick up a dog tag, some weapon charms, sprays, voice lines, and XP boosts, but you don’t get any Overwatch currency. And the progress you make in the battle pass by playing is negligible, at best.
The amazing Kiriko and Junker Queen skins are expensive. Showing them up in the mode, only to be directed to the shop and asked to drop 2,600 or 1,900 coins respectively is a slap in the face. That’s about $30 or $20 for the skins, in real money, by the way. Or, if you don’t want to pay… well, you’re screwed. Even if you’ve completed all the challenges to date and haven’t purchased any other items in Overwatch 2 to date, you won’t have enough money to unlock any of the outfits. And much less both.
For every positive thing I enjoy about Overwatch 2, Blizzard seems to find a way to irritate me, and apparently the entire player base, in response. You can’t just ignore monetization either; it is everywhere. On more or less every screen in the game, there’s a funnel trying to get you to the store, harassing you until you enter your card details and spend $10 for every scant 100 coins you buy.
Even at the seasonal event, a place that used to be a celebration of all things Overwatch, where the community would gather and spend hours on new content, Blizzard managed to disappoint fans. I just hope all the money the whales that supposedly feed this game have dropped on the Executioner Junker Queen indie skin is worth it, Blizzard.
And I hope you compose yourself by the time the proper story missions come out.
Want to read more about Overwatch 2? Maybe you’re interested in knowing what all the heroes’ quirks are, or maybe you’re more concerned about activating one of the best PvE features in PvP.
[ad_2]
