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Overwatch: The Opinion
So, that’s the gameplay. As you can probably tell if you read all that, and I can only hope you did, is that despite the problems caused by the human element of a team based shooter, Overwatch is a damn fine game. Mechanically.
Where I tend to have problems with it is with the lootbox and experience system. On the surface, I don’t have any strong feelings about either of these. It’s mildly interesting to see how much experience I might put towards my next level from a particularly good match, and even if I lose, I still get a bit. With every level, I get a free lootbox which unlocks four various
cosmetic items at random, scattered across well over a thousand items across player icons, character skins, character voice lines, character poses, Play of the Game intros, and spray tags — and having unlocked eighty or more of these lootboxes so far, you’d think the odds of getting duplicates would be fairly low. After all, there’s well over a thousand individual unlockables.
Not so much. At least, in my case. I’m more surprised when I get a lootbox and there isn’t a duplicate. There’s usually one in every box, which is sort of annoying, but is slightly mitigated by the fact that these duplicates are turned into a tiny amount of an in-game currency to be used to unlock specific things that you want. It takes a while to build up any significant amount of the currency, but with enough time in the game you eventually can get that legendary skin for your hero of choice that you just absolutely have to have.
You also have the ability to use real world money to purchase lootboxes, if you absolutely must. This little fact is something that I find a little distasteful. It’s a full priced retail game, and at the time of this piece it’s a game that has passed fifteen million players. At the lowest price point for the game, that’s six hundred million dollars in sales. In reality, it’s significantly more — the console versions of the game only had a $60 option, and while the PC version of the game had both a $40 and $60 option.. the $60 came with a set of exclusive skins. Which I needed. The completionist in me demanded it.
So, yes. While I originally found the microtransaction aspect of Overwatch’s unlockables a bit distasteful, the knowledge that I could theoretically unlock everything eventually was enough to keep me happy. I only barely care about the cosmetic aspect of the game, but regardless of my feelings on it, it’s there and might as well be used.
Which brings us to the event happening right now, the Summer Games event. Alongside the three week Lucioball mode, a host of new unlockables were added alongside a limited time Summer Games lootbox. These lootboxes are earned exactly the same way as regular lootboxes.
You play, you get experience, you level up, and get a free box. Each of these lootboxes is guaranteed to contain one Summer Games exclusive unlockable, be it voice lines, skins, player icons, character poses.. every box, you’re guaranteed to get something from the event.
Here’s where it gets a little gross. None of these can be unlocked with the in-game currency. When the event is over in a few weeks, that’s it. You got what you got. Assuming you play enough to get a level a day, you’re looking about twenty or so boxes. At a minimum, that’s twenty of the Summer Games items.. of which there are well over a hundred. Of those twenty boxes, you can get duplicates. Of the exclusives. I, personally, have gotten the same Lucio skin three times so far. I’ve also unlocked one or two other event specific things, but that’s not a great record.
Here’s the gross part. I found myself thinking that if I could maybe buy a bunch of lootboxes, with real money, I could unlock all of the things. With enough boxes being opened, the chances have to be good, right?
For me, it’s an idle thought. I have neither the money nor the means to buy the lootboxes. But people out there have done so, and have been utterly disappointed at not getting the single item they wanted. And remember — none of these items can be purchased with the in-game currency you earn from duplicates or from the boxes themselves. So it’s money wasted with no recourse. It feels almost insidious. Putting aside the fact that Overwatch is a full priced game and looking at it purely from the perspective of the cosmetics, it feels, to me, like the decision to make these items unavailable via the in-game currency is intended to drive the lootbox microtransaction market.
For my part, it’s mostly moot. I can’t actually get them outside of playing the game. But I can still pour one out for the people who threw down their hard earned money and were shit on by RNG for their trouble.
This review and opinion piece is based on a retail code purchased by the Editor.
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