Overwatch 2 is a New Low in Gaming

there was a time where certain video game development companies were unbelievably consistent with producing high quality products Nintendo bungee Naughty Dog Bethesda Rockstar blizzard these guys used to release nothing but Classics sadly that consistency is gone and the continued support of anti-consumer practices in the gaming industry is largely to blame video game betas used to be free events where developers briefly released an incomplete build of the game in order to collect data and feedback to polish it for its imminent release with time this concept has devolved into charging money for or implementing monetization into incomplete games under the label of Early Access with promises to add more content and complete them someday this approach is understandable for smaller development teams as they are much more likely to lack funds needed to execute their true vision for the game but when AAA gaming corporations adopt this model it comes off as an excuse to reap the rewards of releasing a full game without actually putting the effort into cultivating one [Music] ah yes fortnite's baby the battle pass is an assortment of in-game items earned with time played and challenges completed it doesn't cost money to score a portion of the rewards but the paid premium version contains the best booty fortnite is a free to play game so the Strat is to incentivize the player to purchase V bucks the in-game currency used to buy Cosmetics such as skins and emotes in the shop the battle pass not only includes these things but more V bucks than it costs to buy the premium version in fact even the free version gives you a few buckaroos the catch to all this is that it only lasts for an in-game season usually around 10 to 12 weeks many games imitate this model of monetization but with gradual perversions that make it worse for the player and better for the corporation OverWatch one was Blizzard's last good game before the company's reputation began to collapse plenty of videos have already been made covering this topic I'll link you some good ones the game felt polished and complete but the flawed progression system foreshadowed the sleazy practices to come basically there were tens of Heroes and each one had dozens of Cosmetics associated with them the only way to unlock anything was through loot boxes which were earned with match performance time played or bought with real life money what sucks about loot boxes is that everything received Is Random so there's no guarantee that you'll get anything you truly want a currency was implemented to mitigate this issue but was also randomly acquired through loot boxes despite the Shady loot box system the game was actually updated quite frequently for years with balance patches seasonal events New Heroes Maps game modes and cosmetics all for free ish these updates came with videos with the previous and beloved lead director Jeff from the OverWatch team I'm going to explain the philosophy behind every change being made into the game however for the last three years or so of the game's lifespan blizzard pretty much abandoned the game entirely choosing instead to focus on first of all this game is not a sequel everyone's saying it and I'm saying it again it's clear that the title of this game is a marketing ploy to entice people to try it out where they will be constantly reminded of the new monetization structure that this game poorly implements shut up shut up OverWatch one a game that costed up to 60 dollars for some people was completely shut down and its replacement is an early access free to play game that desperately wants you to buy its new battle pass all right let's look at this [ __ ] first level oh cool you get kiriko first level right nah [ __ ] premium only the only reason I have this chick is because I played OverWatch one and they gave it to OverWatch 1 players that's cool I guess but for everybody else here she is level 55. this Reddit user shared their free to play experience and it took them 49 hours of gameplay to unlock this new hero some have compared the system to games like Apex Legends and yes Legends and Apex are also locked upon release but the difference is that you're able to earn currency to unlock them by playing the game at any time so you could play a lot in one season and acquire enough currency to unlock multiple Legends in the future since blizzard not confines Heroes to the battle pass you cannot even begin to progress towards unlocking them until they're already available to play additionally a key component of OverWatch gameplay is hero swapping or changing who you're playing as mid-match this means that you're at a significant disadvantage by not always having access to every hero in the game let's look at other stuff in the battle pass so see this little icon by my name that's what these are cool nobody gives a [ __ ] here's a name card a new type of cosmetic added to this game one cool feature of these is that if you equip one you're not allowed to unequip it and then the ultimate tier is Genji the new Mythic skin that's a year to make remember that guys it took a year to make the two biggest sins of this battle pass are locking the new hero behind it and not giving you any currency back so basically they copied something but they made it shitty God damn Blizzard's good at that it speaks volumes to the pathetic state of their new system that players are grieving the removal of loot boxes loot boxes one of the most notorious monetization schemes ever contrived I don't blame them though OverWatch 2 intentionally removed the leveling system so that the sole form of progression is the battle pass remember those seasonal events from OverWatch 1 I spoke of well all of those previously released seasonal Cosmetics are no longer unlockable for free you must purchase them with their new currency OverWatch points before we even get into the Skins let's take a look at the price of the coins themselves the pricing of their coins is already a great representation of their insatiable greed if you get the discount from buying 50 worth of coins this skin costs about 18 if you get the discount from buying 32 dollars worth of V bucks this skin with four styles of backpling a pickaxe a glider and a wrap for your weapons and vehicles costs about thirteen dollars so not only are fortnite skins significantly cheaper but they have more innate value through the game's third person mode where you're always able to see them and the fact that they're not tied to specific Heroes like in OverWatch apparently this plus this plus this is worth more than the entirety of OverWatch one as if this wasn't enough of an insult to the fans of the first game the amount and quality of bass Cosmetics for the three new heroes in the game is Boo Boo OverWatch 2 would have had my respect and probably even my money if they would have at least matched the quality and prices of fortnite's current system I guess I'll talk about the actual game now how is it different from OverWatch one well here's a good way to describe it this is a risk of ran one this is risk of rain too [Music] this is OverWatch one this is OverWatch too [Music] Blizzard's original intention of calling it OverWatch 2 was the new PVE mode which was delayed yet the game still launched Siegel made a great video on this I'll link you I'm not holding back from judging this game in its current state The Early Access label is not some magical shield to protect AAA corporations from releasing mediocrity especially for this game since they completely removed the previous and arguably Superior one put simply every change in OverWatch 2 could have been patched in the first game I do like some of them but it's hard to give praise because we would have had significantly more content by now if blizzard would have just continued updating the first game this isn't even a straight upgrade though various seemingly arbitrary lazy or devious changes were made many of which have a noticeably negative impact as I said before player borders and levels were entirely removed probably to incentivize buying into their new system the post-match screen is gone along with the time to chat and potentially group up with your current team I want to believe this wasn't removed to extend the battle pass grind since you get more XP if you're in a group but I wouldn't really put anything past Blizzard at this point the ability to enjoy course the enemy team was removed no idea why Heroes will say they're on fire I'm on fire but the sound effect and icon animation was removed again why there's an entirely new UI across the board time of day was changed on some maps and new hero selection animations were introduced these changes were obviously made as an attempt to convince you that this is not actually just OverWatch 1 still and instead of putting any thought or care into them they kind of just did whatever leading to yet more examples of a worse experience I wouldn't blame anyone for dismissing this game solely based off Blizzard's misbehavior over the last few years but I don't think the actions of some should represent everyone there that said it was easy to see how anti-consumer lazy and soulless this game is with very little time invested while there are some positive changes made others are debatable as upgrades and some are straight up downgrades forcing this sequel onto loyal fans of the original game and changing previously free aspects Into Cash grabs or grind fests is a massive slap in the face it's not about being free to play or having a battle pass it's about the dirty changes blizzard intentionally made to these already established systems mandating their new structure by revoking access to a paid game where much of the content was earnable for free all while launching with many other issues some of which I didn't even cover in this video it's clear that this version of the game was not an oversight but rather a calculated rapacious push to establish what they could get away with there's nothing wrong with playing a game that you enjoy but if you're also against the persistent rise of anti-consumer practices I urge you to consider the importance of not spending money on them I'm glad that so many people are voicing their disappointment with the game as well but how much do their words really matter if they're still handing blizzard their money I strongly suggest that you don't buy anything from this game I don't doubt that some developers still have great passion and try to prioritize fun over everything but the only way the higher ups will revise their increasingly vile tactics is if players stop monetarily supporting them so play the game but don't play their game foreign [Music]

Channel: doob

Views: 1,923,271

Keywords: overwatch 2 review, review, monetization, sequel, shop, prices, boycott

Id: rSxuNNH26YQ

Length: 10min 20sec (620 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 26 2022