As a result, players are switching off voice and text chat en masse and encouraging others to do the same. In social media posts, Overwatch fans say that not disabling chat can damage your mental health, as toxic players have been spotted getting around Blizzard's chat filters to use slurs and make threats against oth

However, some fear that the issue of toxicity won't die down after the launch hype has ended. With Overwatch 2 characters|https://overwatch2tactics.com/ 2 being free-to-play, there will very likely be an increased playerbase from the original game, so more potential abusers. Furthermore, some feel that the free-to-play economy of Overwatch 2, in which players can only unlock currency by completing daily and weekly challenges, encourages this toxicity . This is because players are more likely to be concerned with winning or completing certain objects, as opposed to just having

Others in the replies agree, and feel that switching off chat doesn't even put players at a disadvantage. "In my experience, only about 10% of comms in Gold and below are productive callouts," says TallAfternoon2. "The other 90% is either toxicity, or someone telling people to switch characte

A progression system designed around completing challenges is meant to make you play longer, that’s it. Instead of playing a few games and logging off, many players will continue playing until they’ve finished their challenges. By offering a small number of challenges every day, games exploit the fear of missing out to ensure players keep logging in just so they don’t fall behind. Neither of these are player-friendly motivations. This is negative reinforcement disguised as positive reinforcem

Mei has recently been pulled from Overwatch 2 for two weeks because players were using her wall to reach places they weren’t meant to. Maybe this is too much to tolerate at the highest competitive levels, but mostly I just think ‘who cares?’. Didn’t they just nerf Mei out of existence anyway? Is it really that big a deal that you can mess around on some m

The US Department of Justice and Acti-Blizz have been holding legal discussions regarding the Overwatch League esports tournament. The main reason for these discussions is Acti-Blizz breaking antitrust rules stemming from a "competitive balance tax". The talks have reportedly broken down after Activision "refused to make certain concessio

Does anyone actually enjoy doing daily challenges in games? I for one resent logging in to play and finding a list of chores to do. Even trivial challenges - something I would accomplish through normal play - rub me the wrong way. I don’t know what I’m more upset about: that someone invented such an anti-player progression system, or that every developer in the world took one look at it and said "Yep, that’s good enough for

Challenges do not make games better, and the designers know that just as well as we do. When a game asks you to get three kills with a sniper rifle or win matches with a specific character, it isn’t trying to increase your enjoyment or help you improve. Challenges are nothing by hollow engagement boosters designed to increase player retention. Someone at the top of the ladder needs to see an increase in hours played month-over-month, and the fastest and dirtiest way to do that is to coerce players to complete daily challen

Indeed, Overwatch 2 did make it a lot easier to communicate with your team without joining chat. Now, even on console, you can start countdowns, point to particular areas on the map, and single out which teammate you want to send the ping to. Ana players can even alert their team when they put an enemy to sleep, ensuring no one accidentally wakes them up. It's not clear if Blizzard did this because it knows how toxic its community can get, but it sure makes things eas

Negotiations aren't the only thing that are breaking down; Overwatch 2's competitive rank system is also broken , according to many players. Many have complained that they are being de-ranked in an unfair manner due to the new system, which seems to be wildly inconsist

That was always the draw with the sequel anyway for me. I didn’t see the need to give us a whole new game and I won’t be working towards nor investing in the battle pass. I’m already irritated at the obnoxiously long time it takes to earn enough to buy a single skin. The thought of being able to play a story mode was a major appeal, and even though that was dampened by the news it wouldn’t be ready for launch, all things considered it was enough to hook me back in, at least temporar

Likewise, anyone who follows the FIFA community even a little bit is cutting inside to trivela from the edge of the box. It’s one of those things that would be fun if you stumbled across it with your mates, but is less fun when it’s the only way anyone in the world tries to shoot now. Ironically, despite the bulk of my complaints here, the trivela is a perfect example of something that needs to be patc