Overwatch 2 received a new patch for Season 18, and with it, the game introduces a ridiculous amount of perks. In celebration of the patch, the official Overwatch Twitter posted a hype video for the game alongside the caption, “You heard the man, MORE!!!,” and some fire emojis. Now, over 50 new Minor and Major Perks have been formally announced. Sounds great in theory, more ways to change up your hero and playstyle. But the community is not happy, not even a little bit.
The first replies on the official Overwatch account’s post are, from the start, an absolute dumpster fire. Like an angry support group for Overwatch players, a niche virtual space I’m socially comfortable in. Lines and lines of all caps: “DON’T GIVE A FUCK, JUST FIX THE MATCHMAKING, I’M GONNA SPAM UNTIL IT’S DONE I DON’T CARE.” And I’m kind of with them. The matchmaker in this game has been garbage for like… forever. So yes, it’s kind of nice that there are a bunch of new perks, but if you can’t get into a decent game, then what’s the point?
Oh, and don’t even get me started on the whole thing with last season’s rewards. Like five different people are in the replies begging for their stadium rewards from last season. And one player, mito, even attached a screenshot showing they reached Legend rank but never got the title. That’s gotta sting. You work your fingers to the bone to reach the top, and then… nada. And meanwhile the game keeps telling you to check out all this new stuff. Branching off here, that’s a really bad look.
And the bugs! One player pointed out a real frustrating one where anytime you buy something—either with real money or in-game credits—you have to fully restart the game just so it shows up on your account. Seriously, how is that still a thing?? That’s like, basic store functionality. Another console player added that they can’t even see the scoreboard. So while PC players have perks to fiddle with, some console folks are playing blind, effectively.
But let’s talk about perks for a moment. The same tweet claims “over 50+ new perks” which is overwhelming, especially in the context of other conversations around them. The words “garbage perks” and “largely felt awful” in reference to the update already exist in the vocabulary of some players. One, going by SupremeComodore, already is asking for Juno to have her Crit Hit perk reverted as well as Widowmaker’s Venom Mine Major Perk being changed back to its prior state. So not all changes are being viewed as improvements.
Next, are the hero-specific issues. Roadhog players are in disarray. One tank main said, “Roadhog has always been bad but holy shit this makes me not want to play as a tank anymore.” Oof. Another simple said, “Bring back roadhog pig pen.” Someone else asked for a revert on symmetra’s perks. And a Zen main wrote a whole essay on how you need to “Bring back duality for zen damn it” arguing the new two healing balls setup isn’t worth the healing loss. The kind of passion you see in live games.
On the brighter side, someone said, “That was a fun vid, nice job on this season overwatch team. Having a great time!” So… here’s one. They got drowned out by the countless calls for reverts, fixes, and rewards.
There is even an odd blend of specific requests. One asked for a doomfist perk that would bring back his “old sismic slam and uppercut.” Another compared one, “new juno perk,” to “The Destroyer from terraria,” which is an old school gaming reference. Then the guy who insisted the Israeli flag be removed from the game which was… out of left field.
The sentiment was neatly put in the comment, “Quality over quantity…”. It looks like most of the players would prefer having a small number of well-crafted perks, and having the game function properly, instead of a tsunami of fifty-plus additions, on top of the existing problems. Old problems like facing terrible bugs, balancing, and matchmaking issues go unnoticed as everyone is trying the new perks. Instead of what the player wanted, Blizzard gives them “more.” All players have access to the new perks, but it seems to me the next “broken build” to be discovered and nerfed is the only thing that perks players’ interests.
