Remember, if you don’t watch out, it is very possible that the free Overwatch 2 goodies will pass by you without even you knowing it. The official Twitter account for the game just sent out a tweet announcing that the Twitch Drops are currently live and that players can get up to five Battle Pass Tier skips for just watching the streamers they like. The whole thing will last until October 13, so you have an entire weekend to get the free boosts of your progress.
For those who are not in the loop about this event, the entire procedure is really straightforward. Just link your Battle.net account to your Twitch account and then watch an Overwatch 2 streamer selected for a specific time. Each of the tier skips you collect allows you to pass quickly through the Battle Pass unlocking new skins, cosmetics, and other rewards without a lot of grinding. You can say it is basically free stuff for doing almost nothing and it always counts as a win in my opinion.
Nonetheless, the player reactions to this announcement have, to say the least, been mixed. A few players express their sincere gratitude for the free tier skips, whilst others are using the moment to voice their dissatisfaction with the game’s current situation.
A gamer named puppas was very straightforward and asked for an Ana skin while he was pushing the devs to “gooners who fap to kiriko juno n wuyang!!” Yeah, that’s literally what he said. Certainly, the love for some characters is there, and the players of Ana are obviously complaining about the lack of love for their character.
At the same time, many players are complaining about technical issues that are ruining their gaming experience. Menouthis had the problem that he was not receiving the competitive points he should after wins while mushylog referred to a specific problem in Reinhardt’s Firestrike where the attack does not aim at the location of the cursor when the enemies are too close. Bugs like these can be very annoying and can ruin the fun.
One player contended for double XP weekends because “the season was too short to finish BP” normally. This hints that perhaps the current progression system feels a bit grindy to casual players who cannot afford to spend dozens of hours a week on the game.
Then came the pleas for content updates going beyond just Twitch Drops. Several comments asked if there would be an Overwatch 2 version for Switch 2, while others wanted particular features like the return of voting cards and post-game chat. As a matter of fact, one user even requested to have the Jamaican flag added, which indicates that players are looking for more diversity in the game’s cosmetics.
Fans of specific characters often feel neglected the most. A few Symmetra players have been vocal about their character being such a non-issue this time around, one even saying “another season I wont be playing” because of that. Another user talked about an “outcast character” that has no content or love and did not specify who they were talking about.
Mixed reactions accompanied the tier skip rewards. On one hand, some players are in favor of the free progression, while on the other hand, AlexFlame116 complained about the time commitment saying “Bruh 2 hours each come on. Just make it an hour each.” The reverse was true for the players like Austopsy who suggested that regular lootboxes should be back for the ones who are done with the Battle Pass, indicating that the current endgame rewards might not be feeling satisfying enough.
A similar situation occurred with drops that were disbursed, with LanaKahnum asking if these tier skips are counted toward the challenges requiring more than 10,000 XP, and sacaitlin wondering whether the unused skips would carry on to the next season.
Among the criticism, there were a few voices of gratitude for the free tier skips. One player simply said “thank you overwatch,” while another expressed joy through a GIF reaction to the tier skip announcement. It is undoubtedly clear that giveaways are a nice gesture more so when the community still has some issues with it.
The Twitch Drops come as the end of the season is approaching, which certainly has an interesting function. This could be Blizzard’s way of supporting players who are nearly finished with the Battle Pass and want just a few more tiers or it could be one way of getting more viewers for the content creators of Overwatch 2 in a less busy period.
Regardless of the situation, if you are still grinding your Battle Pass or just want some free tier skips for the next season, you could be better off turning on Twitch this weekend and letting a stream play in the background. Five free tier skips may not be very significant, but every little increment is a step closer to unlocking that final legendary skin before the season ends. Just make sure you link your accounts beforehand—I have made that mistake before and missed out on free goodies which is the worst feeling ever.
In other words, free stuff is nice but the players’ feedback still shows that the Overwatch community is not satisfied with just some random Twitch Drops here and there. They want fair and working competitive systems, balanced heroes, content for their favorite characters, and an overall enhanced gaming experience. Let us hope that Blizzard is listening to this feedback while at the same time handing out those free tier skips.
