In an attempt to make the popular team-based FPS more “generous”, Overwatch 2 will make all heroes free-to-play upon release starting in Season 10, according to game director Aaron Keller. What’s more, players can be excited about greater coin distribution, new and reworked maps, a new game mode, and the addition of the Mythic shop.
Venture, who represents the first non-binary character in the game, will also be the first free-to-play hero. All pre-existing heroes will be immediately unlocked for players. Before this update, heroes were obtained using a premium battle pass or by making great strides on the free one. Though players will still need to complete the “first-time user experience” before using these heroes, the move expedites the process of playing new characters.
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Overwatch 2 is also getting the Mythic shop, which completely changes how Mythic skins are obtained. Although Keller did not dive in too deeply regarding the new system in his announcement video, he said the store uses Mythic Prisms as a currency, which can either be obtained or purchased via the premium battle pass. Every season, players will obtain enough Mythic Prisms to unlock a Mythic skin of their choice and all its upgrades, so long as they complete the premium battle pass.
Each of the new Mythic skins will debut in the Mythic shop and remain available to buy throughout the entire season they are introduced. Following a given season, however, they will be taken out of the shop for the next two seasons before permanent reintroduction, with a bit more of a timely element to obtain them. Beginning with Season 10, all Mythic skins from the first 7 seasons will be available to buy.
Players can now earn coins through the game’s free battle pass rather than through weekly challenges. Every season, players have the chance to get 600 coins for free, which is up from the game’s previous cap of 560. Keller noted that this allows a player to purchase one free premium battle pass every 2 seasons. Meanwhile, challenges will now reward players with battle pass XP.
Lastly, the press release claimed that the team is making “significant updates” to Dorado, Circuit Royale, Colosseo, Numbani, and Havana. A new game mode called Clash and the Hanaoka map will be introduced for a limited time during the beginning of Season 10. Clash is designed to rework Assault mode but has each team playing offense and defense at the same time while attempting to claim capture points. During Season 11, the Peruvian map of Runasap will be included with Push mode.
Blizzard said a developer update scheduled to arrive near Season 10’s release in April will cover upcoming Defense Matrix and competitive updates, such as “disruptive player behavior, grouping restrictions and competitive, and player anonymity.”