Fixes are on their way for the hero shooter, but the going has been difficult.
The experience with Overwatch 2 has not been pleasant. The hero shooter came under fire for its poor cell phone policy following two external attacks that made it practically impossible to play. When people tried to play Overwatch 2 with buddies, many encountered difficulties. Blizzard made an effort to alleviate these problems by eliminating the phone need completely and allowing more gamers to play the sequel throughout the week, but not without some prolonged downtime on Thursday night. Fans found a chat bug on Friday that caused them to erratically spend real money on the shop. It’s now nightfall, and Blizzard has another update to start the weekend.
Blizzard thanked players for being “patient” during the entire saga in a new status update article, and while there are some nice changes right now, the game’s overall status update is still a bit of a mixed bag.
Blizzard stated in the status update that cell phones are no longer required for console gamers who have a linked Battle.net account since June 9, 2021, as well as any PC players with related accounts. A Blizzard official explained in an email that the need is no longer entirely necessary, but that brand-new Overwatch 2 gamers would still require a phone number.
Blizzard acknowledges that there may still be glitches, while claiming to be making progress with issues like account merging and players being unable to access their paid Watchpoint Pack on consoles. For the former issue, there is still a line, and for the latter one, PlayStation owners in particular may not see the item in their inventory. Later tonight, a patch is supposedly going to be released. Some players might still run into those annoying login problems, but according to Blizzard, this is now a lot less significant obstacle for the game.
What has replaced the login problem is perhaps the status update’s most ironic bullet point. Here’s how Blizzard explains how gamers could suddenly have a poorer experience somewhere else as a result of changing one thing:
Matchmaking systems are being impacted by our expanded capacity and higher player concurrency, therefore you might experience a delay before being put into a match. Today, we are adjusting parameters within this system in an effort to reduce that wait time a little bit. Through the weekend, we’ll be investigating the matchmaking queues to see if there are any further areas where we can improve.
But at least you can play the game while you wait.
Blizzard is aware that the recent events may have left some fans feeling dissatisfied. Blizzard concluded this update by thanking gamers and recognising that the game had a challenging launch.
We are totally committed to enhancing the Overwatch 2 experience for all players, so thank you for your support and patience.
For the time being, it appears that Overwatch players will have to wait until the following week to see any other significant improvements to the game beyond those scheduled to go live later today.
