Overwatch 2’s New Heroes Won’t Be Free

When Monitor 2 will launch on October 4th, fans may need to get on the grindstone to unlock the new heroes. A Tweeter by Jon Spector, Surveillanceindicates that new heroes will be locked behind Battle Pass progression, stating that “new Overwatch 2 heroes will be available on the free Battle Pass track.”

Spector’s tweet appears to refer to a description of Monitor 2‘s Watchpoint Pack, a bundle of purchasable content that gives buyers all sorts of goodies, including skins, in-game currency, and access to the premium Season 1 Battle Pass.

The description, published on the Competitive Surveillance subreddit, states that premium Battle Pass users have access to Monitor 2the new hero Kiriko. (In a two shot of unintentional info leaks, the latest support hero was teased earlier Monitor 2 promos, but the details were never confirmed until his name leaked not only here, but also by accident from a streamer.)

The Watchpoint Pack description was later changed, removing the reference to Kiriko and how she could be obtained through the premium Battle Pass. Although the phrase is gone, Spector’s tweet seems to confirm that new heroes will indeed be locked behind battle pass progression – albeit on the free, unpaid track.

Since SurveillanceAt launch in 2016, new heroes were free and immediately available. As sequels usually do, Monitor 2 implements many changes to the game, in particular the move from a boxed retail model to a free-to-play model. As Spector’s tweet circulated, fans pointed out that blocking heroes behind battle pass progress is a standard feature for other free-to-play games like Apex Legends and value.

However, fans across the aisle pointed out that unlike Summit Where valuein To watch, players are free to switch heroes mid-match, and often do so to choose characters that counter the opponent’s heroes and composition. As Surveillance Today, new heroes are often considerably more powerful (i.e. knocked out) and therefore dominate all levels of play, especially at the higher competitive levels. It’s a bit like rock, paper, scissors. When support hero Brigitte was added, she was Tracer’s paper rock. In the Surveillance In league and on the competitive ladder, if your team did not field Brigitte, your team had little chance of winning. Therefore, not being able to play a new hero because you haven’t unlocked them is a huge disadvantage for competitive players.

Dante “Danteh” Cruz, a player of the Surveillance Houston Outlaws League Team, commented on Spector’s tweetsaying that while he understands such a feature is common in free-to-play games, with how new heroes dominate higher levels of competition Surveillance“You’re just at a huge disadvantage if you don’t play them.”

While Cruz and others’ concerns about competitive viability are valid, they represent only a fraction of the player base. Quickplay matches will see people play attacking Torbjörn, Wrecking Ball, and Symmetra, oblivious to the misfortunes of those at Platinum to Grandmaster ranks.

There has been no official communication from Blizzard confirming or denying how the new heroes work in Monitor 2. As Spector’s tweets remain in place, this at least sounds like sweet confirmation that hero unlocks will somehow be tied to the battle pass. There will be more information in the preparation of Monitor 2will launch on consoles and PC on October 4th.