first, just because other games do something bad doesn’t mean it’s fine
second, other f2p games have other systems to allow the player to self balance during a match. Paladins has loadout, talents and items. Valorant and Apex are way more about guns than heroes and guns are not locked. Mobas usually have a very deep in game store and other things to do around the map to get an advantage.
Overwatch has only one self balance tool: swapping heroes. That’s what locking heroes is actually locking, your main self balance tool during the match.
Also, since we’re here, all of these games do not lock heroes behind a battlepass. They just require you to collect in-game coins at then unlock them at your leisure. You can even save on said coins and unlock the hero the moment it unlocks, something overwatch doesn’t really allow you to do (you will have to also buy the battlepass which you may not be interested in and is a waste to unlock just for the hero)
EDIT: also, none of this games started as boxed games with no hero locks and then changed to f2p
I think it comes down to how the games started. All of those other games, from the beginning, either had characters or gameplay elements that had to be unlocked, or they were stated that additional content would require unlocking.
Overwatch clearly stated that Heroes “would be for free always” or something to that effect. Cosmetics are already the main driving force of monetization from that era, there was no point in not continuing the trend other than for the sake of forcing players to play the game.
this is also another thing, other games started with the system already.
Hero lock is very obviously a money making scheme, there’s no reason as to why it’s good, only why it may be “not that bad”. But if one can’t think anything good about it then it’s clear how bad this change is
You’re right. Taking something off the table is never going to go down with consumers once they’ve been given it.
I know I could be arguing semantics here but they still technically are but I’m sure someone will argue needing to spend ‘time’ means they aren’t free…
Well if other companies are making bank doing it then it makes sense for Blizz, as a business, to pivot to the proven, more successful model.
Their main mistake in my opinion (which you touched on) was not going this path from the beginning…
They’re already going to have upgrade trees for PVE. I think it’d be a great opportunity to add that to the PVP so players can always give themselves answers to certain situations. However, I don’t think that’s totally necessary. If they build counter-play into heroes, then it shouldn’t matter what heroes you have access to because you can always become skilled enough with a hero to know how to deal with disadvantageous fights. Easy example being Pharah and forcing her to land more often so heroes that are close range will have the opportunity to fight her when she’s grounded instead of being forced to ignore her the entire time. I don’t care to say much about the morality of locking heroes at this point but if Blizz balances their game correctly, there shouldn’t be a gameplay issue with it.
Honestly, if the PvE side required unlocking heroes, I don’t think as many people would be upset since in that case, it really would be like a whole new game. OW2 isn’t different enough from OW1 (and especially since it’s not a separate game and more of an upgrade).
I really think a lot of my issue with this is the fact that they’re in the battle pass.
At least in other games, you can slowly build up the currency and then pick who you want. Putting it behind the BP/weekly challenges means you have to play an absurd amount in a limited amount of time.
So basically, you either no-life the game for a few weeks or you never get the hero. Which isn’t great. I’d much rather have the option of unlocking things slowly at my own pace.
So tired of shills using whataboutism to defend anti-consumerism. F2P games are only as good as the money and time you pour into them. Those games are hot garbage for the average player who only plays an hour or two a day.
It goes beyond locked heroes too. BPs have expiration dates and if you don’t have enough free time to grind each tier then you don’t get the rewards that you paid $10 for. Skins will now be unobtainable without spending real money on the shop. The only form of in-game currency will be 60 measly coins a week if you have 10 free hours per day to grind out 100 wins a week.
If you don’t pour money and time into this game then you simply won’t be able to do anything except play matches. Everything else you see will be ads taunting you with things you can’t have without putting in your credit card info.
They’re literally just ignoring arguments. We have made this argument ad freaking nauseum and it doesn’t matter. I get it if people disagree with the sentiment that the game is different from the ones they mention, but I just deleted a half-written comment in another thread because Cake was saying “you guys are ignoring that other games do this.” Like, we’re not ignoring it. The people who say it know this counter argument exists because it’s been made a trillion times by now. Like…I know he knows this argument exists. I’ve made it. You’ve made it. We’ve all made it.
There’s no point in trying to have this argument because in their mind it doesn’t even exist.
I feel like a broken record at this point, having to explain why all this stuff is bad, yes even in regards to cosmetics, it is still bad.
People literally pretend other games and genres do not exist outside of F2P multiplayer FPS games too or BRs and it’s astounding, success only happens when you are friendly and inviting to your community, not when you divide them based on who has spent more money or time on the game.
