Aaaaaa, what a wonderful 10+ years I had with you, Overwatch. Even though I broke more things than I can count on my hands, sadly it’s time for me to take a 2 year time skip or just stop entirely.
I’m 22 this year, and I’ve been playing Overwatch for half my life (ngl, that’s kinda sad). I’m writing this to express my gratitude to the community and to Blizzard for some of the happiest moments I’ve had. Without going into too much detail about why I feel this way, I’m confident that a large majority of players will feel the same in 2026.
I don’t see anything exciting on the horizon, nor do I believe there will be any huge changes to the game like perks. That being said, personally I think adding perks was the wrong move for the gameplay and for the balance team in the long term.
What I see for Overwatch in 2026 is Blizzard trying to please everyone instead of making the hard decisions to remove or heavily rework the heroes that actually need it. I know they’re finally coming out with some reworks now, but it’s not just one thing. There are plenty of reasonable reasons why it doesn’t feel like a comforting game anymore.
Maybe my unc status is getting to me, idk. Either way, there’s no reason for me to keep playing. All the friends I occasionally played with have already stopped and moved on to other shooters.
I mostly disagree. Perks were a good addition to the game, although they do need to keep them balanced. I don’t want perks that are required to make a hero viable, and I believe the dev team agrees since they started making things base kit. Perks are a good way to keep people out the spawn room, swapping after every death. They reward players for sticking to the same heroes more.
We can’t say whether the game has nothing on the horizon. Overwatch is actually doing good in terms of players, since they abandoned the 2. The team have stated that once a year they want to have a big update, which is definitely a good approach. Towards the end of the year, players have fallen off since they get bored. Having a major update will draw back the hype, and bring people back from their brakes. Overwatch has so much potential, and it would be nice to see them branch out into other things aswell as the core PvP experience.
I also see that if you played a game for 10 years then it’s understandable why you feel a bit sick of it. I played Cod for a very long time, and then I put it down like 5 years ago. That’s not really the game itself to the blame thou. Maybe in some ways, but you also gotta factor in that you could just be bored of it aswell.
I took a break for several years and then returned when I felt that “itch” again. I reckon it’s better to approach things that way, instead of shutting the door completely. You never know how the game will evolve and for how many years it will stay.
There’s plenty of incredible games out there though, so I’m sure you’ll be quick to find a substitute if you look for one. I recommend indie games however, as the entire shooter genre is pretty much plagued with all of the live service nonsence you find in Overwatch.
unc to unc, i hope you’ll come back and that your friends will play again or you will find new ones, and i leave you with this unc joke:
this is not an airport, you don’t have to announce your departure
but sometimes we do need a break, so it’s ok to take one and reinstall when you feel the itch again. i did that for a few months and i love the game again, i just hate hero bans. but i doubt hero bans will outlast me. they didn’t outlast me last time
[edit: wait. you’re no unc little bro. i’m in my 40’s. take your break and come back when you’re recovered.]
Bold claims yet provided little as if you were worried that your claims would be hard to defend and just wanted feelings to prevail and be agreed with. So many things you could have said that would have been controversial but defensible and understandable regardless of whether people agreed with you or not.
Could have said you were tired of…
hitscan poke prevalence
engagement with [XYZ] hero or hero type
map type prevelance
missing more PvE content
tank role feeling sort of stale
toxic players
etc. etc.
Arguments related to those things could go either way and would be understandable. All I saw from your post were some vague hints around:
lack of huge changes to the game (I don’t know what kind of huge changes you’re wanting them to do, different modes or something?)
how you feel like perks dominate a game (people don’t seem to pick them half the time, or swap and don’t earn them, can’t say an opponent’s perk has ever tilted me before)
We all thought we have moved on… until we did not… you will come back. Maybe not next season with another DPS copy paste hero of an existing character, but I am sure the right hero, rework or QoL change will bring you back. Even if it takes some time. There are great games out there. The key is to never focus on only ONE game and play variety and explore other stuff.
I cant want for Palworlds 1.0 release this year and the trip to Tau in Warframe, while still keeping an eye on Rivals. OW did great with S1, got a lot more boring in S2 and I have the feeling S3 will feel the same as this season, but lets see.
when they’re still as green as baby doo doo lol
