Archives has always been about the lore of Overwatch and its heroes. Why is there a weird colonial/historical theme this year? Did they run out of lore or something? Or like everything else in the game, is the lore being held back for OW2? I’m so confused.
Okay, let’s say the theme is colonial/historical. Fine, but what are these Epic skins then? We have Mercy, someone from the most neutral country in the world in army/camo attire?? How is this representative of Switzerland’s history? Or American Biker Lúcio? Diver Zenyatta- What is going on here???
They missed the mark hard with these skins. I don’t really care that the skins are sort of lackluster (imo), it’s that they’re not in line with Archives. That’s what bothers me. Also a colonial theme in 2021 is very poorly timed.
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No, never. Jeff Kaplan had an interview where he stated they wouldn’t do that, if it makes Overwatch 1 better, we get it. Except for all the stuff we aren’t getting, of course.
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The skins are all made well. They just don’t fit the Archives theme at all.
It’s pretty weird.
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Well, Switzerland has a history of providing very reliable mercenary troops … 
OW2 will be a massive dump of both past & present lore. Depending on how lore is explored after it’s release, there may be little need for an event like archives to exist in it’s current form. Having it explore historical themes (which has bags of untapped potential) is likely going to be it’s best bet for it to survive going forward.
We’ve also seen lore-related mini-events made as well in the past two years, which IMO has been a better way of exploring a hero’s lore over a mere skin drop in an event.
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They’re shoehorning it into the Archives theme. See in the trailer: “Unarchive historical skins”
Not all of it, no. But it’s possible that there will be skin rewards or something for OW2 missions, so maybe that’s where the Archives skins went.
Aside from the first year, the Archives epic skins have never really been “Archives” related anyway. But Mercy’s is a reference to Florence Nightingale and Zen’s submarine skin is probably a reference to his voiceline about submarines. Dunno bout Lucio.
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And Symmetra was once a support, things change.
“Find out how heroes made history inside the Overwatch archives. Dive into story-driven co-op missions from pivotal moments in the past and earn loot, including skins inspired by historical outfits of war, along the way!” - Official website
They state clearly that the skins are inspired by outfits, not actual military history.
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