I’ve been playing since the open beta and loot boxes have always been a pain even when they buffed them. But at least with the boxes anyone could get sprays, voice lines to spam, and emotes to use just for fun. I no longer see this, its as if the playful demeanor the community once showed is gone. I know the battlepass is gonna stay no matter what but if anything how about rewarding loot boxes for daily challenges.
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While they had some upside, we need to remember loot boxes also came with major downsides (mainly gambling-related issue, a pseudo-casino where addict and children can play is not something we should be missing…).
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That’s a completely understandable reason against them, but I was hoping for a completely reward based system for completing challenges with no intent on them being purchasable. (I’d rather not fall down that rabbit hole again lol)
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The old system assured you would get the items either from luck from opening the free boxes you earned or by accruing enough coins you could just buy what you wanted with no additional cost.
Now aside from a few freebies tossed our way there’s no way to get all the items every season without spending money that’s ultimately way, way more expensive than the just buying the game.
Yeah, I miss loot boxes.
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"Live service! It’s gonna be great! Trust us guys! You’re gonna help fund the future of Overwatch - so much fun content just around the corner! In the meantime, here is a 10$ Battlepass and a few 30 dollar bundles! 
"
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At least they’ve brought back credits. Making LW’s Lotus skin cost coins instead is a bit naff, though, I don’t approve of that.
With loot boxes, I was able to have every skin and item in the game. With the shop…nope. I’m not rich, and even if I were, $20 a pop for a virtual skin is ridiculous.
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LB sucks. I rather pay 20$ for a skin i want and like instead of 100$ plus for a chance to get something I want
The issue is you could do both, at least towards the end of OW1 with loot boxes. Items were sold for 3k coins when new, or you could try your luck with LB, which your chances improved as you earned more items as they removed the possibility of duplicates.
Now launch day version of Lootboxes were awful, but eventually they became very friendly compared to what we have now. The other issue is skins which are kind of neat, or for hero’s you “Might” play.
In the old system you’d eventually get almost every thing. The new system, not so much. Which means your very likely to own less skins for less hero’s.
Meaning your more than likely less excited for any new events or BP that don’t include your hero’s, and if you say just bought a Mythic skin for Genji your not very likely to care about the newest legendary one.
But don’t forget, they only brought back credits because everyone complained. And it is still not enough.
Essentially, the company removed the possibility of free rewards, and later reduced it to one skin per season. That is nowhere near the levels of what was possible in OW 1.
So yeah, I miss loot boxes a lot.
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Outside of legacy credits from OW1 it’s also not that easy to even earn the grey credits, let along the yellow ones you need for newer items and BP’s.
Pretty sure you earn more by messing around with Bing than doing the weekly challenges every week, and they are not all easy to accomplish without a lot of grind. Often in game modes or with hero’s you don’t like.
lootboxes was always better
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The accusations of “gambling addiction” with loot boxes were weak at best, and the fact this is still being tossed around shows that anyone can be persuaded if the story is convincing without looking into it. Even then, not all examples were the same either:
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Most of the actual problems stemmed from loot boxes preying upon players that featured gameplay related unlocks and gameplay that throttled natural progression (EA sports and SWBFII). While this passed off as “gambling addiction” in legislative arenas, it was really just underhanded predatory preying off of the necessity of progression rather than the choice of inherent ‘chance’ or profit.
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Other examples like CSGO’s lootbox system actually is gambling as the return from spending money isn’t merely a cosmetic, but is inherently tied to monetary value due to how the skins function within the Steam economy. Even then, the controversy with these skins wasn’t even tied to their acquisition but rather how they were being used to gamble further as tokens on third party websites due to their inherent value.
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Lastly we have examples of loot boxes like in Overwatch or in Destiny 2 where the skins have no economic value, cannot be traded, and have an acquisition path that wasn’t throttled or favored a monetary path. Both games were(are) actually pretty generous in the way they doled out rewards for playing, paths to acquisition outside of the lootbox system, and offered a chance at acquiring cosmetics through monetary means if the player so chose to take it.
It’s important to make distinctions about the way these systems worked. In 2013 I actually struggled with addiction to the CSGO system, which is inherently gambling. I wanted a chance at acquiring very expensive skins, but didn’t have enough money to buy them. Ironically given the money I did spend (which I couldn’t afford to spend) I could’ve had several very expensive skins, and ended up with far less but still enough that I actually turned a profit by the end and was able to pay bills for a few months when I needed money.
As someone who has struggled with this, it offers perspective to make distinctions on the differences between the systems in place. I never once felt the pull of ‘gambling’ from Overwatch’s system, nor have I spent any more than probably $30 on them in the 7 years it was out, with the few I did buy coming from the beginning and maybe the first few events ever. Coincidentally, I feel more pull from a pack of trading cards or a box of coins from the bank than I ever have from Overwatch’s system, but strangely enough Pokémon cards still have yet to be banned and nobody considers the profit potential from looking through a $25 box of pennies to be any less than a ‘hobby’.
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You did get money for doubles and you had slightly higher chances for a new item.
I could buy anything I wanted from credit rewards and credits for doubles, in a very short time. A few arcade boxes every week, level ups which happen in the time for arcade wins, and endorsement reward boxes. Plenty of boxes to go around with no money spent.
I would like to discuss this legitimate fear with a dangerous distortion of the perception of the values and purchasing power that we have lost:
- a kid who wants to buy a skin will still secretly steal his parents’ money. with the only difference that with $20 in ow1 he bought 20 lootboxes with 4 contents in each of the boxes. today he buys only one skin. and for cases like moira mime, of unwarranted rarity in price and effort. or the charms themselves, digitals are way more expensive than a real charm IRL;
- ok, you bought 20 lootboxes that didn’t have what you wanted… but how many contents did you have to use in creative ways? combinations of sprays, funny voicelines to use as a response to teammates in pre-match, emoting for your own potg / team kill… so many possibilities to amplify your gameplay;
- the no less important detail: the possibility of purchasing. the more your collection grew, the more chances there were of receiving credits for duplicates. it meant greater possibility to really buy what you wanted. and with REAL chances to buy whatever you want thanks to lootoboxing, today it’s a shame that your entire weekly challenge gameplay isn’t enough to cover the cheapest content from your favorite hero’s gallery (75 coins).
no one expects the return of lootboxing, but it was necessary to have at least one honest dropping for what was collecting in ow1: coins for each leveling up. not the battle pass tiers that remind you that you haven’t bought the game’s only economic bundle yet. not a shop that creates a horrendous “hurry up and buy the weekly content, because we’ll never tell you when skins like sojourn cyberdetective will be back that we haven’t reported a return in over 6 months of ow2”. not a paradoxical sensation in which it is rarer to see standard skins from the shop rather than a mythical battle pass skin (theoretically, THE REAL exclusive on which the BP should have acquired greater value). the current system is as wrong as lootboxing, but actually even more because it destroys any real collecting passion that has always been there in 6 years of ow1. now… not anymore, and nobody wanted to give it up.
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you want a lootbox for waving at a teammate?
the entitlement of this community is wild.
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Loot boxes were the main form of progression for Overwatch. Blizzard removed all progression that isn’t the battle pass so it just feels like there’s nothing to work towards.
Loot boxes in general were bad but OW1 was a decent implementation. They should have stayed at least for OW1 legacy content
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I want access to the good and free rewards system we used to have.
If waving at a teammate is the requirement, so be it.
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Every 3 wins = loot box…
Every 3 challenges = loot box…
The density of that comment is wild.
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Even in OW1, it started to get rarer as the years passed.
I’ve been seeing it more in Mystery Heroes.