and by this i don’t mean balance wise, i mean how you fundamentally play it.
what got me into the game was how the game just… allowed you to do what you wanted. Pay the initial price and go at it, the most it did was a short tutorial and then you could pick whatever hero and whatever mode you wanted, all from the start.
the appeal to me was the fact that the game wasn’t really all that hard to get into, it was filled with characters designed for non fps players and during a match i could try as many characters as i wanted, no questions asked.
during the years most of this ended up getting lost through balance changes but ow2 was the last nail in the coffin. Everything feels more… samey. I can’t quite put a finger on it but the game feels much more restrictive in what i can actually play and when. Now there are quests, a battlepass grind, heroes to unlock, maps are on rotation every season… and if you are a new player you also have to deal with ftue that locks even more heroes and even modes.
it just doesn’t feel like the game is respecting my time nor my money.
In overwatch 1 i mostly played something like 9-12 matches a week and i managed to unlock all the cosmetics i ever cared for and then some. In overwatch 2 i just can’t do that. I can’t even say “neat a new hero is out, let’s check them out” because i know they are behind a long battlepass grind.
the game just isn’t quick and fun like it used to be. Overwatch 1 only asked me 40 dollars and then i could do whatever i want and i would still get something by just playing a few matches a day. Overwatch 2 doesn’t.