Don’t mind me just bumping up this thread again.
And here’s a copy of my response for anyone else in this thread who wants to read it:
That, I wish I knew. My guess is that the Devs wanted to incentivize consistent competitive play through only awarding seasonal rewards, which ended up coming in the form of player titles. Player icons and sprays go against this philosophy being permanent rewards, and where then removed with the launch of Overwatch 2. But as is widely evident, competitive is currently in the worst state is has ever been, and the lack of progression and non-permanent rewards are major factors in that. As for whether the Devs will go back on this change, I can certainly hope but the Devs have given no indication of doing so.
And for what it’s worth, I greatly empathize with your frustrations, it has been almost a year since Overwatch 2 launched and I am still missing my Top 500 icons and sprays too. I have no doubt there are thousands of others who put forth incredible amounts of time and effort and expected to be given these rewards, not knowing that they are no longer earnable. But as much as I wish there was, there is nothing we can do about it besides voice our frustrations and hope the Devs will eventually listen.