History AuthorsSavingThrow / Overwatch

* One of the biggest criticisms in the change to ''Overwatch 2'' was making it so that new heroes -- rather than being immediately available for everyone to play on release -- [[ScrappyMechanic would have to be unlocked either by an extensive battle pass grind, by direct purchase of the premium battle pass, or waiting until the following season and purchasing them then]]. This was similar in concept to other free-to-play games with unlockable heroes like ''VideoGame/{{Valorant}}'' or ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'', but this was widely panned for ''Overwatch'' due to how it handles its hero-centric gameplay, leading to accusations of encouraging a BribingYourWayToVictory dynamic, in addition to being terrible for the hype surrounding new heroes that most people, even loyal fans, couldn't immediately play without shelling out a ton of time and/or money first. Thankfully, Blizzard would announce in March 2024 that starting from the soon-to-release season 10, all heroes would return to being immediately available to play for all upon release[[note]]Brief mandatory tutorial level for newcomers notwithstanding[[/note]].

* The 2-2-2 role enforcement[[labelnote:*]]See WinBackTheCrowd for further details[[/labelnote]] was especially important for the Overwatch League, which had seen its viewership fall off a cliff due to the dominant triple-tank, triple-support meta turning what were once fast-paced showcases of skill and teamwork into slow, plodding wars of attrition that were about as interesting as watching paint dry. Then came the role enforcement system, which -- while initially contentious [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks by virtue of changing a formerly much more fluid system]] -- was what the game needed in returning games to hero and composition fluidity beyond the notorious "GOATS" meta. Many speculated that this feature was Blizzard effectively activating the nuclear option against the "GOATS" meta after multiple failed rebalancing attempts, a theory which gained further steam with Jeff Kaplan's SuspiciouslySpecificDenial that the update was not intended to combat any specific meta in the Developer Update that announced and explained the new system.

* At launch, many people complained about the presentation of Pharah's background (lack of Egyptian voice lines, [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent sketchy accent]], doesn't dress appropriately to her culture). Many of these were averted for the release of her mother Ana as Ana is voiced by a native Egyptian with many Arabic voice lines (and not just any Arabic, but Egyptian Arabic). Pharah's background was also justified by revealing how she grew up and traveled with the diverse Overwatch members. Her Anniversary costume also gave her a more appropriate cultural outfit as well as Jeff Kaplan stating that it's suppose to also show she is half Egyptian.

* Similarly to Pharah, some Swedish fans disliked Torbjörn's [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent goofy accent]] and generally found him more representative of [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft Azeroth]] than any part of Swedish culture. These fans warmed up quickly to Brigitte, who, like Ana, has plenty of lines in her native tongue, courtesy of a Swedish voice actress.
* One of the complaints about Reaper was that despite his status as being one of the most dangerous people in the world, [[TheWorfEffect he failed at everything]]. Clearly Blizzard heard these complaints, as they finally gave Reaper a success by having him break Doomfist out of prison, which made Talon even more dangerous. They also retroactively confirmed that Reaper managed to extract some data of the agents' whereabouts in the failed Gibraltar raid, so it wasn't a complete loss. It was also shown that he's fully aware of Sombra's dealings with Volskaya, but let it happen because he's part of a faction that sees Katya as an unknowing ally.

* After a disastrous reception to the first Anniversary event (viewed as being dedicated to getting players' money rather than thank them/celebrate ''Overwatch''), the second iteration was much bigger in scope, allowing player to replay all the event modes, giving them access to all event contents for the Anniversary, making it truly feel like a celebration of Overwatch's existence.
* The 2-2-2 role enforcement[[labelnote:*]]See WinBackTheCrowd for further details[[/labelnote]] was especially important for the Overwatch League, which had seen its viewership fall off a cliff due to the dominant triple-tank, triple-support meta turning what were once fast-paced showcases of skill and teamwork into slow, plodding wars of attrition that were about as interesting as watching paint dry. While it's yet to be seen what the role enforcement will do for the League in the long run, almost everyone has agreed that just about ''anything'' would be better than the much-maligned "Goats" era.[[note]]Some have speculated that the introduction of role enforcement was Blizzard effectively activating the nuclear option against the "Goats" meta after multiple rebalancing attempts, which involved nerfing the "Goats" heroes and buffing their counters, all failed to rein it in. This theory gained further steam with Jeff Kaplan's SuspiciouslySpecificDenial that the update was not intended to combat any specific meta in the Developer Update that announced and explained the new system.[[/note]]

** Another issue with Pharah's cultural portrayal was her "Thunderbird" and "Raindancer" skins, which were criticized as offensive appropriation of Native American culture when placed on an Egyptian character. The devs eventually clarified in an artbook that her unseen father is Native American, and the skins are therefore celebrating the other half of her heritage.

* A common complaint about the story of ''Overwatch'' was that it was taking [[ArcFatigue forever]] to get to the current story about the return of the titular organization. After over a year of virtually no info, Blizzard released the ''Rise and Shine'' short starring Mei. The ending, where she gets the recall signal from Winston and sets out to rejoin Overwatch, was definitely a move to advance the story forward. The ''Honor and Glory'' short also finds a balance between explaining past events while also moving the plot forward by interspersing Reinhardt's history with the present day, ending with Reinhardt explicitly accepting the call, and it was welcomed with open arms. While there's still a lot more to go, both of these shorts released in 2017 were very clearly setting up the hyped return of the heroes at long last.
* A lot of fans felt that Hammond's backstory felt incredibly silly and nonsensical even for the world of ''Overwatch'', to the point of breaking WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. One of the biggest complaints was about Hammond's pod "hitching" a ride with Winston's shuttle via a thin cable without Winston noticing. The Echo patch in 2020 then added a voiceline between Wrecking Ball and Winston which provides further explanation: Winston ''did'' notice that his shuttle had extra drag and was confused about it, but by the time he'd lifted off, it was too late to do anything about it.

* After months of complaints about lack of healer variety following Doomfist's release, Blizzard released two healers — first Moira, then Brigitte — one after the other, alleviating a lot of them and placating many fans.

* ''Overwatch 2'' addresses a massive long-term complaint regarding the PowerCreep of crowd control and shields, drastically reducing the presence of such in not just Tanks (primarily by shifting the game from [=6v6=] to [=5v5=], allowing only one Tank per team), but also in others like Sombra, Mei, and Brigitte. While the one-Tank limit remains [[BrokenBase a contentious decision]], the effects were immediately noticeable come the game's first beta, and some of the biggest early praise came from how gameplay became more built around individual mechanics to fight enemies than [[PaddedSumoGameplay simply using abilities to stop them dead in their tracks]]. All the while, most of the Tanks themselves -- many preserving their preexisting crowd control and shields, but most reworked to behave more like aggressive brawlers than static anchors -- were able to become much more defined by their personal strengths without having to compromise for the sake of synergies with other Tanks, gaining praise as being much more fun.

* ''Overwatch 2'' addresses a massive long-term complaint regarding the PowerCreep of crowd control and shields, drastically reducing the presence of such in not just Tanks (primarily by shifting the game from [=6v6=] to [=5v5=], allowing only one Tank per team), but also in others like Sombra, Mei, and Brigitte. While the one-Tank limit remains [[BrokenBase a contentious decision]], the effects were immediately noticeable come the game's first beta, and some of the biggest early praise came from how gameplay became more built around individual mechanics to fight enemies than [[PaddedSumoGameplay simply using abilities to stop them dead in their tracks]].

* For more than a year, the very last hero that sported voiceline interactions with other characters was Ashe (and even then, ''only'' with [=Cassidy=]). This became a major point of contention with fans and was typically pointed out as proof that Blizzard had gotten "lazy" since development of the sequel began. The patch that introduced Echo also brought along a number of new voice interactions, especially for Baptiste, who otherwise had ''no'' connections or history with anyone else before confirming that he was an acquaintance of Mercy's.