At launch, many people complained about the presentation of Pharah's background (lack of Egyptian voice lines, 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 supposed to also show she is half Egyptian.
Another issue with Pharah's cultural portrayal was her "Thunderbird" and "Raindancer" skins, which were criticized as offensive appropriation of Native American cultures 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.
Symmetra's outfit in Overwatch does nothing to indicate her occupation, abilities, or personality and seemingly only exists to push a fanservice aspect that does not match to who she is. Luckily her Overwatch 2 look is the most warmly received redesign out of the cast. Not only is it less revealing (that would fit in with her characterization much better), it is also much more heavily inspired by her country of origin India.
Gameplay:
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*See Win Back the Crowd for further details was especially important for Overwatch esports, 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 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 Suspiciously Specific Denial that the update was not intended to combat any specific meta in the Developer Update that announced and explained the new system.
Overwatch 2 addresses a massive long-term complaint regarding the Power Creep 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 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 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 to play.
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 — 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. While the unlocking system is similar in concept to other free-to-play games with unlockable heroes like Valorant or Apex Legends, it was widely panned for Overwatch due to how it handles its hero-centric gameplay, leading to accusations of encouraging a Bribing Your Way to Victory dynamic, in addition to blunting the hype for new heroes as 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 releasenote Brief mandatory tutorial level for newcomers notwithstanding.
