While a lot of Overwatch’s 10th anniversary hype has awkwardly shifted towards Fortnite and its collab over there, Blizzard has heard complaints about its own in-game event and is looking to rectify things.
Overwatch players were quick to voice their frustrations about the 10th anniversary event’s lackluster rewards, so game director Aaron Keller took to social media today to address it and bring some good news about how things are changing.
“We’ve been reading and watching reactions to the anniversary event this week, and they’re fair,” Keller said. ”Ten years of Overwatch is a huge milestone, and we want this entire year to feel like a celebration of Overwatch. While the current Anniversary event is a one-off, we absolutely want to continue delivering goodness throughout this special year.”
Keller acquiesced that “rewards broadly can be more than loot boxes,” and teased more details “down the road,” but for now, Blizzard will be upping the amount of loot boxes players will earn during weeks two and three of the anniversary event that runs into early June.
Community loot boxes will double in week two, and then triple in week three, and decreasing the total number of games required to earn them down to 60, with wins counting as double. Most importantly, though, week three will bring 10-Year Anniversary loot boxes containing four guaranteed Legendary skins, bringing the event-long total up to 10 Legendaries.
“I understand that future rewards don’t make this specific event bigger, but I hope it gives some context for how we’re thinking about this year as a whole,” Keller said. The director teased that Blizzard is “also planning an additional season-long event in Season 3 with even more rewards…while working on other ideas for later in the year”
I do agree with Keller in that the return of loot boxes in Overwatch has led to the team over-relying on it as a way to reward players, so I’m curious as to how the team will take that feedback into account and add incentives beyond the thrill of RNG.
In the meantime, the four new Overwatch skins in Fortnite will have to keep fans sated for the immediate future.
