Overwatch 2 players will need to spend a considerable amount of time with the game before they can revisit all of the franchise’s classic characters, according to a new blog post from Blizzard that explains how original Overwatch heroes are locked as part of the game’s First Time User Experience (FTUE) and can’t be accessed until players beat “approximately 100 matches.” Blizzard says that this was done to ease players into the world of the new game, which was designed as a free-to-play experience.
From Blizzard:
We want FTUE to welcome players more gradually to Overwatch 2, as we’ve seen consistent feedback from new players feeling overwhelmed by numerous game modes and heroes. New players begin with access to a limited set of game modes, heroes, and some other restrictions to onboard them more gradually. The first phase of our new FTUE rapidly unlocks all the game modes and the ability to chat in-game, and the second phase unlocks all the original Overwatch heroes over the course of approximately 100 matches. This focused experience eases new players into the world of Overwatch by teaching them about different modes, rules, and other high-level aspects of the game in an approachable way.
Overwatch 2 launches Tuesday, October 4, as a free-to-play live experience on Windows PC and Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch consoles. Blizzard decided to raise the framerate cap of the game from 400 to 600 FPS after witnessing the power of GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics cards, according to a video shared by NVIDIA last week.