Breaking the Cycle: Overwatch 2's Symmetra Event Fails to Impress

Despite attempts from Overwatch 2's game director, Aaron Keller, to address any misconceptions about upcoming content, the game remains a topic of controversy in the gaming world. The decision to scrap the promised long-term progression of Hero Mode has led to some players boycotting the game entirely, and Blizzard is currently working to regain the trust of its playerbase through developer updates, a fresh content roadmap, and new challenges. However, only time will tell if these efforts will be successful. As part of their efforts to bring players back, Overwatch 2 recently launched the Symmetra's Seeds of Order event, following the Starwatch: Galactic Rescue mode which mixed PvE and PvP components in a non-canon plotline. While the Starwatch challenges were completed quickly and left players without incentive to continue, the tasks in Symmetra's Seeds of Order campaign were also found to be too easy and completed too quickly.

Overwatch 2 Events Need to Avoid Repetition

There were differing issues with the return of the Battle for Olympus mode and the Symmetra's Seeds of Order mini-event. The former was criticized for its demanding challenges and unsatisfactory rewards, while the latter seemed to have overly simplified tasks. The Symmetra mini-event consisted of six challenges that lacked personality, requiring only the completion of 24 games with wins granting double progress. On the other hand, the Battle for Olympus event's LTM asked players to earn 2,100 eliminations on different heroes to obtain all seven titles, resulting in some players feeling frustrated with the time-consuming challenges. This could be Blizzard's way of making free skins more accessible after the criticism of microtransactions for most skins upon Overwatch 2's release.

Blizzard needs to be cautious with its play-to-earn skins model, which may resemble mini-events in Overwatch prime. While players may enjoy receiving new skins, voice lines, and souvenirs, the Symmetra Seeds of Order campaign may have lacked depth with its oversimplified challenges and lack of an overarching theme. Despite this, there is potential for future events with the upcoming co-op story missions and the first Overwatch Pride event, which will focus on cosmetic rewards but could expand to include new game modes and special voice lines in the future.

The studio is facing challenges, but Overwatch 2's upcoming events will need to captivate players in order to succeed. Despite past difficulties, the franchise has persevered and the addition of new heroes, reworks, and story missions may be enough to keep players invested. Overwatch 2 can be played on various platforms including PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.