A year ago, to the date, Overwatch was released for the world to devour. No one would expect that the hero-based, first-person-shooter from Blizzard would sweep the world, gathering over 30 million players across all three platforms as well as multiple awards. The game opened up competitive avenues for hundreds of players the world over (even though Blizzard is holding information about the Overwatch League close to their chest) and with that we saw the Overwatch World Cup and multiple seasons of the OGN Overwatch APEX tournament.
To commemorate the important milestone, Blizzard, under the direction of Jeff Kaplan, has dropped the largest assortment of aesthetic items for players to earn from loot boxes, as well as three new maps and numerous tweaks. Players will get a free loot box for just logging in (only the singular free one I’m afraid) and they will also get the chance to earn a loot box by winning a round of the revamped 3v3 and 1v1 modes. Loot boxes can also, of course, be earned through levelling up.
The amount of new aesthetic items is, however, a point of contention for a lot of Overwatch players, specifically the amount of in-game currency needed to earn all the unlockable items. The total amount needed would be 50,000 coins, an astonishing amount, considering players only have three weeks to earn that much. As a result, many would be turning to their wallets to buy more loot boxes. Whilst fans can debate about Blizzard milking the completionists inside us (this is a company that needs to make money), fans can all agree that the event related skins, emotes, player icons and more are fantastic.
Each of the twenty-four heroes in the game will be getting their own dance emotes, each of which is different. Meanwhile, ten heroes will also be getting legendary skins. Furthermore, all heroes will also be receiving their own sprays and voice lines, with loot boxes also containing anniversary-themed player icons.
Three new arena maps have also made their way to the game, intended for us in 1v1, 3v3 and custom games. The three maps are Necropolis (which has an Egyptian theme and is apparently the hideout for one of the heroes: Ana Amari), Castillo (which is fort that overlooks another map in Overwatch: Dorado) and Black Forest (which is placed on the outskirts of another map: Eichenwalde)
However, the anniversary update did come with a distinct lack of two things fans have been yearning for: a new hero and a new cinematic.
