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So, I slept on Overwatch for six months, paid it no mind at all. Then Blizzard announced that Tracer's gay, and I bought the game (on sale) for me and my sibling. I then proceeded to spend the next 40 hours maining Tracer. (Mercy and Reinhardt were there when I couldn't justify that. Don't worry.)

One of the nameplates Overwatch released for Pride. Tracer, silhouetted in black, runs on a light yellow background. The streak of light behind her, usually blue, is colored as the pride flag.

Thankfully I've branched out since then. I have, at time of writing, 740 hours in the game. (I get real into it for like a week and then don't touch it for months.) Mercy is now my most played character, followed by Tracer, D.Va, and Pharah. Then there's a pretty big group around the same playtime. I jump around a lot.

But I'm back into it again because, you guessed it, Pharah's canonically gay now and I said tonight we will eat at Blizzard. (Don't eat at Blizzard. They suck.)

Of course. I'm not playing Overwatch anymore, rather Overwatch 2. Real piece of shit. Where Overwatch 1 cost $40 and had loot boxes, Overwatch 2 is free to play with a battle pass. Now don't get me wrong, loot boxes are inherently evil and designed to create a gambling addiction. But Overwatch's loot boxes were exclusively cosmetic and were handed out pretty regularly for free so I'm gonna let 'em slide. I generally felt they were pretty reasonable and on only one occasion did I buy any.

(I spent $50 on loot boxes to get Tracer's Graffiti skin (basically the only good skin she's ever had) before the event ended and I missed it. I spent this money with the knowledge that I would end up with enough coins to buy the skin even if the RNG didn't favor me. (Which I think it didn't. But I don't remember.) I didn't and don't feel bad about this. (Though I Do regret not putting the 50 down in the first place. Instead I spent 10, didn't get it, and went back for more (which gave me less loot box per dollar, of course). Which of course looks sunk-costy and predatory and I'm not arguing that. But I was in a position to spend the cash, and like I said, 700 hours in this game I have spent a total of $70 on, I don't feel bad about it.))

Tracer in her graffiti skin. She wears a light blue hoodie, hood up, dark blue paint-splattered leggings, and light blue sneakers. She's also wearing a mask with goggles and a respirator, and her chronal accelerator, a glowing harness on her chest. It's a very cute outfit.

Now though, with Overwatch 2, they decided to make the game worse at every turn and Also add the world's shittiest battle pass. Most battle passes will pay for themselves if you commit to finishing them. Overwatch's, instead, offers literally 0 of the paid currency. Truly shit, Blizzard.

What most upsets me about this is that I had all the non-event white and blue rarity unlocks (the commons, basically) ('cept for the newest heroes). I was gonna get back in and go hard someday during the Anniversary event (which let you earn unlocks from Any event) and just get all that good shit (loot boxes wouldn't drop repeats (though I think they used to originally)). And now I'll basically never have them. It fills me with such regret T_T. I skipped the last one without realizing what that meant.

Moving on from my rational and growing hate of Blizzard, Overwatch good. It's the only online competitive game I've gotten into extensively (I've gotten into Fall Guys since it went free to play (which They did almost reasonably, even), I guess, but apples and oranges imo). Games of that sort are not generally my jam.

This might be because I am not Good at games, merely determined. (Not to discount my skills; I recognize that I have an innate understanding of games and muscle memory and such from spending so much time playing them, that more casual players are lacking. I can see a p huge difference in the way my siblings and I play games, for example (no shade). But like, twitchy action stuff is not something I'm particularly good at.) This is enough to carry me through single player games, even "hard" ones, but it doesn't help me much against other humans who Do have twitchy action skills.

(This has left me in silver on the rare occasions I've bothered to place in competitive. Which is a shame, because I'd like to think I have the game sense for gold, just not the aim. Which of course probably isn't true considering I'm a Mercy main. (I also find listening to mics overstimulating and hard to understand for dumb brain reasons and I think if I had the luck to find a team that speaks clearly it would go a long way. Excuses, excuses.))

Even with my lack of skill I enjoy Overwatch a great deal. Is there a better high than making the support fall in love with me as DPS just by paying attention to them? Saving someone from an ult with D.Va's Defense Matrix? Keeping my whole team alive as Mercy? (I am a support main in my soul. Mercy mains love me, not to brag. On a related note, I'm really enjoying Lifeweaver, now that I've unlocked him.)

I don't know what else to say about the game but I'll probably think of more to add later. I'm still in Overwatch mode, spending a Lot of time on it right now. Anyway Pharmercy for life. I legit think they're gonna make it canon soon.

Two sprays from Overwatch edited to overlap. Pharah and Mercy are flying through the air together. Pharah wears blue armor that evokes a bird of prey, and fires off her Concussive Blast. Mercy wears a white and orange suit that gives her angelic wings, and holds her healing staff.