Overwatch 2

Blizzard Entertainment and their unbridled talent for creating perfection have sprung a unique genre and competitive esports discipline known as “Hero shooter”. Over the past years, this game and genre have gained mass appeal and popularized esports to new heights and audiences. After much anticipation, Blizzard released Overwatch 2 in 2022.

From Shanghai through London to Los Angeles. The world is engulfed in the world of Overwatch 2.

At its most basic level, Overwatch is a First-Person Shooter (FPS). Layered on top of that is a Hero system akin to all Blizzard games, where your chosen champion uses unique abilities to achieve a competitive advantage over the opponents. It’s at the core of Overwatch 2 esports, choosing the right Heroes for the right situation.

Each of these characters, or Heroes, is a different character. They have a unique role in the game, abilities that players can use throughout the match, and more.

Currently, Overwatch has a diverse cast of 35 unique heroes to choose from across three main ‘categories’:

• Damage
• Tank
• Support

Each hero class brings a different dynamic to the game and can complement certain team set-ups while also countering specific OW heroes on the opposing team. Overwatch 2 is now played as 5-v-5. Each team has one tank and two of each of the other roles.

These categories are used to group heroes with similar attributes, like Tanks all having more health or offensive heroes being nimbler, with more attack and less defence. Which role you play determines which heroes you can pick from in-game, so it’s best to specialise in a role. Even within these categories, though, each character brings a unique style of play to the game that may benefit one player more than another. Finding your main, or heroes that best suit you, is key to getting more out of Overwatch 2 competitive and quickplay.

Overwatch Game Modes

The different modes of Overwatch 2 gameplay each a different way to play. Each has a different objective style and brings something of its own to gameplay. These are played in Overwatch 2 esports, but also in the normal game to hone your skills and test your mettle across the different maps.

• Assault is an attack/defence affair, with teams defending or capturing the objectives. Assault contains the standard Overwatch Gameplay of team vs team.
• Control is dictated by the progress meter of each team. Control involves both teams fighting for various control points on the map, once one team maxes out their progress meter they win a point and the next round begins.
• Escort is a fun game mode with a moving payload that one team has to protect and stay within close proximity to in order for it to move to the end destination. The role of the opposing team is to remove players from the payload, freezing it and keeping it away from the goal until the timer is up.
• Hybrid maps are a mix-up of the Assault and Escort modes. They involve the attacking team conquering control points then in succession, escorting a payload to it’s destination. The mode involves a lot of mixing of team comps and heroes and is overall a fun, challenging experience and a welcome addition to Overwatch’s gameplay.
• Push is a new Overwatch 2 game mode. Teams fight to push a robot in the map to the opposing side. Both teams are after the same objective and the robot can even provide cover.

Leveling & the Battle Pass

One of the biggest changes to Overwatch 2 gameplay is the new way of handling cosmetics and items. Players can now unlock them through a Battle Pass. You have to level up in-game to get through this pass. But you also get the prestige of achieving a higher rank in-game, showing off your skill.

Battle Pass

Overwatch 2 has gotten a Battle Pass. This pass features cool new skins for characters, voice lines, and more cosmetics. Players will have to grind up 80 levels of the Battle Pass each Season to unlock everything. Although, they’ll also need to grind quite a bit to unlock the new Overwatch 2 competitive heroes each season too.

Progression: what happens when players level up?

You level up in Overwatch by earning experience points (XP) from matches. Quick matches earn more XP than AI matches as the level of difficulty is increased. Playing in the competitive Overwatch 2 esports mode, there is a ranking system there too. The amount of XP you earn is affected by whether you win or lose a match or through your personal performance in that match.
There are also specific challenges that you can compete for extra XP. These are challenges like “Get Team Kills” or use specific heroes. They offer much more XP than just playing through matches. You’ll need to use Weekly challenges to get through the Battle Pass quickly.

Overwatch 1 to Overwatch 2

The transition from the Overwatch game to Overwatch 2 took a while, with betas and early access easing players in. Now it’s been fully released, though, everyone has made the jump. There are quite a few big differences. The core Overwatch gameplay has  changed with the sequel’s release, moving from a 6-v-6 format to a 5-v-5. The Overwatch esports has been reconfigured a little bit in the lead-up, with the League moving to a different structure in the year before they began testing the sequel. Competitive Overwatch plays pretty differently, too, with one less tank and some interesting new Heroes.

The Overwatch game has a lot more players now 2 has come out. In the later days of the first title, many players were even asking is Overwatch dead? Those concerns are gone now, though. The game has had huge player numbers and is more popular than ever.
The best way to get on top of the differences between Overwatch and Overwatch 2 gameplay is to jump right in. The game is now free to play, so Overwatch 2 competitive is more open than ever!

Unlocked after 50 Quick Play wins, competitive play adds a ranking system into the mix for players to establish themselves in the competitive scene.

This begins with placement matches that decide your starting rank. Then you’ll have to play longer competitive matches to boost your ranking. The rankings are:

• Bronze (1-1,499)
• Silver (1,500-1,900)
• Gold (2,000-2,499)
• Platinum (2,500-2,900)
• Diamond (3,000-3,499)
• Master (3,500-3,900)
• GrandMaster (4,000+)
• Top 500 – among the 500 best players of that region.

This is how you can play competitively in-game. Overwatch 2 esports is a wide world outside of that, though.

Tournaments and Leagues

Over its life, Overwatch esports has grown into a global powerhouse and one of the biggest competitive shooters. The Overwatch League (OWL), is the highest-level global competitive league in Overwatch. Select teams from all across the globe represent their franchises and cities in a regular season consisting of 4 tournaments. That’s followed by the Playoffs, where a champion is crowned at the season’s end. The 2022 Season featured 20 teams from across the globe playing on the new Overwatch 2 competitive build for the first time.

To keep a stable competitive pipeline, Overwatch also features a minor league called Overwatch Contenders and an amateur league called Open Division. Both of the minor leagues are set up in the eight global competitive regions. The idea behind the Contenders and Open Division is to create a path to pro for players seeking to pursue a career in competitive Overwatch. You must master all aspects of Overwatch 2 gameplay to get involved, though.

In theory, you can log in and start playing Overwatch 2 esports today and, within months, represent your team in one of the minor leagues before going full pro and signing with one of the franchised teams in the OWL.

Competitive Overwatch offers plenty of excitement for the viewers, as the fast-paced shooter is intense and unpredictable until the last moment. Overwatch 2 betting plays a vital role in the entire viewership experience. From February until September, matches are available during the regular Overwatch season and Contenders scenes, as there’s no shortage of betting odds.

Additionally, many curated esports betting sites actively support Overwatch 2 betting. Our job is to provide you with up-to-date match predictions and betting analysis throughout the year through our Overwatch 2 News portal.

Fantastically perfected and brilliantly maintained, Overwatch is truly a Blizzard game and lives up to the high standards the company has laid out over a career of spectacular titles. With regular updates and a focus on competitive play, Overwatch looks to set in stone its place in the esports community, becoming a breeding ground for new talent.

It’s cross-platform appeal has developed its audience and manifested support from all regions globally. The title has brought forth unbridled growth for the FPS genre in a competitive sense. Following the release of Overwatch 2, more heroes and skin releases are certainly to come in the following years. With an evolving esports system and massive appeal, Overwatch 2 seeks to become the premier hero shooter in the new decade.