With the release of the Overwatch Anniversary Event came exclusive skins, emotes, voice lines, and sprays, and of course, backlash for how hard it is to get them. Jeff Kaplan, the lead game director, took to the Blizzard Forum to address fans.
The total 108 unlockables will cost players over 50,000 credits (according to Reddit). The Anniversary Event contains 11 legendary skins, 24 dance emotes, 48 voice lines, and 25 sprays. However, if you look at other events in Overwatch's first year you'll find that the cost has almost doubled to unlock all items, while the number of items has not:
- Uprising: 36,825 credits for 95 items
- Year of the Rooster: 37,050 credits for 99 items
- Winter Wonderland: 33,075 credits for 94 items
- Halloween Terror: 31,500 credits for 94 items
- Summer Games: 0 credits for 0 items (32,250 for 72 items if they were buyable)
What's got gamers upset about more unlockables, you may ask? Well the event only lasts until June 12, which means players can either grind until then in the hopes of opening the loot boxes they receive from leveling up, or they can spend money via the game's microtransactions to get loot boxes which still don't guarantee them the skins. Not to mention the fact that it is possible to pull duplicates.
Kaplan took to the forum to let fans know that the developers have been listening to what the community has to say on the topic:
"I just wanted to acknowledge that we've been following the threads about the loot box rewards as they pertain to the anniversary events, other events and loot boxes in general. The feedback and suggestions have been helpful to us. We had a really great discussion yesterday about the feedback we've been hearing this week. While I don't have any immediate action items to report, I thought it was important for you to know that we are listening."
Though the post did not suggest any changes or adjustments to the loot box system in the future, the acknowledgement by Kaplan and his encouraging the community to continue discussing it signal the possibility of change in the future. Maybe one day I will be able to unlock the Dr. Junkenstein skin from the Halloween Terror event.
The Overwatch Anniversary Event is going on now till June 12. If you haven't played Overwatch yet, it is free to play this weekend. You can continue to follow Dualshockers for continuing coverage of The Overwatch Anniversary Event, and you can check out information on the free weekend here.