The first seasonal event of Overwatch is now underway, and it’s pretty dang awesome. Lucioball is a ton of fun – it’s basically Blizzard’s first-person shooter take on Rocket League, and it really gives off a summer Olympics kind of vibe. The new character skins are looking pretty spiffy too, and the entire Overwatch cast looks like they’re ready to have some sporty fun in the sun.
There’s just one problem. The Loot Boxes.
With Summer Games 2016, Blizzard has kindly redecorated the Loot Boxes to give them an Olympics shine. I recently hit level 50, and to be honest, opening the same white and grey Loot Box was getting a little dull. However, the Summer Games theme really made it look new, and receiving Loot Boxes started to feel exciting once again. If only they contained items that players actually wanted.
In this seasonal event, there are over 100 new cosmetic items that you can earn for your characters. These include sprays, icons, and of course, glorious summer skins for your favorite characters. The thought of unlocking new and unique skins for my characters was so enticing that I immediately jumped into the game and started playing Lucioball. But things aren’t as simple as they seem to be.
Each summer Loot Box will contain at least one Summer Games item. This means that there’s a very high chance that you’ll receive a random Summer Games cosmetic item (with there being over 100 new items, the chances of you getting the one you want are very slim), and three other regular items that you don’t care for. Actually, my experience with the new Loot Boxes has mostly just been me receiving a somewhat nifty summer icon, two voice lines for Reaper (who even uses Reaper, ugh), and duplicate items that I’d already unlocked previously.
To make matters worse, you won’t be able to purchase summer cosmetic items with in-game currency either. You’re essentially leaving your fate to the higher powers of RNG. Sure, you could spend money to buy Loot Boxes, but even then, there’s no guarantee that you’ll easily get the summer items you want from the 50 Boxes you just bought.
Honestly, things wouldn’t be so bad if there wasn’t a time limit on the seasonal event. But there is. The Summer Games will end on August 22, which means you only have three weeks to earn all the Loot Boxes you can before time runs out. With there being over 100 new items to collect, coupled with how potentially tough it can be to gain one single level, you’d have to be really extremely lucky if you want to unlock that cute summer skin for Tracer.
Thankfully, there’s a simple solution to this, and it’s one that I really hope Blizzard decides to implement. The solution is this: make the summer Loot Boxes contain only the summer-themed cosmetic items. The Loot Box menu in the game already categorizes the Loot Boxes as regular and summer ones, so it certainly would make a lot of sense for the summer Boxes to only reward you with the new items.
Regardless, Overwatch’s new Lucioball mode is a ton of fun right now, even if I am feeling a bit salty about not being able to buy D.Va’s summer skin. The Summer Games and the reskins it’s bringing to the game really do give it a refreshing feel, but things could be a lot better if the Loot Boxes were improved.
