I feel like it’s been a while since we’ve had some special loot boxes to grind for so I’m elated to see the drought coming to an end. Blizzard announced this week that the next timed event coming to their massively popular hero-shooter, Overwatch, is slated to begin next Tuesday.
The Summer Games event returns with new cosmetic content and changes that fans who played the Summer Games event last year will be excited to learn about. The Summer Games 2016 event was the first of a series of events that took place over the course of the first year of Overwatch, and one of– if not the only– reason people were upset was that all of the special event cosmetics were not able to be purchased by the in-game currency. All of your event unlocks were at the mercy of luck and how much grinding you were capable of and were interested in doing. Every event since then has always given players the option to purchase the exclusive loot, and this time around Blizzard is looking to rectify that misstep.
All of the cosmetic content that was included in the original Summer Games event will be making a return to the game and will be able to be purchased at a discounted rate. While all of the new Summer Games content will follow the same price structure of the events before it. Here’s a helpful breakdown:
2017 Summer Game Cosmetic Content:
- Legendary – 3,000
- Epic – 750
- Rare – 225
- Common – 75
2016 Summer Games Cosmetic Content:
- Legendary – 1,000
- Epic – 250
- Rare – 75
- Common – 25
I’ve heard some people in the Overwatch community share their frustration with the return of the 2016 cosmetics stating that it removes some of the value of being a long-time Overwatch player in regards to those items. Although, I understand their frustration, the first time around lacked the option to purchase them with in-game currency which meant that myself– and I’m sure many others– missed out on some amazing skins. Not to mention, if you look at the hours I’ve logged in Overwatch, I would speaking mendaciously if I said that I didn’t try.
Will Blizzard do this for every returning event going forward? That, they didn’t say. What would be an interesting way for Blizzard to combat this going forward with future returning events would be to offer some of the original content but in a variant color scheme.
The other major focal point of the Summer Games event that has me and just about everyone else I know who plays Overwatch pumped, is the return of Lúcioball. For those of you unfamiliar with Lúcioball, it’s basically Rocket League with Lúcio. For those of you who don’t know what Rocket League is — shame on you– it’s basically soccer with cars. And for those of you who don’t know what soccer is– oh well.
Lúcioball will return with a few new features, including a new arena for Lúcioball which will bring the Summer Event game mode to Australia. Changes to how Lúcio’s ultimate works as well as the removal of Lúcio’s ability to boop players round out the major changes to the mode. In order to balance the returning mode and remove cheap tactics to win matches, his ultimate now just makes him jump higher and move faster– basically, Super Lúcio!
The other addition to Lúcioball, is the inclusion of a competitive Lúcioball mode titled, Copa Lúcioball, which will run for the duration of the event. Players who place in the top 500 in Copa Lúcioball will also be rewarded with a special character spray to commemorate the feat.
Look for Overwatch’s next event, Summer Games 2017, to run from August 8th until August 28th on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. You can watch the whole developer update below.
Pass The Controller 