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Love them or hate them,Overwatch 2has made a bold decision as it enters its 15th season of competitive play:Loot boxes are back in the game. Loot boxes, which wereremoved when the game went free-to-play in 2022, faced controversy both in the United States and worldwide, andeven prompted the Federal Trade Commissionto host a workshop to “examine the consumer protection issues surrounding loot boxes in video games” in 2019.
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With such controversy from the early days of loot boxes in mind, therevamped loot box system in Overwatch 2appears to be much more transparent (so far). For example, they can not be purchased directly with real-life money, as, at the time of this article, there isn’t a way to buy loot boxes from the shop. Instead, you’ll earn loot boxes through gameplay, in-game events, weekly challenges, and yes - the battle pass.
The new loot box system also features duplicate protection and a guaranteed legendary drop every 20 boxes you open. Read on below to learn more about Overwatch 2’s new loot box system, and how you can begin earning loot boxes.
New Loot Box System, Explained
As in the original version of Overwatch, Overwatch 2 loot boxes guarantee a random assortment of four drops per box - ranging from character skins to player icons, with everything in-between. You are guaranteed at least one rare (blue-quality) item per regular loot box, at least one epic (purple-quality) item per five loot boxes opened, and at least one legendary (golden-quality) item per twenty loot boxes opened.The new loot box landing page even features a convenient tracker for how many boxes you’ve opened so far, so you always know how far away you are from that elusive legendary box.
You are guaranteed at least one rare (blue-quality) item per regular loot box, at least one epic (purple-quality) item per five loot boxes opened, and at least one legendary (golden-quality) item per twenty loot boxes opened.
In a push for transparency,Overwatch 2 developers shared in an official blog post that"When opening loot boxes, we want to be transparent in your chances of getting various types of cosmetics. In addition to the below drop rates, to ensure you always have a chance to receive some truly great items, we are guaranteeing that a Rare or better item will drop in every single box, with an Epic item within five consecutive boxes and a Legendary item within twenty consecutive boxes."
The drop rate for Regular and Legendary loot boxes is as follows:
Regular Loot Box
Legendary Loot Box
Legendary: 5.10%
Legendary: 100%
Epic: 21.93%
Rare: 96.26%
Common: 97.97%
As previously mentioned, this new loot box system also offers duplicate protection. Now, if you roll a duplicate, the system will automatically reroll that item and give you an item of equal value that you don’t already own and, if you do somehow already own every cosmetic in the game, you’ll instead receive progress towards your next loot box.
Earning Loot Boxes
There are a number of ways to earn loot boxes in Overwatch 2, and best of all, the methods currently in the game are free (with the exception of purchasing the premium battle pass for an additional 2 Legendary Loot Boxes.) Completing weekly and event challenges, which refresh regularly, and simply playing games to level up your battle pass tier are ways that you can unlock additional loot boxes.
Exclusive to Season 15,you can also “earn up to an additional 10 loot boxes each week by completing up to 15 games with wins counting as double.” If you have loot boxes to open, you’ll be able to tell from the Overwatch home screen, where a number will be displayed next to the loot boxes.
you’re able to choose to open all of your loot boxes at once, or open one and save the rest for later, but note that all loot boxes must be opened before the season concludes.Any unopened loot boxes you have left when the season ends will automatically be opened by the system, so no loot box hoarding will be allowed.
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