Since Overwatch 2 launched in October, Blizzard's Hero shooter has been entertaining fans with various limited-time events. Just a few days ago, the game's annual winter event Winter Wonderland came to an end, and recently the Battle for Olympus event kicked off. However, it has not performed as well as others for several reasons, including its extreme difficulty. Battle for Olympus' challenges require a lot of time and effort and the rewards may not satisfy veteran players.
This new event, based on Greek mythology, offers players the opportunity to play an alternative all versus all deathmatch mode. Battle for Olympus has shortened the selection of playable characters to seven heroes (Ramattra, Roadhog, Reinhardt, Junker Queen, Pharah, Widowmaker and Lucio). All of them have become Greek gods, heroes, and monsters, and have a special and divine variation of their ultimate ability. There are other features of the mode as well: games will take place on Overwatch's Chateau Guillard map and will have some special mechanics such as armor packs.
Battle for Olympus Asks Too Much of Players
The new Battle for Olympus event has only just started, but it has already sparked some criticism within the community. The main complaints are that the challenges are too difficult, and the rewards are disappointing. To get one of the event's badge titles, the player needs to achieve no less than 300 kills in the new mode with the corresponding hero. This means players need 2,100 kills in total to earn all seven titles. As one can only get a maximum of 20 kills per game before the event ends, a minimum of 15 games must be played to get each title, finishing first in all of them. The mode runs from January 5th until January 19th, and considering the event ends after just two weeks, that's an exorbitant amount that'll result in an unfun and time-consuming grind, even for those who enjoy the mode.
It seems that many members of the Overwatch 2 community believe that Battle for Olympus is a bit of a letdown, with some calling it possibly the worst in the franchise's history. In one Reddit thread addressing this controversy, some users have called the mode boring and unbalanced. Others have underlined that the challenges of this event really encourage the idea of grinding with each character needing 300 kills and have also pointed out that the rewards are paltry. In addition, they have highlighted that the goals are harder than the previous Winter event even though it's way shorter.
Since 300 kills is such a huge amount in a mode that earns so little EXP for the OW2 Battle Pass compared to unranked play, Blizzard would be wise to cut down the requirement by at least half, if not considerably more. While this would be for the best, it'd be a dramatic shift for an event that's already live, and given the brief duration of the event, odds are low that these numbers will be changed.
It's true that Overwatch 2 has had several memorable moments in the few months since its launch, but the game has also had its fair share of controversy and difficulties. In addition to the difficult launch, Overwatch 2's microtransaction shop prices have also upset fans, with some even calling for the return of the original Overwatch's loot boxes. Balance is also an ongoing issue for much of the community, as they continue to call for changes to Roadhog and Widowmaker, while recent changes to Moira have also proved controversial.
Overwatch 2 is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.