What To Expect From Overwatch’s 2020 Anniversary Event
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Although the official patch notes haven’t been released yet, Blizzard always likes to drive hype for its events by giving out teasers on Twitter.
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Every May, Blizzard celebrates the launch of its first-person shooter MOBA Overwatch with an in-game Anniversary event. This year, the event runs from May 19 to June 9, giving players three weeks to collect as many seasonal skins, emotes, sprays, voice lines, victory poses, and highlight intros as they can.
Although the official patch notes haven’t been released yet, Blizzard always likes to drive hype for its events by giving out bits of information on Twitter. We can also guess at what may be coming by using past Anniversary events and potential leaks as guides. So, what do can we expect from Overwatch’s 2020 Anniversary event?
Skins, So Many Skins
As with previous Overwatch Anniversary events, new skins will be added to the game. So far, the official Overwatch account on Twitter has confirmed that Mercy, Ashe, Wrecking Ball, Reaper, and Zenyatta are getting new legendary skins, but other characters may get epic skins as well.
Much like Symmetra’s dragon skin from the 2017 Halloween Terror event, Mercy’s new legendary design borrows elements from the dragoon build in Diablo. Considering the dragoon build consists mostly of leaping and flying maneuvers, this homage fits the angelic heroine nicely.
Ashe trades her hat for a scarlet cloak with a Red Riding Hood skin, B.O.B. turning into a wolf in granny’s clothes to match. Clearly, Ashe’s version of the fairytale is a bit different. Why slay the wolf when she can make it her lackey?
Meanwhile, Hammond continues to be the adorable little hamster he is as he emerges with a navy uniform and mustache from his submarine mech. Prepare for at least a few nautical puns in chat once every Wrecking Ball player dives into the enemy team with this skin.
Reaper gets a lore-based masquerade skin, referencing the Talon-centric comic he appeared in by the same name. With this skin, you can strike fear into the enemy team and dazzle them with your fashion sense at the same time.
Lastly, Zenyatta’s legendary skin reflects Huitzilopochtli, the patron god of the Mexicas.
Now, you may be wondering: why did Zenyatta, a character who’s supposed to represent a buddhist monk, get a legendary skin depicting an Aztec god of war? Why didn’t a character like Sombra, who’s a Mexican assassin, get it instead?
Well, in addition to being the primary war deity in ancient Mexico, Huitzilopochtli was also god of the sun. Zenyatta already has a few non-seasonal legendary skins related to the sun and sun deities, so Blizzard likely thought it would be more in-theme for him to have the skin. Plus, Sombra already got an impressive legendary skin in the 2020 Lunar New Year event, so she likely won’t get anything too fancy anytime soon.
Free Legendary Lootbox
As with previous events, you can get a free legendary Anniversary lootbox just for logging in to Overwatch during the event. It’s guaranteed to contain at least one legendary item, so even if you don’t get exactly what you want, you’ll at least get a decent amount of coins or a rare item out of it.
All Brawls Return
The Anniversary event in Overwatch is often the most hyped because it unlocks all items from previous events and brings back seasonal brawls for three weeks. You can play Lucio Ball, Halloween Terror, Winter Wonderland, Capture the Flag, and Overwatch Archives story missions while the Anniversary event is live.
Different game modes will rotate in the arcade daily. If you missed out on any of these brawls, you can play them to unlock various achievements, player icons, and sprays. The return of the Archives story missions will also give you the chance to brush up on some Overwatch lore before Overwatch 2 comes out, which could be later this year.
Unlock (Most) Items
The Anniversary event is also your opportunity to grab all those cosmetic items you may have missed during previous events. This includes skins, emotes, sprays, voice lines, highlight intros, and victory poses. Many of these items are discounted from their original price as well, so you’ll be able to get more while spending less.
However, any item not associated with a specific in-game event will still be locked. This includes items such as Overwatch League skins and sprays, BlizzCon-exclusive skins (marked with a B stamp next to the skin’s name), and the Pink Mercy items. None of those items can be obtained with coins, either, as many of them were only available for a limited time, or can only be purchased with real currency.
Gameplay Adjustments
There are likely to be a few changes to the game once the Anniversary event starts. Event patches frequently come bundled with balance changes and bug fixes, so as always, expect a slight shift in the meta.
A quality of life improvement may be coming to Overwatch during the Anniversary event as well. At the bottom of this leaked screengrab, you can just barely make out a heading that says “Feature Update: Improved Communications Wheel” at the bottom.
Jeff Kaplan, the lead designer of Overwatch, had talked about improving Overwatch’s communications wheel in a developer update in April. The idea was to help players communicate easier en lieu of voice or text chat. With the Anniversary event, we now have the chance to experience a new way of interacting with one another non-verbally in the game.
If nothing else, Overwatch’s 2020 Anniversary event will celebrate all four years of the game’s life and the players who made it what it is today. Those who enjoy the game will surely enjoy the event as well.
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/overwatch-anniversary-event-2020-guide-skins/