Jeff Kaplan, the Game Director of Overwatch, discusses what he thinks about the new progression system and why it is not being changed yet.
Give the system more time
Since Overwatch has entered its second closed beta phase, fans (or at least those with beta access) can benefit from a new system. Reward boxes can unlock skins, spray logos, and emotes. In an interview with pcgamesn, Jeff Kaplan, the Game Director of the game, commented on Overwatch’s progression system and how satisfied they are with it so far. We have summarized the most interesting statements from the conversation for you here.
Even special cases want to be rewarded
The focus is also on players who do not benefit from the current system and are rather demotivated. Kaplan tells about a streamer who plays “Reaper” all day simply because he loves this character. And although he already has a high level, he has not received a single unlock for his favorite hero yet. Kaplan acknowledges that this is frustrating. Partly, they hope to solve this with the currency that is given whenever you have already duplicated an item from a box – which can also be used to unlock certain objects of “wish”.
There is no randomness in Blizzard games
It is also interesting that in Blizzard games there is never “random” loot.
“I think one thing is particularly noteworthy, and I won’t go too much into detail, but we are the ones who also made World of Warcraft, Diablo and Hearthstone. I can definitely say that there is no random loot in our rewards, no matter what people think. There is only the illusion of randomness. Sometimes we do a better job of the illusion than in other cases.”
This refers to Hearthstone, where it was revealed a few months ago that the number of particularly pretty rewards increases the more packs you open. Overwatch will have a similar system.
No hasty steps
However, on Reddit and in the forums, comments are loud that the system is too slow. As the level rises, the rewards become increasingly rare, which is slowly causing frustration among players. Many wish for a modification of the system, so that one gets a “small” box after each won game, containing only a single item (as “Paladins” does, for example).
“I want to look at the statistics in two weeks and then again in four weeks.”
They are grateful for any feedback but want to first see how things develop as more and more players reach a high level.
For more information about the game, as well as our first impressions from the beta, you can find on our Overwatch topic page.
