Season 4 just dropped for Overwatch earlier this week and on the surface it looks like a pretty run of the mill update. We’ve got the new Tank hero D.Mon, a few map reworks, plus the usual balancing tweaks and cosmetics you’d expect with a new season.
However, Blizzard has also dropped one of the biggest updates to the Battle Pass system that we’ve seen in years, and it’s pretty much all for the better – especially when you look at what’s coming in the mid-season.
Instead of using a linear track, players can now choose from one of several branching paths to invest their XP in. While the number of total unlocks remains the same, this new method gives players more agency in which cosmetics they unlock first, allowing them to prioritise skins for heroes they’ll actually use.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Blizzard didn’t invent this Battle Pass system. Call of Duty has used a navigational system for years, Battlefield 6 also lets players spec into different trees, and even Fortnite has different tracks for players to pick from.
However, Blizzard has added its own spin on the system by letting players ‘hack’ the final reward at the end of a tree. This lets you swap that final cosmetic out for something else entirely, picked from a pool taken from the Item Shop.
This hack can only be used once per Battle Pass, but it’s still a great addition that gives players a little more bang for their buck in a piece of live service content that they’ve paid for.
This is all pretty good stuff, but it’s actually pretty small fry compared to what Blizzard is planning for half-way through Season 4. The developer is promising to make Battle Passes permanent purchases, meaning there’s no longer any pressure to complete all of its tracks before the season ends.
That also means older battle passes will be returning with previous purchases being restored to players accounts. So, if there’s a past battle pass that you didn’t manage to fully complete, you should now have the opportunity to go back and finish it.
Players will be able to choose which battle pass they funnel their XP towards, so you should never lose out on any rewards. There’s currently no confirmation on which battle passes will be returning, or if only specific ones will become available again for now.
Still, as someone who praised Halo Studios for introducing the same feature in Halo Infinite, I’m extremely excited to have another crack at unlocking those higher-tier cosmetic items that I thought were lost forever.
Is this new Battle Pass feature in Overwatch enough to get you playing again?