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Blizzard has done the impossible - it's got gamers liking loot boxes . No, not because it improved upon the controversial microtransaction, but because it replaced them with something even worse: the [[https://Overwatch2tactics.com/ Overwatch 2 skins|https://overwatch2Tactics.com/]] 2 battle pa
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Kiriko is the newest Support character, which probably conjures in your mind the image of a squishy healer who hides in the backline and keeps the team healthy. But Kiriko is not a passive Support by any stretch, and healing is only one small part of her role. She has incredible mobility thanks to her passive walk climbing ability and teleport, which allows her to pass through solid objects to instantly appear next to her team. Her weapon, a set of 12 kunai knives, deal bonus damage to crit spots, giving her the damage output potential of a sniper. She can also heal using her Ofuda and cleanse allies with her Protection Suzu. She is a healer, but she’s also a lethal assassin who can backline almost as well as Genji, Tracer, or Sombra. There is a breaking down of rigid roles happening in Overwatch 2 that completely reshapes how we are supposed to approach team p
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My old mains just aren’t fun anymore. Playing Mercy with well over 15,000 healing in lower ranks, keeping the team alive, resurrecting vital players, and helping push the payload, all while avoiding the focus of the entire enemy team, only to get a Cassidy spamming "I need healing" halfway across the map, is annoying ; __ Lucio is fun but doesn’t always work on defence maps, and Bridgette depends on the synergy with the rest of your squad. Kiriko, however, lets me stand on my own two legs in fights, easily jump to my allies with her teleport ability so I can catch Cassidy being a prick and save him, and heal as standard. The versatility is unlike any other hea
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And then you get her cleanse ability which is perfect for tight spots where your healing just isn’t enough anymore. The amount of tanks I’ve saved in clutch moments in quick play with it is amazing and keeps the action going rather than leaving me helpless and doomed to sit in spectate while the overtime ticks down. Chuck in her ult that makes not only you heal and attack faster but your allies too, and she’s solidified as the best healer since Ana, but without the barrier to entry of using a sniper. I’m not very good at sniping, never mind juggling that and healing, so Kiriko is the perfect alternat
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Of course, single-player gets me back instantly. I love Overwatch’s aesthetic and it plays well, even if I’m not on a level to dominate every match-up. Being able to make my way through a campaign, flitting between heroes, going at my own pace, not worrying about teammates… that all sounds like the ideal way to play. I get Agents of Mayhem vibes from it all, and as one of planet Earth’s few Agents of Mayhem defenders , that’s no bad th
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I didn’t care much when Overwatch 2 launched. I fell off the original game a while ago, and it seemed like switching to a sequel when the game functioned perfectly in the live-service space was not only a bad idea, but downright irritating to players who needed to transfer over their data, own the correct type of phone, not to mention that the original version was shut down forever. Despite all that, I’ve been hooked back in like a Roadhog victim, but I’m not sure how much longer that can last. I think I’m ready for the single-player campaign now, ple
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It’s going to take awhile before we really understand what all of the changes in Overwatch 2 add up to. Even as someone with more than 600 hours played, I’m still trying to figure out what the transition to 5v5 actually means. Right away it was clear that Overwatch 2 is a much faster game. Fewer shields and abilities that CC means more movement, more big plays, and more snowballs. Skilled players have a much better chance of carrying games now, which means heroes with low TTK are even more valuable than ever before. This is the sense I got right away, but what solidified this belief was the design of the three new characters. Sojourn, Junker Queen, and especially Kiriko represent a commitment Overwatch 2 has to independence and personal performance. I’m still undecided on whether that will be better or worse for the game in the long run, but it’s clear Blizzard has rebuilt the game with a focus on the individual over the t
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New support hero Kiriko has finally been added to the competitive pool following a two-week absence to allow everyone to get used to the new game. She was still available to play in other modes - as long as you had Overwatch 1, bought her through the premium battle pass, or grinded the standard pass up to tier 55 - but she was kept out of competitive to give the pros time to adjust to hero twe
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Whether I bother in competitive with support is up in the air right now. It’s still a headache dealing with angry and ungrateful teammates who splinter across the map and somehow expect to get healed all at once, but at least now I’m enjoying the role again. The rush of scrambling to a critical marker to fill up their health bar while fighting back enemies is exhilarating in a way you just don’t feel with DPS, and the key role you play in ensuring your team’s survival is a wholly unique responsibility. I doubt I’ll ever be a Mercy main again or voluntarily choose healer with my friends when Roadhog and Orisa are right there for the taking, but at least I know that if I gotta pick healer, I have someone I’ll actually enjoy play
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