Though a 6v6 test will take place in Season 14, Blizzard has just decided to launch Overwatch: Classic on OW2, giving players the chance to experience the game just as it launched eight years ago.
Admittedly, the game has been upgraded extensively over the years since it went live, and there are some things you can only do in Classic that you won’t be able to do in the latest iteration of the sequel. Here are just some that you should try out in the next three weeks while OW: Classic is active:
Have a Complete Team Made of Just One Character
In Overwatch 2, teams are only allowed to have two damage, two support, and one tank. Back in the days of the original Overwatch, teams could be anything anyone wanted, and they were even allowed to have one team comprised of just one character—which was a nightmare for other players to take on. Imagine fighting a team full of hard-to-kill Winstons or entering a fortified fortress of Torbjorn turrets.
The game eventually switched to having only one of each character allowed on the field, eventually locking people down to specific roles. It’s a lot harsher now, but the open queue did allow anyone to switch roles mid-fight if they felt something wasn’t working.
Symmetra’s Carwash Turrets (and Other Removed Abilities)
Overwatch emphasizes different play styles for characters, but Symmetra felt like she needed constant fixing—from the number of turrets she was allowed to her ultimate ability.
One annoying habit players liked to do was plant six turrets in a doorway so anyone foolish enough to walk in was killed instantly—this is what the community called Symmetra’s Carwash, and it was even said to have been an achievement in the game.
Sym’s teleporter ultimate also allowed any killed player to instantly spawn back into the capture point—which made it comparable to Mercy’s resurrection. Speaking of that…
5-Ressurection Mercy
Overwatch 2 Mercy may be allowed to resurrect one hero at a time, but originally, she was allowed to resurrect an entire team (as long as they were all near each other) as part of her ultimate.
While the skill was useful, developers noticed that players would often hide as Mercy and wait for their entire team to be killed, only for them to swoop in and do a big team resurrection, negating the success of a Team Kill.
When this was removed, there was much pushback, but many players agreed that the rework was best for the character.
One-Hit-Kill Scatter Arrow Hanzo
Everyone likes to poke fun at sniper characters being terrible, and Hanzo was the very face of the joke. Besides needing a lot of skill to play, Hanzo also had this Scatter Arrow ability that players managed to abuse.
Intended initially to scatter arrows into a room when they hit a wall, players realized they could one-shot kill enemies by aiming for the ground at the enemy’s feet and having all the arrows hit one target.
The Most Evil Incarnation of Mei
Mei is one of the most innocently branded characters in the game, but early Overwatch players knew her as the face of evil. She used to be able to freeze players in their tracks and take them out with an icicle—and add salt to the wound; Mei would act all cutesy when delivering ice-cold death.
Mei’s ability was essentially nerfed just to slow down opponents, but there are Mei mains who miss being able to ‘Sub-Zero’ opponents on the battlefield.
After you enjoy the classic experience and jump back into OW2, you can also take a look at our heroes tier list to see which heroes dominate the current meta.