Overwatch 2 players get free cosmetics, 2XP weekends to make up for downtime

Overwatch 2’s launch has been a rough one, with players suffering from disconnections, server downtime, and bugs, like being locked out of the game’s full roster. On Tuesday, Blizzard Entertainment said it has “largely stabilized the game overall” and plans to continue addressing issues. It’s also handing out some free cosmetics and planning double match XP weekends to “help make up for any lost time.”

Players who log in to Overwatch 2 from Oct. 25 through the end of season 1 — which should run through early December — will get the Cursed Captain Reaper legendary skin and a Health Pack weapon charm for their troubles. And players looking for a boost to their battle pass grind will get “several” weekends with double match XP boosts, though Blizzard hasn’t announced dates. It’s also not clear the extent to which experience will be boosted; Blizzard specifies match XP, which implies that experience will not be doubled for, say, daily and weekly challenges, which pay out thousands in XP.

Blizzard’s mea culpa for Overwatch 2’s rough launch will, at the very least, be a salve for players hoping to get more of the game’s skins for free. The vast majority of skins coming to Overwatch 2 now require paying for and completing the game’s battle pass, or buying them outright from Blizzard’s in-game shop. Prices in the latter portion of the game are steep, ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 Overwatch Coins, or about $10 to $20 in real money. Earning Overwatch Coins is a slow grind in game; players can only earn a maximum of 60 per week.

The developer said it plans to run a new Halloween-themed event, Junkenstein’s Revenge: The Wrath of the Bride, from Oct. 25 to Nov. 8. The mode appears to be a variation on the long-running cooperative brawl mode that ran during Overwatch’s Halloween Terror event in years past. The Wrath of the Bride will seemingly usher in new spooktacular skins for Overwatch 2 newcomers like Junker Queen and Kiriko, who are getting executioner- and witch-themed cosmetics for the event.