Overwatch has a nice loot box system that always leaves players wanting more. Nearly all of the money Overwatch brings in is from its loot boxes and the players can get legendary skins, emotes, sprays, etc. from them so players are always looking to spend a quick buck on one.
One problem that has plagued the system is the amount of duplicate items players get. I wouldn’t consider myself a hardcore Overwatch player by any stretch, but in my experience with the game, I find myself getting duplicates of emotes and voice lines quite often. I haven’t run into a duplicate legendary skin yet, thankfully, but I’m sure there are some people out there who have that issue with constant duplicates.
Overwatch is testing out a new change with their new Public Test Realm patch, focusing in on the loot box duplicates. Just to be clear, this patch is only live in the PTR, which is a PC exclusive feature that allows players to test out the new changes before they officially go live. This loot box change will not apply to the Xbox One, PS4 and PC versions of the game as of yet.
Here is what Blizzard wrote out in today’s PTR patch:
We always want the experience of opening an in-game loot box to feel exciting and rewarding, and in our latest patch we’re working to improve that experience in two key ways. First, we’re drastically reducing the amount of duplicates players will receive when opening loot boxes. Second, to compensate for this reduction of duplicate items, we’re also increasing the overall amount of credits players will receive from loot boxes. On average, players should be earning just as many credits, if not slightly more, from loot boxes than they did prior to these changes.
To help us test this update, all players who log in to the PTR this patch cycle will receive five (5) PTR Loot Boxes. These are standard loot boxes that will only be available on the PTR. Any items earned from loot boxes or unlocked via credits on the PTR will not transfer over to your live account.
Overwatch will be boosting the amount of credits you earn in loot boxes, which can be used to buy additional skins and the like, as well as cutting down on the duplicate drops. This sounds like it has a good chance of making it to the official game rather quickly, but it could receive some minor tweaks between now and then. As for now, it’s hard to find any solid cons with this idea, so count us in.
You can read the full PTR patch notes right here.
