Everything you need to know about the Overwatch 2 issues and bugs preventing you from playing the game and how to fix them.
After months of anticipation, Overwatch 2 is finally here. Unfortunately, several issues and bugs are plaguing the release of Overwatch 2, preventing players from discovering this new version of Blizzard’s FPS. Here is a list of all known Overwatch 2 issues and bugs and how to fix them.
Overwatch 2 Queue Issues
If you have tried playing Overwatch 2 lately, you may have noticed a weird bug with the queueing system. The queue would go from a small number to a more significant number, making you wait even longer than you expected. So if you have been waiting 30 minutes to clear the 60,000 players ahead of you just to get bumped behind an additional 20,000, it’s perfectly normal – at least, according to Blizzard.
The reason behind this queue bump is that there is not one queue, but two. The first one goes through Battle.Net, while the second is within the game itself. It means you will first wait for Battle.Net to let you in Overwatch before actually queueing to play the game. This process is always happening, except it’s not supposed to be visible to players. For some reason, it was visible in real time.
The Overwatch team made some changes to simplify the queueing process, so you should only see one queue before entering the game.
Overwatch 2 Server Crash
After waiting forever to clear the queue of players ahead of you, you can finally launch the game. But after a few minutes, the server crashes. If that sounds familiar, don’t worry: you are not the only one experiencing server issues in Overwatch 2.
The launch of Overwatch 2 brought a large number of players wanting to discover this new version of Blizzard’s FPS. However, that was a bit much for Overwatch’s servers. It led to some stability issues, causing some players to disconnect as they are already in a game.
Blizzard already patched the servers to increase login reliability. Another server update is on the way to further improve the stability and ease the pressure on the player database. However, this may take some time. Blizzard is adding nodes to help regulate the flow of players, but doing so requires replication of data, adding more pressure to an already stressed system. To avoid blowing everything up and causing everyone to disconnect, the Overwatch team is implementing this system slowly but surely. While this won’t help in the short term, it will improve the experience for players moving forward.
SMS Protect is not working
Blizzard seems pretty fond of mobiles. After the infamous “do you guys not have a phone?” from the Diablo Immortal presentation during BlizzCon 2018, the company is back at it, this time requiring a valid phone number to play Overwatch 2.
However, several players have issues with this SMS Protect feature in Overwatch 2. The most important one is that several players reported that Blizzard doesn’t support pre-paid phone plans for its SMS Protect in Overwatch 2.
Blizzard decided to remove the phone number requirements for a majority of existing Overwatch players. If you have connected your Battle.Net account and have played since June 9, 2021, you don’t need to provide a phone number to play Overwatch 2.
But if Blizzard removes the phone requirements for existing players, new accounts still have to meet SMS Protect requirements. According to Blizzard, this feature is meant to prevent players with bad behavior from creating new accounts after being banned. However, this also stops several players from joining the Overwatch 2 hype, as users with pre-paid phone plans cannot register their phone numbers. Blizzard has not yet addressed this issue.
Missing items after account merge
If you already played the original Overwatch, then everything you previously unlocked should carry over to Overwatch 2. However, some players reported that their in-game inventory was partially or totally reset.
Luckily, this is simply a merging issue: you haven’t lost any of your precious in-game content. In most cases, you can quickly fix the inventory bug by completing your account merge.
To merge your console account to Battle.Net, follow these steps:
- Login to Overwatch from your console account.
- Follow the on-screen prompts to scan a QR Code on your mobile phone.
- Enter the code displayed on your console to connect to or create your Blizzard Battle.Net Account.
- Once complete, you will be prompted to confirm your account upon the next game login to merge your accounts.
The Overwatch team revealed there was a bug preventing the account merge prompt from appearing on some consoles. Luckily, you can merge your accounts manually, even without this prompt, directly from your computer by heading to the Battle.Net Connections page.
If your inventory is still missing items after your merged your account, the issue is probably on Blizzard’s side. You won’t lose any of the in-game content you unlocked, but it may take longer for your inventory to transfer from the original game to Overwatch 2. Blizzard will deploy a client-side fix next week to correct this bug and is also looking into server-side solutions.
Locked Heroes for existing players
Overwatch 2 makes a distinction between existing and new players. Those who discover Blizzard’s FPS with Overwatch 2 go through the First Time User Experience, a sort of tutorial that progressively unlocks heroes. This is meant to guide new players as they discover the game, without giving them over 30 heroes at once and losing them in the process.
However, there is a known issue where some existing players can’t access all heroes. If you played Overwatch 1, you should be able to discover Overwatch 2 with little to no limitation, picking the hero you want to play.
If you want to fix this issue and unlock all heroes on Overwatch 2, try relogging into the game. In most cases, this fixes the First Time User Experience bug and lets you enjoy Overwatch 2 to the fullest. If you are still experiencing this issue after logging out and in again, open a support ticket to get additional assistance from Blizzard.
On top of these Overwatch 2 bugs and issues, Blizzard suffered from DDoS attacks upon the game’s launch. These attacks disrupted the traffic on Overwatch’s servers, which were already saturated by players. While Blizzard no longer suffers from these DDoS attacks, it caused delays in fixing some of the bugs plaguing the game at launch.
Blizzard is currently investigating all Overwatch 2 issues and bugs. They should be fixed shortly, so if you can’t access the game right away, make sure to take a look at our Overwatch 2 heroes tier list to be ready to win your first games as soon as you can launch them.
