Overwatch 2 gamers who are brand name-new to the franchise — which means people who never ever performed the primary Overwatch — will want to devote substantial time with the sequel to unlock the game’s current roster of 32 heroes. Blizzard Entertainment mentioned Tuesday that as portion of Overwatch 2’s “first-time user knowledge,” new gamers will unlock the game’s modes and all primary Overwatch heroes “over the program of roughly 100 matches.”

Blizzard cited “consistent opinions from new gamers experience overcome by quite a few sport modes and heroes” in a blog post conveying how the game maker ideas to accommodate an inflow of newcomers with Overwatch’s free of charge-to-participate in transition.

Overwatch 2’s initial-time consumer working experience will quickly unlock all game modes and in-recreation chat, Blizzard said, but new gamers will will need to get 50 matches in Brief Participate in mode to obtain Aggressive video games and full about 100 matches to unlock almost all of the game’s people.

Blizzard stated most of individuals new-participant limitations are lifted when actively playing in a team “so new gamers can group up with their close friends at any time to engage in pretty much any match modes,” with Aggressive method currently being the exception. Players moving from the original Overwatch to Overwatch 2 will have access to 34 out of the game’s 35 heroes at start. (New support hero Kiriko is further restricted by Overwatch 2’s fight move.)

Current Overwatch gamers can also anticipate some improvements in 2, as points like player portrait borders, player concentrations, and Competitive ability tiers will no for a longer period display in video game. Overwatch’s Endorsements are also remaining streamlined, from 3 options down to just one.

Overwatch 2 gamers of all stripes will also facial area a new necessity: Starting Oct. 4, Overwatch 2’s start working day, gamers will require to have a telephone variety attached to their Battle.web account to play. That characteristic is known as SMS Safeguard, and is described as an extra layer of protection aimed at avoiding cheating and other negative player behaviors. Blizzard states that the phone range connected to a Battle.web account “cannot be employed on numerous accounts at the identical time, and players simply cannot use the very same cell phone number to create many accounts,” and that “certain varieties of quantities, together with pre-paid out and VOIP, can not be employed for SMS Shield.”

Activision Blizzard strategies to apply the very same SMS Defend technique for Call of Duty: Fashionable Warfare 2, which also launches in October.