Calling all OW2 players – another gameplay mode has just been announced as scrapped. This time, the Overwatch 2 Hero Mastery mode has been caught in the crossfire and will now be discontinued, as confirmed by the devs in a recent blog post.
We all know where this is going, right? The long-term Overwatch Veterans definitely have some trauma regarding the big PvE cancellation that broke the hearts of many. But this time, perhaps the shift is a step in the right direction.
Overwatch 2 Hero Mastery Will Soon Expire For Good
To be fair, Hero Mastery just hasn’t been the most popular game mode from the get-go. It was launched with just a handful of courses available for specific heroes, meaning not everyone got a chance to try mastery for their mains.
In addition to that, new courses didn’t exactly roll out all that frequently and were often overshadowed by more exciting additions each season. Truth be told, Hero Mastery really didn’t stand a chance. It was a fun concept for sure, but it really didn’t offer enough for players to stay invested.
There were very limited rewards that could be earned from completing courses and Hero Mastery-themed challenges. Additionally, there was no leaderboard reset every so often to draw players back in to competing over high scores, so everything kind of…fizzled out.
Here’s what the OW2 devs had to say about this topic in particular:
layers have until the end of Season 18 to complete the Lifetime Challenges for Hero Mastery and compete on every course’s Top 500 leaderboards. After the end of Season 18, all Hero Mastery Courses that have been released will be no longer be available.
This also means we will not be releasing any further courses for any additional Heroes. If you need a great reason to jump in the courses one more time, we are going to be granting an Epic Loot Box and exclusive Player Title for anyone who completes or has already completed Mastery I and Mastery III Lifetime challenges, which will be available to earn when Season 18 launches.
As stated by the devs, players have just one more season of Hero Mastery left (Season 18). At the end of Season 18, the mode will be removed from the game, no more future courses will be released, and all previous hero courses will be unavailable.
This leaves players with limited time to complete Hero Mastery-related challenges for specific rewards such as victory poses, player titles, and more.
To offer players a bit of an incentive towards jumping into Hero Mastery one last time before the game mode ceases to exist, there are also some Loot Boxes up for grabs. Players can earn an Epic Lootbox as well as a themed player title so long as they complete the Mastery I and Mastery III Lifetime challenges, kicking off on Season 18.
While it’s never great news for the community to see a game mode go bye-bye in Overwatch 2, it does seem like the right move to make considering how much work has been going into other areas following the launch of Perks and Stadium. And hey, while it may be short, at least we players get the chance to tie up any loose ends we may have with the Hero Mastery mode before it turns to dust.
Here is a complete list of every Hero Mastery course that has been released in Overwatch 2.
Every Hero Mastery Course in Overwatch 2
- Mercy
- Lucio
- Reinhardt
- Mei
- Tracer
- Soldier: 76
- Sojourn
- Kiriko
- Winston
- Cassidy
- D.Va
- Brigitte
- Echo
- Pharah
- Genji
- Ashe
- Zarya
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