TL:DR
I had OW1 at launch, it was a good game that, over time, got Blizzard'ed into the ground with awful game balance and even worse marketing. And OW2 simply continues that trend by making the game even slower (5 players per team max instead of 6), having absolutely no game balance, being completely focused on competitive (Casual is just no-matches all the time, you either steamroll the other team or you get dominated), and worst offender of all by completely axing OW1 without any form of compensation, scamming all OW1 players, forcing them to either spend even more money or painfully grind for hours on end to get a single hero unlocked.

---------- Full review ----------
I'll preface this by saying I won't talk about Blizzard in general. There are a lot of bad things going on in this company, but I will not talk about any of them here, as they do not concern the game itself. I will only talk about the history of OW and the current state of the game. With that out of the way, where to start with this absolute nightmare of a game.

I used to own OW1 when it launched. While for me it was just yet another FPS game, what it did was very well done. Good FPS with classes that complement one another very damn well. Casual was nice and fun, and if you wanted to test your skill, competitive was there for it. Everything was well and good.

Then you remember that Blizzard made the game, and you know this won't last.

Over time, Blizzard got absolutely focused on the competitive aspect of the game, making casual not fun at all. Matchmaking was a joke, there was no fun to be had, it was just "Ah, the game lasted 30 seconds because the other team couldn't get out of spawn" or "Ah, the game lasted 30 seconds because we were completely overpowered by the other team". The only real way to play the game was competitive. And wow, was it toxic, and of course it was, since now casual players had to join them, and of course they weren't trying as hard as the competitive ones.

And while they were focused on the competitive side, they still managed to botch it spectacularly. Nerfing weak heroes, buffing strong ones, and adding game mechanics that made no sense or were completely busted. The game was basically a meta-hell, where the game would drastically change from one update to the next, and all you could do was adapt and play the only 6 viable heroes of the moment.

This trend lasted for pretty much the entire game's life. And now here's OW2, maybe some hope for them to fix what they did wrong!

No. Of course not. They made things much, much worse for everyone.

Promises on top of promises, a permanent PVE mode, a completely revamped game, yadda yadda, you know how it ended: no PVE, the game is still the same old thing, it's just a normal update.

Actually, no, it comes with a new monetization system! A very bad one! Why is that? Well, of course, it's because OW1 DOESN'T EXIST ANYMORE. So what, they go to a freemium system, shouldn't that be all too bad? It is. It very much is. You paid for OW1? Well, sucks to be you, all the heroes you used to play are now paywalled! Either spend even more cash or grind the ever-living hell to get just enough currency to get a new hero! It shouldn't be too bad, it's just 35 victories, right? Yeah, 35 victories, considering that you obviously won't win them all and that a game can last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes now that the game is 5v5, making it slow as hell to finish just one game. So now you need to grind for around 20 hours for just a single hero.

"But that's the past, new players can still enjoy the game as it is now" you might say. Back up and see how OW1 was handled. Even if it's a fresh start for a new player, do you really think Blizzard will spontaneously become a good company that makes good decisions to support their game? Do you really think that new players will enjoy the game they just began to play if it gets completely annihilated with more dumb game balance updates? No, they won't. The one and only reason the game is now on Steam is because the game is dying, and they're making a last-ditch effort to get the money from the few people that do not know better.

So please, for the sake of old players, for the sake of the AAA game industry, and mostly for your own sake, do NOT play this game, do NOT give Blizzard any of your money, and do not make them think this kind of behaviour is okay, or Blizzard and other companies will just keep doing it.

---------- Edit 21st August ----------

Blizzard is now claiming the reviews aren't relevant to the game and are the result of review bombing. No Blizzard, they're not, they're the result of your actions that have directly impacted the game. 90% of the negative reviews are relevant to YOUR game. Be better than that, and address the problem accordingly.

TL:DR I had OW1 at launch, it was a good game that, over time, got Blizzard'ed into the ground with awful game balance and even worse marketing. And OW2 simply continues that trend by making the game even slower (5 players per team max instead of 6), having absolutely no game balance, being completely focused on competitive (Casual is just no-matches all the time, you either steamroll the other team or you get dominated), and worst offender of all by completely axing OW1 without any form of compensation, scamming all OW1 players, forcing them to either spend even more money or painfully grind for hours on end to get a single hero unlocked. ---------- Full review ---------- I'll preface this by saying I won't talk about Blizzard in general. There are a lot of bad things going on in this company, but I will not talk about any of them here, as they do not concern the game itself. I will only talk about the history of OW and the current state of the game. With that out of the way, where to start with this absolute nightmare of a game. I used to own OW1 when it launched. While for me it was just yet another FPS game, what it did was very well done. Good FPS with classes that complement one another very damn well. Casual was nice and fun, and if you wanted to test your skill, competitive was there for it. Everything was well and good. Then you remember that Blizzard made the game, and you know this won't last. Over time, Blizzard got absolutely focused on the competitive aspect of the game, making casual not fun at all. Matchmaking was a joke, there was no fun to be had, it was just "Ah, the game lasted 30 seconds because the other team couldn't get out of spawn" or "Ah, the game lasted 30 seconds because we were completely overpowered by the other team". The only real way to play the game was competitive. And wow, was it toxic, and of course it was, since now casual players had to join them, and of course they weren't trying as hard as the competitive ones. And while they were focused on the competitive side, they still managed to botch it spectacularly. Nerfing weak heroes, buffing strong ones, and adding game mechanics that made no sense or were completely busted. The game was basically a meta-hell, where the game would drastically change from one update to the next, and all you could do was adapt and play the only 6 viable heroes of the moment. This trend lasted for pretty much the entire game's life. And now here's OW2, maybe some hope for them to fix what they did wrong! No. Of course not. They made things much, much worse for everyone. Promises on top of promises, a permanent PVE mode, a completely revamped game, yadda yadda, you know how it ended: no PVE, the game is still the same old thing, it's just a normal update. Actually, no, it comes with a new monetization system! A very bad one! Why is that? Well, of course, it's because OW1 DOESN'T EXIST ANYMORE. So what, they go to a freemium system, shouldn't that be all too bad? It is. It very much is. You paid for OW1? Well, sucks to be you, all the heroes you used to play are now paywalled! Either spend even more cash or grind the ever-living hell to get just enough currency to get a new hero! It shouldn't be too bad, it's just 35 victories, right? Yeah, 35 victories, considering that you obviously won't win them all and that a game can last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes now that the game is 5v5, making it slow as hell to finish just one game. So now you need to grind for around 20 hours for just a single hero. "But that's the past, new players can still enjoy the game as it is now" you might say. Back up and see how OW1 was handled. Even if it's a fresh start for a new player, do you really think Blizzard will spontaneously become a good company that makes good decisions to support their game? Do you really think that new players will enjoy the game they just began to play if it gets completely annihilated with more dumb game balance updates? No, they won't. The one and only reason the game is now on Steam is because the game is dying, and they're making a last-ditch effort to get the money from the few people that do not know better. So please, for the sake of old players, for the sake of the AAA game industry, and mostly for your own sake, do NOT play this game, do NOT give Blizzard any of your money, and do not make them think this kind of behaviour is okay, or Blizzard and other companies will just keep doing it. ---------- Edit 21st August ---------- Blizzard is now claiming the reviews aren't relevant to the game and are the result of review bombing. No Blizzard, they're not, they're the result of your actions that have directly impacted the game. 90% of the negative reviews are relevant to YOUR game. Be better than that, and address the problem accordingly.