Blizzard Gives Free Overwatch Loot Boxes
By Rory Young 29 December 2016
Blizzard is delivering one final holiday present to Overwatch fans in the form of 5 free loot boxes for all players who log in between now and January 2.
It says a lot that Blizzard, which is currently running World of Warcraft, Diablo III, and StarCraft II, is setting a new bar for online service support with Overwatch. The online multiplayer shooter is constantly receiving in-game content updates in multiple forms, receives out-of-game updates in the form of comics and cinematic videos, and whose developers are in constant communication with the community. What more could a fan want? How about free presents for the holidays?
As a gift to Overwatch players for the holiday season, Blizzard decided that anyone that logs in between now and January 2 will receive 5 loot boxes for free. That’s in addition to the first free loot box that was delivered at the start of the Winter Wonderland seasonal event, for six total. Since the Winter Wonderland event is still ongoing, also ending on January 2, the five loot boxes will be of the Winter Wonderland variety. That means that at least one item in each loot box of rare or higher quality will be from the Winter Wonderland seasonal collection.
While Blizzard hasn’t released the drop percentages of the different loot box rarities, five loot boxes is somewhat of a sweet spot. In five loot boxes a purple drop is extremely likely and a legendary drop is certainly a possibility. Hopefully that means that many boys and girls end up with Yeti Winston, the controversial Mei-rry Mei, Santaclad Torbjorn, Nutcracker Zenyatta and Jingle Tracer! Though it’s more likely that fans will end up with coal in their loot boxes.
Things have been moving fast for Blizzard during this Holiday season and as a result fans have a lot of new content to enjoy. It started with the kickoff of the Winter Wonderland event, which added the new loot boxes full of over 100 new customizations. The event was also joined by a big patch, which reinvented Symmetra into an unstoppable microwaving juggernaut. Then came the lore-heavy holiday comic filled with holiday joy. And finally a “Year in Review” video from project director Jeff Kaplan with plans for the future.
All of that activity from Blizzard was delivered in just the past two weeks. Prior to that there was the buildup to Season 3 of competitive mode and the launch of Sombra, on top of BlizzCon 2016. And in the near future there’s a new map, Oasis, a balance patch and more. Overwatch has become the game that never sleeps and the holiday has become the exclamation point to cap off a great 2016.
Overwatch is currently available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The Winter Wonderland seasonal event is ongoing and will end on January 2, which is also when the free holiday loot boxes offer will end.
