The best and worst battle passes of 2022 from Overwatch 2 to Fortnite

Ah, the battle is over. Once a feature seemingly reserved for battle royale, it’s now as ubiquitous in the gaming industry as everyone else. Favorite MC Dribless. In the past year or so, franchises like Hello And the Overwatch It embraced the battle card for the first time, likely in the face of evidence that the live service format leads to higher revenues (last year EA stated that only a third of its profits came from the initial sale of full games). They join an extensive list of live service titles with extensive (and expensive) battle passes, from appraisal to me rainbow six sig to me Rocket League. No wonder why 2022 feels like the year of the battle pass.

Battle cards are often released as a way for gamers to get more content from their games, but we all know it’s a way for developers to keep the money flowing. However, despite the transparent monetary acquisition, there is he is Value in these Battle Passes – some more than others.

So what makes a good fight pass? Again, value is key – many games with battle passes offer a new game every few months, and purchasable cosmetics are often available. the outside One of those passes that may attract players to spend more money. As such, it can be easy to spend more on a straight-forward title than you would on the tag price of a full game, so it’s imperative that these high-cost schemes are worth their weight in V-Bucks.

The best battle passes offer a combination of high-quality cosmetics and the incentive to advance along the battle path, whether that’s because completing them will net you particularly shiny cosmetics or because you’ll earn enough to get the next pass without dipping into your wallet (or, even better, both). . But different game passes have different kinds of value, whether that value lies in resources, cool cosmetics, or the chance to progress at your own pace. So, I’ll give them superlatives like this prom. I really punched the punch.

Best bang for your buck: Fortnite
Cost: $8

Say what you will about the Epic Games Store, however Fortnite He has a very powerful battle pass. For 950 V-bucks (a 1000 V-buck pack costs $8), you can get some great cosmetic items and earn more than enough to secure your next season’s battle pass without spending a dime. This may be Fortnite Cleverly attractive to its younger audience, but it’s easy to progress along the battle pass without being a pro shooter – you can earn XP through various missions and objectives that don’t necessarily require getting 50 headshots or winning 10 matches.

In addition, the cosmetics offered are of high quality: skins, backpacks, weapons – all things that can be seen when playing and have this special feature. Fortnite The flash that makes them feel especially deserving. As the cheapest battle pass on this list, Fortnite It is definitely the best value.

Most improved: Apex Legends
Cost: $10

Like its definition, the Apex Legends The battle pass has seen some ups and downs since its inception back in February 2019. The battle royale had progression issues in its first year, with Respawn often tweaking things to add value to players’ time. At first, halfway decent climax A player can easily feel disenfranchised, who would have preferred victories over anything else, but now that there are other modes outside of the battle royale that offer a chance to progress along the battle lane, even the worst of us can earn some cool shit and feel good. To do that.

Good Apex Legends The seasonal battle pass can get you a nice selection of goodies without having to spend more than the cost of two oat milk latte. However, cosmetics can be … rough. Every season has a theme, and sometimes those themes translate poorly to cosmetics. But when seasons do hit, they hit hard – like the latest one, which is all spooky witches, stars, spiders, and some of the best seasonal skins I’ve seen in a while (tHis one ash is particularly good). And since you can earn enough coins through paid Battle Pass levels to ensure you don’t have to pay for the next level, you can ostensibly buy one Apex Legends Battle pass, grind, and you’ll never have to buy one again. That’s a good pass.

Most understanding: Genshin effect
Cost: $10

Genshin effectThe battle card is generous, it is cute. If you don’t want to shell out the extra money for a paid tier in any given month, don’t, because the weapons waiting behind those tiers never change. No matter when you purchased the pass, or which version of it is available to view, you’ll still be unlocking the same weapons that players who purchased the battle pass months ago have been using. It’s a nice way to ensure players don’t feel pressured to constantly invest their time and money in the game.

The Genshin effect The battle pass is also a powerful way to get resources, grow your characters faster, and get more goodies for everything you want to do in the game. But the thing about it is that it’s completely optional – you won’t feel like you’re missing out unless you do, which is crucial.

Most likely to make you uninstall: Monitoring 2
Cost: $10

The players were shocked when the players were shocked Overwatch The series has ditched the single-buy experience with loot boxes in favor of a free-to-play sequel with battle passes, and the rage is yet to come Monitoring 2 It has been launched and more details have been revealed (Some have even called for the return of the loot box). Not only did Blizzard reveal that it will be locking new heroes behind the battle pass (And all the other future heroes), but it soon became apparent that progressing along the paid card wouldn’t earn you enough Overwatch Coins to buy the next piece.

And if you pay the money for the battle pass, you get a very average set of cosmetics. In the Season 1 Pass, there are only nine skins available across 100 levels, many of which are completely uninspired – like two military skins for Winston and Sojourn and Pharah’s skin that doesn’t stand out from her current skins in any demonstrable way. Much of the Battle Pass is dedicated to new cosmetics like weapon enchantments (which you should look at past in order to actually play as they dangle from your weapons or hands strangely) and souvenirs (which are just big things you can buy out of thin air as a new kind of emote) in addition to your standard emotes, player tokens, victory poses, and voice lines.

But my biggest complaint is the aforementioned inability to earn enough by applying for the next battle pass for free. This is a low blow, blizzard. Changes are comingbut not this year, so I guess I’ll just sit here and talk about it until then.

most likely: infinite aura
Cost: Newest free, previous $10

infinite aura It lets you choose any of his battle passes to progress, and they never expire. This is a nice feeling, allowing players to pay for a pass and work to complete it at their own pace – for those of us who can’t pass levels with reckless abandon, this is an act of goodwill from 343 Industries.

But the fact that I Can Progress along any of the Battle Passes I purchased at any time does not mean that I Wants To — because most of what they offer is nothing short of ugly.

Perhaps my bias is showing, as I think the Hayabusa armor is from Halo 3 to be on top Hello Cosmetics, however infinite aura Customization options Passing the battle feels like halfway through. Unlocks are basically just a bunch of unsaturated parallelograms you can pick up on your Spartan bit by bit – you only earn pieces of armor per battle pass level, so there’s a left shoulder here, a right wrist there, so you get a Hasbro-together soldier Boring little. shading, it is supposed to provide a Destiny 2– The choice of color schemes for your shields are so dull and similar that I can’t really tell most of them apart.

I’m not a huge fan of the contents of the latest battle pass (it progresses reach the aura The 343 inspired cosmetics and take on the iconic Master Chief helmet, but yawn), but it’s a welcome change. The current battle pass only has 30 levels, and it’s completely free, because the team wanted to test match XP as a new progression system, and give disappointed fans some freebies. there Positive feedback coming from 343 industriesand I’m excited to see some exciting content streaming on the tube.

Most featured: Call of Duty Warzone 2.0 / Modern Warfare II
Cost: $10

After sticking to tradition with her previous fight, the The latest iteration of Call of duty Swinging for the fences. “Unique” in this sense doesn’t necessarily mean good — after all, that’s what every college breakup with me is referring to — but Activision’s attempt to re-jump the battle lane is commendable.

with entry Warzone 2.0 A battle pass came to be more than just a timeline, with a collection of items set across an untold desert mountain range. The name of the game here is selection, as you decide which sections of the tac map you want to use your tokens towards. I bent the hell out of the southeast section of the map so I could get a new dagger skin, and used every token I had unlocked in the sections leading up to it, but ignored the top half of the map, which provided skins for the operators. Do not use.

It’s a clever way to give players some agency over how they spend their time and money, even if it’s a little confusing at first (and most cosmetics are boring right now). It’s unclear if the new tac map battle pass will stick, but it’s a great experiment with what’s fast becoming a pretty boring formula.