Overwatch's new faction wars event has been flipped on its head after Blizzard Entertainment dangled Jetpack Cat cosmetics in front of players' noses, once again proving the evergreen power of cats as an internet carrot on a stick.
As part of its huge rebrand consisting of five new heroes, Overwatch is trying something new when it comes to narrative events. Every week, players will be able to pledge their allegiance to either Overwatch, the good guys, or Talon, the not-so good guys, to complete quests and earn exclusive rewards themed around each group.
In a Helldivers 2-coded twist, the entire community's progress during the fictional war is tracked in-game as well. At the time of writing, Talon agents only account for 40.97% of quests completed while Overwatch heroes banged out 59.03% of total quests – a stark difference to last week when everyone turned their backs on Winston and bowed down to Italian mob queen Vendetta.
Why the sudden switching of sides? What could spur so many turncoats in the space of a mere week? Jetpack Cat cosmetics, that's what. No one tell the world's powers all you need to win a war is to offer folks two cat-themed player icons, one voice line, and one name card to join the fight. It clearly works. Oh, and also a lootbox. This is Overwatch, after all.
Unlike Helldivers 2, the results of the faction war won't have any real impact on Overwatch's ongoing, multi-season narrative arc that's going to take place across the rest of the year. So, don't expect the cat to be killed off if Talon suddenly wins a week, as much as it would brighten the day of all those damned Jetpack Cat banners. Still, it's a fun way to add some flavor to what used to be standard daily and weekly challenges.
Elsewhere in Overwatch cat land, Blizzard this week tried to clear up Jetpack Cat's backstory with a new motion comic about the flying feline's origins, but pretty much everyone agrees there's something fishy about a furball that can operate militarized tech. Duh. Should Blizzard continue tying event rewards this closely to fresh lore dumps, you can expect a lot more flip flopping between Overwatch and Talon in the coming months. I, too, am now a deserter.
Determined not to lose the Overwatch players it just won back, Blizzard turns on the free loot tap as server issues plague the hero shooter’s big return event
