As is expected every year in January, Blizzard has brought back its Lunar New Year event, launching today for the first time in Overwatch 2. This time, the game is celebrating the Chinese calendar with the Year of the Rabbit. While the Overwatch team is focused on advertising login rewards, Twitch Drops, and limited-time modes, you might notice that there is only one new skin for the event, and it’s an Epic-tier skin at that. Besides Mei’s new Hu Tou Mao skin that dresses her in red and gives her a bunny ear hat, everything else has already been in the game before.
Currently, you can buy bundles for old D.Va, Mercy, Genji, Zarya, and Pharah skins that relate to the seasonal event. Moira’s previous Masked Dancer Legendary skin can be earned through Twitch Drops, and you can also get Echo’s old Kkachi Legendary skin by completing four new challenges that will have you compete in the annual Capture the Flag or Bounty Hunter modes.
Luckily, it seems that the requirements for challenges have been toned down from previous events, with the criteria looking much more doable than the Battle for Olympus event. Other rewards from these challenges include a Lucky Pouch weapon charm, a Year of the Rabbit Spray, and a Year of the Rabbit Name Card.
While the content here is fine for new players and players who skipped previous Lunar New Year events, veteran Overwatch owners are mostly getting left out during this event. Unless you like the Bounty Hunter and Capture the Flag modes, there isn’t much reason to pursue the event content. It is expected that previous skins will always return for the game’s annual events, but the way that Blizzard has handled things so far, there has been a sharp decline in new things to excite returning players.
Overwatch events have been feeling stale for years now, with the recent Halloween Terror being a big exception. With this being the first Lunar New Year event in Overwatch 2, this could be a hint that Blizzard is running out of ideas to make these annual events worthwhile. If that is the case, hopefully, they can pivot and start introducing new events that aren’t necessarily tied to holidays.
