{"id":88113,"date":"2022-10-05T21:08:06","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T21:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/overwatch-2-launch-plagued-by-lengthy-queues-prepaid-phone-plan-problems\/"},"modified":"2022-10-05T21:08:06","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T21:08:06","slug":"overwatch-2-launch-plagued-by-lengthy-queues-prepaid-phone-plan-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/overwatch-2-launch-plagued-by-lengthy-queues-prepaid-phone-plan-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Overwatch 2 Launch Plagued by Lengthy Queues, Prepaid Phone Plan Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\">\n<p>Overwatch 2&#8217;s free-to-play nature should mean it&#8217;s accessible to all players with a compatible device.  However, a side effect of a new security measure from Blizzard is leaving some users out in the cold.<\/p>\n<p>Over on Twitter, user <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lackingsaint\/status\/1577653381283418117\" target=\"_blank\">Jack Saint<\/a> brought the community&#8217;s attention to Overwatch 2&#8217;s SMS Protect policy, which says all players must connect a phone number to their battle.net account to launch Overwatch 2. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">blizzard isn&#8217;t letting people play overwatch 2 if they have&#8230; a prepaid phone plan?? <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NkVOMuFGDJ\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/NkVOMuFGDJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jack Saint (@lackingsaint) <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lackingsaint\/status\/1577653381283418117?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">October 5, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Blizzard made this news public last week, but the players only began noticing on a larger scale after the game went live yesterday.  According to a news release on Overwatch&#8217;s official website, the SMS Protect functionality is a solution to combat &#8220;both cheating and disruptive behavior&#8221; in Overwatch 2. Part of the release says the following:<\/p>\n<section data-transform=\"object-feedback\"\/>\n<p>&#8220;Starting October 4, 2022, all players across all platforms, including consoles, are required to have a phone number attached to their battle.net account to launch Overwatch 2. The same phone number cannot be used on multiple accounts at the same time, and players can&#8217;t use the same phone number to create multiple accounts. A phone number can only be used once when making a new account, and certain types of numbers, including pre-paid and VOIP, cannot be used for SMS Protect.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"widget-container\"><button type=\"button\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"jsx-2337568644\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"jsx-862123036 slideshow-preview\">\n<p>Overwatch 2: All 35 Heroes at Launch<\/p>\n<div class=\"jsx-862123036 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-862123036 hero-image\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"jsx-3600606818 aspect-ratio-container aspect-ratio-16-9\">\n<div class=\"jsx-3600606818 aspect-ratio-child\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/output><\/p>\n<p>The part that&#8217;s causing problems is the last sentence, where it says prepaid phone plans are not eligible for SMS Protect.  Prepaid phone plans, from companies like Cricket Wireless, require users to pay the bill before receiving service.  These plans also rarely require a contract, making them a more attractive option for people who can&#8217;t afford or don&#8217;t want to spend as much money on a contract phone plan from Verizon or T-Mobile.  Unfortunately, these are the people Overwatch 2 is currently excluding because of the SMS Protect requirement.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in a post on r\/Overwatch, one user said this phone requirement made them feel bad about having a prepaid phone plan, writing in part, &#8220;I&#8217;m really upset and oddly ashamed for not meeting this &#8216;standard&#8217;. Never thought I would be disqualified from playing overwatch based on my ability [to] afford a phone contract, but here we are&#8230; Blizzard is the first company to make me feel too poor to play a game.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"article-video-container\"\/><\/p>\n<p>And, it&#8217;s not as if Overwatch fans with prepaid phone plans can even return to the original game, either, as Blizzard shut down the Overwatch servers to prepare for the sequel&#8217;s launch this week.  Rather, players who launch Overwatch will be prompted to update to Overwatch 2. Blizzard made the decision to shut down Overwatch 1 in order to retain a unified player base in the new game.<\/p>\n<p>When IGN reached for comment, Blizzard responded, saying, &#8220;We plan to address this sometime soon, potentially this afternoon.&#8221;  We will update this story when Blizzard addresses the lack of access for users with prepaid phone plans.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s not the only issue Overwatch 2 faces during its launch week, as players online are also complaining about lengthy queues.  Multiple posts on Twitter cite wait queues with upwards of 20,000 people in line ahead of them. <\/p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t uncommon for massive online games during their launch window, as Final Fantasy XIV fans are no doubt familiar with.  Blizzard also told IGN there will be a communication later today addressing the server wait times.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tried to get into Overwatch.  Waited for about 30 mins to go from 400 in the queue to zero.  When I got to the front, it said &#8216;Searching for Server&#8217;.  When it found one, I was 30,000 in the queue. <\/p>\n<p>No Overwatch for me today \ud83d\ude43<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Skill Up (@SkillUpYT) <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SkillUpYT\/status\/1577490718754734080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">October 5, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Beyond all this, the big headlines yesterday surrounded the pair of DDoS attacks Overwatch 2 said on its launch day.  So if you jumped into Overwatch 2 shortly after launch, you likely experienced dropped games or other connection issues as Blizzard worked to fix server issues and stability.<\/p>\n<p>Underneath all of these problems, there is a good game somewhere within Overwatch 2. In our review, we called the sequel great, saying &#8220;Overwatch 2 breathes new life into what was once the sharpest multiplayer shooter around, before it had its edges severely dulled by Blizzard&#8217;s attention shifting away.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"article-video-container\"\/><\/p>\n<p><em>Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news.  He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire.  Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overwatch 2&#8217;s free-to-play nature should mean it&#8217;s accessible to all players with a compatible device. However, a side effect of a new security measure from Blizzard is leaving some users out in the cold. Over on Twitter, user Jack Saint brought the community&#8217;s attention to Overwatch 2&#8217;s SMS Protect policy, which says all players must &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/overwatch-2-launch-plagued-by-lengthy-queues-prepaid-phone-plan-problems\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Overwatch 2 Launch Plagued by Lengthy Queues, Prepaid Phone Plan Problems<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":88724,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/overwatch-2-blizzard-scrapping-a-phone-number-requirement-for-majority-of-players\/","url_meta":{"origin":88113,"position":0},"title":"Overwatch 2: Blizzard Scrapping a Phone Number Requirement for &#8216;Majority&#8217; of Players","date":"October 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"After negative feedback, Blizzard is scrapping Overwatch 2's requirement for a non-prepaid phone for most players. The change should come into effect this Friday, October 7.In a forum post, Blizzard community manager Jodie wrote: \"We designed Overwatch 2 to be a live service, which enables us to be responsive to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":100980,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/overwatch-2s-battle-pass-has-players-wanting-loot-boxes-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":88113,"position":1},"title":"Overwatch 2&#8217;s Battle Pass Has Players Wanting Loot Boxes Back","date":"October 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Image: Blizzard \/ KotakuIn the two weeks Overwatch 2 has been live\u2014yes, it's only been two weeks\u2014 players have become so disappointed with the hero shooter's free-to-play grind and battle pass system that they're longing for the days when the original game had loot boxes.In a post on the Overwatch\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":101745,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/maccas-launch-overwatch-2-meals-with-free-in-game-skin\/","url_meta":{"origin":88113,"position":2},"title":"Macca&#8217;s launch Overwatch 2 meals with free in-game skin","date":"October 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Time to gear up with a Big Mac! the Overwatch 2 Meals are finally at your local Macca's with three epic meals to choose from! After years of waiting, Overwatch 2 is upon us. Introducing a slew of new characters, remixed mechanics, and extra maps, the sequel to Blizzard's genre-defining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89121,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/overwatch-2-blizzard-apologizes-for-shaky-launch-promises-fixes-for-queues-and-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":88113,"position":3},"title":"Overwatch 2: Blizzard Apologizes for Shaky Launch, Promises Fixes for Queues and More","date":"October 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Between server errors, broken account merges, and a strange SMS requirement that locked some players with prepaid phone plans out of the game, Overwatch 2's launch on Tuesday became fairly controversial. Now, Blizzard is apologizing and working to fix some of these issues.In a post on Blizzard's forum, community manager\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89375,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/blizzard-scales-back-overwatch-2s-controversial-phone-number-requirement\/","url_meta":{"origin":88113,"position":4},"title":"Blizzard scales back Overwatch 2&#8217;s controversial phone number requirement","date":"October 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"enlarge \/ Overwatch 2 Characters offer varied reactions based on whether or not they are now exempt from Blizzard's \"SMS Protect\" system. Blizzard has partially walked back a controversial policy that required Overwatch 2 players to confirm a valid mobile phone number to play the game. Now, players \"with a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":101535,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/overwatch-2-hero-kiriko-unlocked-for-competitive-heres-her-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":88113,"position":5},"title":"Overwatch 2 hero Kiriko unlocked for competitive, here&#8217;s her story","date":"October 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Overwatch's newest character, the support hero Kiriko, is having a different style of rollout. She's the first new hero to be included as part of Overwatch 2's battle pass, meaning that while many players have access to Kiriko, others are still grinding away to unlock her. she's also just been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2021\/02\/19\/overwatch2-blogroll-1613750375361.jpg?width=1280","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}