If you weren’t capable to log successful and play Blizzard’s highly anticipated leader shooter sorta-sequel, Overwatch 2, you weren’t the lone one. After months of developer updates the free-to-play game’s motorboat time was met with not conscionable one, but 2 DDoS attacks, forcing players to endure done ungodly-long queues lone to beryllium met with the precocious probability of consequent login errors redirecting their asses to the backmost of the line. Truly, the existent Overwatch 2 was the queues we waited successful on the way.

I was prepared to constitute up my ain impressions of Overwatch 2, but past night, I excessively suffered from the log-in errors and was lone capable to compression successful 5 matches earlier getting kicked backmost into the queue. In an effort to marque mountains into Mountain Dew, I’ve chronicled my acquisition playing and (mostly) not playing Overwatch 2. Prepare yourself for these tales from the Overwatch 2 queue.

Read More: How DDoS Attacks Work, And Why They’re So Hard To Stop

Hour: 1
Queue status: 40,000 players up of me
Emotional vibe check: Perturbed

The irony was not mislaid connected maine that, contempt the Overwatch squad professing that OW2 isn’t conscionable a glorified update to OW1, I was virtually sitting astatine my Xbox watching the loading surface of OW1 person an update called “Overwatch 2.” As annoying arsenic each that was, I besides couldn’t assistance but consciousness nostalgic astir my bizarro travel with this game. It felt similar it was lone six years agone (because it was) erstwhile I archetypal awaited Overwatch’s Xbox motorboat portion seated successful my freshman-year assemblage dorm. I’d played the beta, hyped it up to friends, and was each but acceptable to spot it alongside The Witcher 3 and Rocket League, the games that would prolong maine betwixt journo classes.

So it felt much than ironic that six years later, I would beryllium sitting successful the surviving country of my 2nd flat awaiting Overwatch 2’s motorboat truthful that I could screen it for work. I’m inactive coming to presumption with going to schoolhouse for journalism portion playing Overwatch successful my downtime to becoming a games journo with a whole-ass bachelor’s grade who’s covering Overwatch’s sorta sequel. Shit’s weird.

Suffice it to accidental that past nighttime Overwatch 2 rapidly became a meme arsenic I and countless others waited to yet beryllium fto successful to play the game. In reality, this wouldn’t travel to walk for immoderate time, acknowledgment to the variously 20,000 to 40,000 players up of maine and OW2’s servers being nether attack.

Hour: 2
Queue status: 20,000 players up of me
Emotional vibe check: Hungry

It would beryllium dishonest of maine not to admit that, by this juncture of my OW2 purgatory, I gave into temptation. I mislaid absorption and bought my second—yes, you heard me, second—McDonald’s big blessed repast toy. Now perceive maine out, I inactive basal by those integrative toys who’re destined to inhabit U.S. landfills for being disfigured arsenic sin, but I can’t contradict my tendency to person my ain biblically close Grimace and proceed to enactment his beingness to immoderate aboriginal location guests. At slightest that’s however the script has been playing retired successful my head. So far, I’ve lone got the Hamburglar and Cactus Plant Flea Market’s Cactus Buddy (boo!) truthful I tin lone anticipation that a theoretical 3rd travel to the good volition assistance maine the purple bastard. As you whitethorn person guessed, determination is nary OW2 update for this hr due to the fact that I was excessively engaged maxing chickenhearted nuggies.

Read More: Be Prepared For These 7 Big Overwatch 2 Gameplay Changes

Hour: 3
Queue status: 40,000 players up of maine (again)
Emotional vibe check: Bored

By this point, I’d fixed up each anticipation of ever playing OW2 and resigned to booting up my Steam Deck to bash thing but play a video game. I was technically disconnected the timepiece anyhow truthful wherefore not? Why shouldn’t I unrecorded deliciously and usage my glorified portable PC to drawback up connected my stories? I got caught up connected episodes of What We Do successful the Shadows and adjacent started watching the latest occurrence of the medieval achromatic radical play that is HBO’s House of the Dragon. Them Targaryens are messy. Apparently, I wasn’t the lone 1 who took this purgatory arsenic an accidental to metaphorically interaction writer either. Another would-be OW2 subordinate deed the municipality and ended up winning a 4th spot astatine his section pub’s trivia night. Cheers.

Read More: Overwatch 2 Beta Visuals Aren’t Helping Perception That It’s Barely An Update

Hour: 4
Queue status: 20 radical up of me
Emotional vibe check: WE MOVE

The promised clip was yet upon me. Much similar the Creation of Adam, Junkrat’s grubby fingers touched my ain done the Xbox controller and I was greeted with a gratuitous slow-motion changeable of Genji’s caller epic skin, attempting to entice maine into giving this crippled much wealth than I already had by buying loot boxes successful Summer Games past. But my willpower held beardown due to the fact that each I was acrophobic astir was however my saccharine babies, D.VA, Mercy, and Moira, were looking successful OW2. Lo and behold, each my skins and emotes were inactive there, albeit updated with OW2’s caller quality models. It virtually pays to beryllium grandfathered into OW2. The lone happening yet to spot was if I could inactive bent in-game.

Read More: Overwatch 2 Is Sounding More And More Like A Free-To-Play Nightmare

As you tin see, this aged lad inactive has the moves. And by moves, I mean maining healer and tanks due to the fact that OW1’s queue times were abysmal if you were trying to play a harm character. Of the 5 games I played past night, including OW2’s caller propulsion map, I lone mislaid one. As acold I’ve played truthful acold OW2 fundamentally plays the aforesaid arsenic OW1 conscionable with the added bonus of quality models looking much elaborate and its maps being astatine antithetic times of day.

The large gripe I person with OW2 truthful acold is that firefights nary longer consciousness similar wars of attrition successful which applying team-based strategies successful constrictive chokepoints feels rewarded. Instead, OW2’s larger maps and 5v5 gameplay consciousness much akin to squad deathmatches successful Call of Duty successful which idiosyncratic pop-off plays are the focus.

One upside to OW2, successful examination to its closed beta, is that the result for matches nary longer consciousness similar foregone conclusions if you oregon the force squad person an aboriginal advantage. This is owed to OW2’s caller passive healing and harm attributes where, if you are moving your ass off, your wellness and question velocity gradually increase. I recovered this update to the crippled to beryllium a invited alteration successful making characters crossed the committee consciousness much durable successful lieu of reintegrating OW1’s dreaded barrier meta. No 1 liked each quality and their parent having a obstruction you needed to whittle down, oregon getting stunned near and close by annoying heroes. (Looking astatine you, Brigitte.)

However, my hubris implicit really getting into the crippled would precise soon drawback up, starring maine to ruin. Sharing my PotG clip to the interwebs to fto the radical cognize I’m “that guy” came to wound maine successful the ass due to the fact that by the clip I returned to the crippled OW2’s servers had decided to log maine disconnected and banish maine backmost to the login queue shadiness realm with the remainder of you plebs. Sad.

Hour: 5
Queue status: 400 radical up of me
Emotional vibe check: Sleepy

Ultimately, conscionable similar with its predecessor, what saved my jimmies from being rustled by Overwatch’s galore shortcomings—long droughts of content, perpetual log-in errors, oregon the committedness of a canonical communicative that perpetually received retcons—were the memes that poured successful from the community. Y’all were successful afloat unit past nighttime and made maine retrieve wherefore I emotion playing this cursed crippled successful the archetypal place.

Read More: The Internet’s Biggest Overwatch 2 Questions, Answered

Playing Overwatch meant being capable to bent retired with my friends crossed the state during late-night sessions. It didn’t substance whether we got aggressively rolled during aggregate games oregon pulled disconnected a monumental game-winning strategy; At the extremity of the day, OW served arsenic ambiance akin to keeping my favourite movie playing connected mute portion I caught up with location guests. Weekly challenges were little for the procurement of skins and emotes, and much to person an excuse to telephone up a person and docket a playdate—something that I anticipation to proceed with OW2’s play challenges, due to the fact that I ain’t gonna beryllium paying for nary Watchpoint pass. That’d conscionable ruin the amusive of getting items by playing with my friends.

The champion portion of waiting to play OW2 wasn’t yet getting in, it was seeing the memes everyone made portion we waited. It was heartwarming to spot our Overwatch community was inactive live and kicking successful the lone mode we could be, by sharing memes from our folders for erstwhile Overwatch 2 is bully and for erstwhile it inevitably fails. Hopefully, by the clip I consciousness the impulse to get backmost into the combat and possibly play immoderate of those caller characters, Blizzard volition person sorted its servers.