Overwatch 2’s launch has been far from good as the game is plagued with bugs and various issues that have affected players’ experience of the game. One of the biggest issues of the game is having many of the characters locked.
Now, if you’re a new Overwatch 2 player and have no experience of playing Overwatch 1 before, then no need to worry as Overwatch 2 has a First Time User Experience (FTUE) for new players which basically requires new players to progress through the game in order to unlock heroes.
So, if you’re a new player and notice locked heroes, just progress through the game and you’ll be able to unlock them. You’ll have to play 150 matches in order to unlock every hero from the previous game. The more matches you play, the more heroes you unlock.
Reasons why your character might be locked in Overwatch 2 is simply because you haven’t played many matches and unlocked them yet, or they might be locked due to a bug which causes the game to incorrectly identify old players as new players, hence locking the heroes behind FTUE.
Due to incorrectly identifying old Overwatch 1 players as new players in Overwatch 2, the game randomly puts the old players into the First Time User Experience (FTUE) even though they’ve played Overwatch before. Now, there is a fix for this bug which Blizzard themselves have said.
The fix requires you to merge your Overwatch accounts in order to utilise the cross-progression feature so that heroes aren’t locked for old players.
Steps to Merge Accounts in Overwatch 2
Merging accounts is not an easy task so we’ll guide you through the process. Follow the steps below in order to successfully merge accounts in Overwatch 2:
[NOTE: Follow the directions carefully as this can be done only once per platform.]
- Step 1: Load up Overwatch 2 on the console you want to merge accounts on and sign in.
- Step 2: For linking your Battle.net account, select Options.
- Step 3: Scroll over and select Link Account.
- Step 4: Use your mobile device to scan the QR code.
- Step 5: Either log in or create a new Battle.net account.
- Step 6: Select Account Merge on the main menu.
- Step 7: Verify that both the account and the console profile are correct, then hold the required button to confirm account.
If you’ve followed all the steps correctly, then you should have no problem in merging the accounts and all your heroes should now be unlocked. If your heroes are still locked, then I suggest waiting for an official patch.
Now, there are problems you could face after merging accounts, so we’re gonna dive into the details about that below:
“Merge Accounts Not Working” Error and Fixes
The “Merge Accounts Not Working” is another bug that arises while merging accounts. This bug made players worried due to the fact that they could possibly lose years of progress from Overwatch 1.
This error is caused after account merging if there is a bug or a server error with the game. It could also be an issue with the player’s game files or network. Check out the steps below in order to fix this error in the game:
- Make sure that the accounts were merged successfully. You’ll get only one chance to successfully merge accounts so make sure to double-check everything in the process and ensure it was done correctly.
- Only one account can be linked per platform, so if you have two accounts on any platform such as PlayStation, Xbox etc. you’ll be able to switch only one of them.
- If you’re still facing the error, then check the Overwatch 2 servers to see if the developers are having problems with the game’s online services.
- If the game’s servers are working properly, then check your connectivity in order to see if it’s a problem from your end. You may reinstall the game again to see if it fixes the error.
- If none of the above steps have fixed the account merging issue then I suggest submitting a ticket to Blizzard Support and letting them know.
The development team have already stated that the account merging issues are being worked on and many players should start seeing their solutions game. Blizzard also stated that additional time might be taken to merge accounts as many accounts are still in queue.
About Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 is an upcoming first-person shooter developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. The sequel to the 2016 hero shooter Overwatch, the game is intended to have a shared environment for player-versus-player (PvP) modes with the first game while introducing persistent cooperative modes. A major change in PvP was to reduce team sizes from six to five, which required several characters to be reworked.
Overwatch 2 was launched as free-to-play on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in early access on October 4, 2022.
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