Overwatch 2 Season 10 will unlock all current heroes and make future additions free
Alongside changes to Mythic skins, earning coins, and maps
In what's quite the shake up for Overwatch 2, Blizzard have announced that starting with Season 10, all of its heroes will be unlocked for all players. And this includes all new heroes going forwards, too, so the next hero Venture will unlock immediately for everyone when the latest season drops. Otherwise, there's changes to unlocking premium skins, earning premium coins, and some tidbits on what we can expect from Season 11.
Right now, new Overwatch 2 players who want to unlock all the heroes have to go through some hoops. After the little tutorial that unlocks a few of the OGs, you'll need to complete a certain number of matches to steadily unlock more of the roster. For a handful of the latest heroes, players need to complete "hero challenges", which also means playing matches as a certain role, then ticking off tasks in the Practice Range. But the very latest heroes can only be unlocked by purchasing the premium battle pass, like Mauga, for instance.
Blizzard announced in a blog post that with Season 10, expected to arrive on April 16th, they'll be doing away with all these barriers to hero unlocks. Instead, new players will only have to complete the first-time tutorial and after the original roster is unlocked, all Overwatch 2 heroes will become available. Venture, teased at Blizzcon 2023 (skip to 38:40) will be unlocked for everyone come Season 10, as will all future heroes. Although if you splurged to get those unlocks in the past I can see how you might be a bit annoyed.
There's also going to be a new Mythic Shop come Season 10, that will let you "work towards past and current seasonal Mythic hero skins as you progress through the Premium Battle Pass". You'll also get to decide "how far into each Mythic skin you would like to build", and "spread your progression towards other Mythic hero skins". This strikes me as a change that puts OW2's battle pass more in line with recent Fortnite or Warzone 2 offerings, as they've allowed you to spend your points more freely on reward tracks for ages now.
Oh and there's more to do with coins. Those who progress through the free and premium tracks of the battle pass will earn more coins to spend on cool skins. Around "540 to 600 coins" per season, apparently.
Finally, Blizzard plans on reworking maps in Season 11, with Colosseo being a priority and others to follow in later seasons. A new Push map called Runasapi set in Peru is also on the way, too.
If you're gearing up for Season 10, Blizzard previously said they'll remove grouping restrictions when playing in Competitive, and implement some changes across modes like Push.