Overwatch 2 players baffled by one key flaw in season 6 hero progression system

Hero Mastery entered Overwatch 2 alongside season six, and eagerness was rapidly replaced by disappointment when players discovered their previous playtime on heroes wasn’t taken into account, with everyone starting out at level 0.

“I’m mildly infuriated the Hero Progression system doesn’t take into account the countless hours I’ve put into this game,” a Reddit thread from Aug. 10 reads.

The thread was massively upvoted and players commented to share their disappointment and frustration over their playtime not being counted in the feature. Some consider it signifies the feature isn’t a means to improve the player’s experience but to encourage them to put more playtime into the game to get those Mastery levels up.

“It’s something they could have provided but it’s clearly a gamification thing being abused to keep long-term players.. playing,” wrote the top-voted comment.

Related: Blizzard finally squashes bug that’s plagued Kiriko mains in Overwatch 2’s season 6 update

Other players had another complaint. They shared annoyance about seeing the Hero Mastery screen after each game they played. “My first thought seeing it postgame was how do I remove it,” wrote another comment.

They suggested the developer adds an option to remove the Hero Mastery progression screen after a game. Still, they aren’t required to stay through the whole progression animations; by pressing Escape twice on the keyboard, they’ll be able to skip them.

There were also some players who expressed satisfaction over the feature and the fact that previous progression wasn’t taken into account. “This way I’ll get to experience this new thing instead of immediately unlocking everything and forgetting about it,” wrote another user.

Starting with Season Six, players will earn XP points for every hero they played in the game. Those points will be divided into several categories, depending on the damage dealt with specific skills. They’ll be able to gain Player Icons, Name Cards, and Titles upon reaching specific levels of Mastery.

In addition, the Progression tab in the player’s profile highlights the few heroes they have at the highest Mastery level, with titles tailored for their specific playstyle.

Overwatch 2’s season six might be the biggest one since the sequel’s release, by bringing a ton of balance changes, a new permanent game mode Flashpoint, new support Illari, and more on Aug. 10.