For context, I never played the original Overwatch - when 2 came out, since it was F2P I started playing it regularly with some friends who were fans of OW1. I was super impressed with it when I started, but my opinion of it has really fallen since then. Maybe it's because of changes they've made since release, or maybe it's just because I made it past the initial excitement of trying out something new, but regardless, in its current state I just don't really get that excited about playing it anymore.
From my perspective, I see two major issues with the gameplay. The first is that despite how many characters, maps, and modes there are, matches are just very samey. You're strongly encouraged to always stick together as a whole team, which means that no matter what the map layout or game state is, gameplay always boils down to "spawn, go to the place where everyone is fighting, and then fight until you die". Sometimes you win, in which case you get to wait around for the other team to show up again so you can start the cycle again (thrilling!). But there's not really any opportunity to, say, split up into two groups, or go off on your own to try for a sneak attack, or do some separate game action that earns you extra points or abilities or anything like that. Or at least, you can do some of those things, but they're rare and risky, or they require being really good with a specific character. In general it just feels like the gameplay lacks the flexibility of something like Halo or Splatoon, where you can change up your approach a dozen times in the course of a single game.
The other major issue, which is perhaps more fundamental, is that matches go on for too long without feeling worth it. In my experience, most matches last the maximum amount of time they could - i.e. every timer extension gets triggered - and on top of that, they pretty often go into overtime. This really makes the majority of a match feel pointless - all that matters is the last minute or so, right? If it's a foregone conclusion that they're gonna get the payload to the last checkpoint before the end... why doesn't the payload just start there? What's the point of playing well if it's all gonna come down to the coin toss of "can we get a guy to contest the point in overtime" at the end? But of course, you still have to fight super hard for the full 15 minutes of game, because that's just how it works.
Maybe an addendum to the previous two points is that matches also feel very swingy, because the game doesn't really have any long-term advantages you can get as a team. Winning a skirmish doesn't get you anything except a few moments to breathe, and the other team can easily come back and wipe the floor with you next time. (I think they want things like the robot and the payload to function as permanent advantages. But in my experience it usually doesn't feel like they matter that much, maybe largely because of overtime?)
The last thing I'll mention - it's a smaller issue, but something that still contributes to my lack of excitement is that I eventually realized that despite the level of technical polish on all the art and animations, it all feels kind of... sterile. I dunno, the art style just feels very safe, and the characters are all obvious tropes -- nothing really pops, you know?
From my perspective, I see two major issues with the gameplay. The first is that despite how many characters, maps, and modes there are, matches are just very samey. You're strongly encouraged to always stick together as a whole team, which means that no matter what the map layout or game state is, gameplay always boils down to "spawn, go to the place where everyone is fighting, and then fight until you die". Sometimes you win, in which case you get to wait around for the other team to show up again so you can start the cycle again (thrilling!). But there's not really any opportunity to, say, split up into two groups, or go off on your own to try for a sneak attack, or do some separate game action that earns you extra points or abilities or anything like that. Or at least, you can do some of those things, but they're rare and risky, or they require being really good with a specific character. In general it just feels like the gameplay lacks the flexibility of something like Halo or Splatoon, where you can change up your approach a dozen times in the course of a single game.
The other major issue, which is perhaps more fundamental, is that matches go on for too long without feeling worth it. In my experience, most matches last the maximum amount of time they could - i.e. every timer extension gets triggered - and on top of that, they pretty often go into overtime. This really makes the majority of a match feel pointless - all that matters is the last minute or so, right? If it's a foregone conclusion that they're gonna get the payload to the last checkpoint before the end... why doesn't the payload just start there? What's the point of playing well if it's all gonna come down to the coin toss of "can we get a guy to contest the point in overtime" at the end? But of course, you still have to fight super hard for the full 15 minutes of game, because that's just how it works.
Maybe an addendum to the previous two points is that matches also feel very swingy, because the game doesn't really have any long-term advantages you can get as a team. Winning a skirmish doesn't get you anything except a few moments to breathe, and the other team can easily come back and wipe the floor with you next time. (I think they want things like the robot and the payload to function as permanent advantages. But in my experience it usually doesn't feel like they matter that much, maybe largely because of overtime?)
The last thing I'll mention - it's a smaller issue, but something that still contributes to my lack of excitement is that I eventually realized that despite the level of technical polish on all the art and animations, it all feels kind of... sterile. I dunno, the art style just feels very safe, and the characters are all obvious tropes -- nothing really pops, you know?