Archives Event - Blog Posts
Archives Event - Part 5
The 2021 Archives event took place from April 6th to April 27th.
Like the event last year, we did not get a new brawl. Instead we got three more mission modifiers:
Bulletproof Barriers, is pretty self explanatory. the barriers are bulletproof. Sympathy gains, damaging the enemy heals the enemies around them. (I think I erased this archives even from my memory I'm not gonna lie...) and then Thunderstorm, enemies damage all nearby players. I honestly can't remember if that means the player is damaged from being in the proximity of the enemy, or if the enemy's damage acts like's mercy's ultimate and spreads from character to character.
Well...
At least the skins managed to make a come back this year. Like the first three years, this year they decided to stick to an actual theme, which I think personally works a lot better than just making random skins like they did in 2020.
Once again, we only got 5 skins, but, these skins are great. I think at first glance, they're visually appealing, but then when you take a closer look, you realise that they're pretty historically accurate. Now, I'm no expert on Russian, Japanese, American or French history, (though I'm a bit more familiar with French history since it's so closely related to my own countries in certain periods). But surprise, surprise, they teach British history, in British schools, and boy, oh, boy, does that Tracer skin make me happy.
So, kudos to the design team for this one, amazing skins.
Finally, what you definitly were not waiting for, are the weekly challenges. Again, I'm fairly sure I have all these skins, but I think I've just erased it from my memory.
Well, apart from the Mercy skin, I use that one from time to time. But... honestly, making Zen a submarine? That's a unique choice, and the biker Lucio? Again... not really the look I would have pegged on him, but who am I to talk?
Conclusively, this year got slightly worse than last year, with the skins saving their ass pretty much. But you know what they say, quiet whilst you're ahead, and that's what Blizzard did, because this was the last Archives event. Well done, Blizzard, you got rid of your best event. Bravo.
Archives Event - Part 4
The 2020 Archives event took place March 12th to April 2nd.
Unlike the previous three events, there was not a new brawl released this year. However, they released something new, Challenges.
Each challenge was assigned to a specific brawl, if I'm remembering that correctly. In the 'Molten Core' Challenge the enemies would drop Tobjorn's ult in a smaller amount when they died. In Close Quarters, enemies a certain distance away were invincible. Finally, in storm raging, when an enemy died they would drop 'rage orbs' which were then absorbed by their allies.
Don't get me wrong, these are all fun game modes, and I enjoyed playing each and everyone to get the achievements. But, it's not a new brawl and I have to deduct points for that obvious fact. I can acknowledge that it probably took a decent amount of work to design and execute these brawls, but I just can't say they're as good as a new brawl.
Moving on, we have the skins they released this year. Keeping in mind, we got 7 skins in the first 2 years, and then 5 in the last year.
This year is another 5 skins. All great skins, let's be honest, I love the Sniper Ana skin and the Casual (don't think that's it's actual name but can't remember off the top of my head) Pharah skin. I've used the Zarya skin a lot as well, and my duo used the King Jamison skin a lot in her time. The Hog skin is great, I just think he has better skins that you can use. Keep in mind, this is completely my opinion, but I do think that the skin quality has dropped from the previous year.
It also appears that 5 skins in the new standard :/
Next, there were the weekly challenges, which is the first time they've been seen in a Archives event. Here they are:
Bish, bash, bosh. Not really very impressive skins. I mean the Sym one stands out a lot and I like how bold it is. The Torbjorn one is pretty basic, it looks like a base game skin in all honesty, and there's just something that I don't like about this Mei skin. But, I know that it got a pretty positive reception from the community at the time.
So, basically, the weekly challenges are new, but the mission challenges hardly replace a new brawl. The skins are still good, they're holding on still, but I can almost feel the quality slipping away.