I love Overwatch for its characters, mechanics, lore, and more, but that’s not why I’m addicted to it. The reason I itch to play nonstop stems, believe it or not, from its cosmetics.
Yes yes, I can see you all rolling your eyes, but I’m being deadly serious – I love shiny loot! The cycle of addiction for suckers like me goes something like this…
Play the game for an hour or two and level up. Obtain a Loot Box for all your hard work. Open said Loot Box (and pray that Blizzard are gracious enough to grant you that damn Junkrat legendary skin you’ve been eyeing for the past few weeks). Unearth some boring commons and a yawn-worthy rare instead. Resist urge to swipe credit card. Go back to grinding for the next loot box.
Out of the 31 loot boxes I’ve opened, I’ve only obtained two legendary drops. TWO. One wasnt even a skin – it was a whack of currency, which I subsequently used to buy the Mei cosmetic seen in the header above. The other I got was a skin for Mercy – one of my least played heroes.
Anyhow, what gives? Are the legendary drop rates that bad? Or have I just been that unlucky?
A Redditor by the name of Ourobouros (Resident Evil 5 is that you?) did some research into the system. He watched a whole lot of videos of people opening up loot boxes, and compiled his findings into a nifty table (via PC Gamer):
After going through 20 or so levels without getting any legendary skins, I decided to do a little research on the drop rate from those shiny loot boxes (while wondering what I’ve done in the past to deserve this kind of fate). So I watched those box opening videos on youtube (with great envy) and count the number of items for each rarity manually. I managed to get a sample size of 1028 boxes, then through the miracle of science calculated the drop rate.
So, if I were to open up around 100 loot boxes, I should expect to get around 10 legendaries or so. Here’s hoping that the next 69 I unbox contain the 8 that I am missing!
How has your luck been in Overwatch? Have you been finding some sweet loot? Be sure to let me know so I can be extra jealous!
Last Updated: June 6, 2016
Matthew Holliday
June 6, 2016 at 13:03
level 30 or so, so ive opened 30ish loot boxes, sofar only just the one legendary, and still only have 500 coins.
drop rates have not been kind to me
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 6, 2016 at 13:04
You mean you bought a cosMEItic. Opportunity missed.
hairyknees
June 6, 2016 at 15:20
OH LAWD
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 13:10
Only legendary skin I got so far. I’m level 19 I think
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/commons/images/thumb/9/9f/Reinhardt-Bloodhardt.jpg/290px-Reinhardt-Bloodhardt.jpg
Ir0nseraph
June 6, 2016 at 13:11
O you bastard.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 13:12
XD I’d gift it to you if I could seeing how his your favourite. It’s good that @disqus_YDGhciulmi:disqus isn’t playing this. Drops in Destiny have never been kind to him
Ir0nseraph
June 6, 2016 at 13:13
LoL true, it good lead to some interesting comments though.
VampyreSquirrel
June 6, 2016 at 13:29
Nice one
BakedBagel
June 6, 2016 at 13:47
My last 3 Kek Boxes had nothing but FUCKING SPRAYS. NO CURRENCY. NO TRASH SKINS. JUST SPRAYS. WE CS:SOURCE NOW.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 13:59
At least you get currency for duplicate items as I understand. So they’ll run out of sprays and other crap eventually
BakedBagel
June 6, 2016 at 14:01
eventually >_>
VampyreSquirrel
June 6, 2016 at 14:07
I got 2 creds for a dup spray… only 998 more to get that legendary skin I actually want…
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 14:08
Yea the dupe credits are just useless. So this cost 75 new…best I can do is 5 xD
VampyreSquirrel
June 6, 2016 at 14:26
Got talked down to a great deal by an Indian… *sigh*
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 14:32
XD
Pariah
June 6, 2016 at 13:12
RNG is RNG. You could open 100 and get 0 Legendaries. Or you could open 10 boxes and get 12.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 13:14
That’s why I’m buying 50 loot boxes for R679…… said no one ever
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 13:15
I think Matty did xD
Pariah
June 6, 2016 at 13:19
I watched a streamer buy 150. And open 100 of those in 1 go. 12/13 Legendaries I think was his final count, with 2 from 1 box.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 13:20
O_o maybe the drop rate is higher if you spend money on MT………no, bad wallet, STAY!
Pariah
June 6, 2016 at 13:20
Nah. 8 of those came from his first 50 boxes. The next 40 were barren. The last 10 gave him another 5.
Strawman Jim
June 7, 2016 at 14:59
R679??? Say what?
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 7, 2016 at 15:16
That’s the asking price O_o
hairyknees
June 6, 2016 at 15:19
DON’T KILL MY DREAMS! 🙁
Pariah
June 6, 2016 at 15:59
Blizzard will do that, not me. I’m just stating the obvious.
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 13:14
I have found rubbing the lucky squirrel tail increases drop rates significantly…
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 6, 2016 at 13:15
A vampiric squirrel?
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 13:16
He could be banned for a year by Blizzard O_o
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 13:16
Yup, after a whole week of no drops. Vamps shows up and our whole group gets legendary skins in the next box we open.
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 6, 2016 at 13:17
“Hey Vamps, wanna come play a T3D with me?”
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 13:18
Ash P Bp at wave 5 xD
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 13:18
*Rubs Vamps while picking lotto numbers
Admiral Chief Protector
June 6, 2016 at 13:26
Dude, that oke has serious RNG mojo.
We did 2x void runs, and I got 2x rare parts I needed, after doing raids for aaaaaaages
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 13:27
*sets up a cage and trap. With Rum inside
now we wait
Admiral Chief Protector
June 6, 2016 at 13:27
xD
Admiral Chief Protector
June 6, 2016 at 13:28
“WHY IS THE RUM ALWAYS GONE?”
Well, we need to catch a squirrel
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 13:29
If rum does to him what it does to me you’re gonna need a much bigger cage
VampyreSquirrel
June 6, 2016 at 13:32
Nah, you just need better traps XD
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 13:32
Look at him just ninja up voting and not commenting. He is a wily one!
VampyreSquirrel
June 6, 2016 at 13:36
Why you talking to yourself?
Admiral Chief Protector
June 6, 2016 at 13:37
Because he is fabulous?
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 13:40
http://www.cutecatgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/fab.gif
VampyreSquirrel
June 6, 2016 at 13:42
I don’t think so, but who am I to diss your taste?
Admiral Chief Protector
June 6, 2016 at 13:42
I also don’t think so, but I like to support my online friends where I can
VampyreSquirrel
June 6, 2016 at 13:45
That’s true, but this is Otto we’re talking about…
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 13:48
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/472/seriouscatcover.jpg?1260046843
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 13:41
This is not very uncommon, and you know it 🙂
VampyreSquirrel
June 6, 2016 at 13:45
All too well.
Tarisma
June 6, 2016 at 13:18
Level 35 1 legendary skin for Zarya (have less than a minute game time on her). I’ve also got a pink skin for her. I do have 765 coins now though.
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 13:20
Got Frogston Winston legendary for my first drop at 26 and then legendary gold with my 30th box and bought the HippityHop Lucio skin. My life is now complete 😛
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 13:21
mine will be as soon as I get the pirate skin for Torbjörn
Galbedir
June 6, 2016 at 14:33
Believe I got that at lvl 8…Blackbeard Torbjörn 😛
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 15:01
Lucky bastard XD
VampyreSquirrel
June 6, 2016 at 13:24
First legendary at lvl 5… nothing since and at lvl 20(odd).
This is what I got:
https://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/overwatch.gamepedia.com/thumb/e/e5/Zenyatta_Skin_Ifrit.jpg/600px-Zenyatta_Skin_Ifrit.jpg?version=188089e0cc6d446478df98d91a13f06f
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 6, 2016 at 13:25
NICE!
Admiral Chief Protector
June 6, 2016 at 13:38
Anyone wanna swap me?
I bring a wide selection of premium alcoholic refreshments, swapped for 1x PC copy of this game
BakedBagel
June 6, 2016 at 13:46
FIREFIGHTER MEI’S UNITE
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 13:49
hairyknees
June 6, 2016 at 15:18
lol xD
GooseZA
June 6, 2016 at 14:03
I’ve found about 3 legendary skins, but none for Mercy (who I play 90% of the time). I’m only lvl 11 though.
Ottokie
June 6, 2016 at 14:04
I play her a lot when I take a break from my Lucio healing. Have not even opened a cheap skin for her.
GooseZA
June 6, 2016 at 14:07
Really enjoy Mercy. I must give Lucio a try. I tried tanking a bit with Reinhardt last night which was a lot of fun.
I’m not really twitchy enough to play heroes like Mcree or Tracer etc so I tend to stick with heroes that are more forgiving about aiming / support / healing.
SmurFyZA
June 6, 2016 at 16:24
I pulled the MEI skin in the image above from a loot crate. Too bad I dont play her much…
Also lvl 31 and only 2 Legendary skins so far
Black_Sage
June 6, 2016 at 18:27
Gotta function in that Blizzard law of probability that states: “x=tg/l+p where x is the cosmetic, tg is time spent grinding, l is luck and p is prayer. Whereby we can ascertain that any amount of time spent grinding has to be divided by the amount of luck and praise you give unto RNGesus otherwise we can all just enjoy our filthy commons and rares
Effusion
June 13, 2016 at 00:19
level 24. 1 rare (a terrible emote), 0 legendary, 80-something salt.
Good Enough Guy ¯_(ツ)_/¯
January 25, 2017 at 01:55
my good ol’ friends… 3 grays and 1 blue….