Overwatch duplicate drop rates drastically reduced (on the ptr)

Ever open a ton of loot boxes excited as all hell only to find that every item is just a duplicate? Welcome to loot box hell. Well, Blizzard has finally addressed the issue and the duplicate drop rates have been drastically reduced. Because duplicates give you credits (which we need for skins and or in game items) Blizzard is increasing the credits we can get from loot boxes. "We'll make sure that your credit intake will be at least the same, if not more," game director Jeff Kaplan said in the latest Developer Update video. (pc gamer)

This is great news! One of my missions for Overwatch is to eventually unlock every item in the game and getting dupes all the time was always a drag. I'm somewhere near level 350 now so I've been there, done that. These are some impressive changes but honestly it should have come a long time ago. This was something that the guys at Blizzard should have thought about and fixed somewhere near the beginning of the launch of the game. But as they say, c'est la vie. 

 There's also a new option that allows for you to permanently save your highlight videos. This all live on the ptr right now.

China passes loot box law

Loot boxes are a thing in many video games. You level up and you earn boxes or you can buy them for a set fee. Inside you can find many a in-game items. For example, in Overwatch you can get character skins, emotes, sprays, etc. Right now we have no idea what our odds are of getting items we want as its usually always random.

Well, China passed a law that's going to be a game changer. Starting May 2017, developers will have to start disclosing the probabilities of what could be inside the boxes in games like Overwatch, Counter Strike, and Hearthstone. 

Here are the stipulations (as translated by NeoGAF user chillybright):

2.6 ...Online game publishers shall promptly publicly announce information about the name, property, content, quantity, and draw/forge probability of all virtual items and services that can be drawn/forge on the official website or a dedicated draw probability webpage of the game. The information on draw probability shall be true and effective.
2.7 Online game publishers shall publicly announce the random draw results by customers on notable places of official website or in game, and keep record for government inquiry. The record must be kept for more than 90 days. When publishing the random draw results, some measures should be taken place to protect user privacy.

This doesn't mean that we will be able to choose what we get in our loot boxes or see the probabilities because this law is only going to apply in China. However, that doesn't mean that it couldn't reach the Western hemisphere. This could be huge for developers and us gamers who feel like loot boxes are kind of a crap shoot gambler's audition. It is kind of messed up when we put in time into a game and we don't get the items we want out of these loot boxes.

This looks like a good step in the right direction for gamers and loot boxes. Hope it comes to the West.