How to fix “time out communicating” and more errors

The launch of Overwatch 2 hasn’t gone as smoothly as many had hoped. Since it’s a free-to-play title, the servers have gotten slammed over the course of the game’s launch. But to make matters worse, Overwatch 2’s servers also suffered from a DDoS attack, making it near-impossible for some players to even get into a match. There’s little that can be done to mitigate these issues on the players’ side, but being aware of the latest issues and what Blizzard is doing to fix them isn’t a bad idea. Here are some common Overwatch 2 issues, what Blizzard is doing to fix them, and tips for improving the experience on the players’ end.

Overwatch 2 queue stuck at 2,000

A huge portion of Overwatch 2 users have experienced long queues, most commonly getting stuck behind seemingly random numbers of players. Many have reported getting stuck behind 2,000; 20,000; or even zero players for long periods of time. This number is not actually indicative of how many players are ahead of you.

A large portion of players are experiencing long queues that won’t go down.Blizzard

Instead, it’s an error on Blizzard’s end, and it’s tied to two queues going on simultaneously. One is for Battle.net and the other goes through Overwatch 2 itself. The company said it has made changes to “simplify” the process, but also explains there’s more work to be done.

Players also might encounter a BC-153 error that’s caused by server issues.

The issues should be resolved in the coming weeks, but will likely still impact players in the short term.

An excerpt from the launch update reads as follows:

We are also currently throttling queues in order to protect the player database as much as we can while we scale—this feels bad in the short-term, but once it’s done, will greatly improve the experience for players across multiple fronts moving forward.

While there isn’t a lot that can be done on the players’ end, we do recommend utilizing a hard-wired connection as opposed to via wifi. You might also have some luck using a different DNS server.

Overwatch 2 “time out communicating” error

The majority of errors and server issues are on Blizzard’s end.Blizzard

When it comes to the “time out communicating” error, this has to do with a number of factors, including the massive influx of players attempting to log in at once. Blizzard says the servers are overloaded but assures players that it’s working on a fix.

Overwatch 2 was apparently a victim of a DDoS attack around the game’s launch, which essentially floods the servers with a large amount of fake traffic. This has impacted the player experience, disallowing many users from getting into the game.

Some players were able to get into the game after restarting their router, while others had success when running the Battle.net client “as Administrator.”

If the issue still persists, it’s worth contacting Blizzard Customer Support.

Overwatch 2 missing items

Another common problem is that players’ inventories have gotten reset — at least partially. In many cases, this is because players haven’t completed the account merge process. Blizzard explains there’s a bug that disallows the account merge prompt from appearing on consoles. The company has actually issued a fix for this but also confirms that it’s working on other UI problems.

In other cases, it’s simply a matter of timing. Blizzard explains that the merge process can take longer than expected, but that a fix will be issued sometime next week.

There’s another issue in which Heroes are locked for some players. This is likely because the First Time User Experience (FTUE) flow is being applied to players in error. Blizzard says logging back in will usually fix the problem, but recommends opening a support ticket if the issue persists.

It’s recommended to keep an eye on a list of known Overwatch 2 issues to see what the latest updates are.

The launch of Overwatch 2 hasn’t gone as smoothly as many had hoped. Since it’s a free-to-play title, the servers have gotten slammed over the course of the game’s launch. But to make matters worse, Overwatch 2’s servers also suffered from a DDoS attack, making it near-impossible for some players to even get into a…

The launch of Overwatch 2 hasn’t gone as smoothly as many had hoped. Since it’s a free-to-play title, the servers have gotten slammed over the course of the game’s launch. But to make matters worse, Overwatch 2’s servers also suffered from a DDoS attack, making it near-impossible for some players to even get into a…