Overwatch has some pretty substantial changes coming to leveling in it's next update, which have been sort of obscured with the launch of Sombra on the PTR (boop!). And those changes have nothing to do with Blizzard wanting to sell more loot boxes.

In a thread on the forums discussion the leveling nerf, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan tried to reassure concerned fans that the move was not a money grab. "Overall, the EXP change should be a benefit to the player base," he posted. "Had this change been in effect for the Halloween Terror event we would have given out MORE loot boxes. More players would have gotten more stuff... This change has nothing to do with a desire on our part to drive more or less interest in loot box sales. This change is to prevent players from binge behavior or halting play... and to prevent players who are not close to prestiging from feeling like they somehow missed out on 'bonus' items. This change exists to add levity to the leveling experience."

Kaplan concluded that it is about letting players feel comfortable in the way they want to play the game. "We want you playing Overwatch or not playing Overwatch when you want/don't want to. That's the entire reason for this change... nothing else."

In case you missed it, the leveling changes are as follows, according to the PTR notes:

• The amount of experience needed to reach levels 2 through 13 remains unchanged
• The amount of experience needed to reach levels 14 through 100 has been slightly reduced
• The amount of experience needed to reach levels after 100 is now constant (20,000 XP) and will no longer reset after each promotion

The developer notes said at the time that "With the way our experience curve works right now, players move fairly quickly through the first 23 levels of each tier (1-23, 101-123, 201-223, etc.). This is because when a player is promoted after 100 levels, the experience curve resets. While this reset has worked pretty well so far, it’s also encouraged some people to stop playing the game after they’re promoted—hoping to save those first 23 levels for a seasonal event. To help address this, the experience needed for all post-promotion levels (any level after 100) is now consistently 20,000 and will no longer reset. The total experience required to gain 100 levels after a promotion is roughly unchanged, but the total experience required to earn the first 100 levels (before the first promotion) has been slightly reduced."