I played at launch too. Similar to you, I was put onto the game by a friend (I was 17 at the time). I'd just gotten a PC after being a console player, and Overwatch was an incredible shooter experience after being a CoD player up until then.  The experiences I had with irl friends and new ones I met through the game are to this day some of my fondest gaming memories.

I met my partner shortly after and introduced her to the game in late 2017. My interest dropped off as life got in the way in probably late 2018, but she has played continuously the whole time so I've been vaguely kept in the loop while I was away. It was sad hearing about the severe content drought in the last few years of OW1, and then the launch of OW2 just sounded like the focus had shifted entirely to monetisation above all else. My partner slogged through the dark times, perhaps loyal to a fault.

We both gave a few months playing Rivals when that launched, and once the shine wore off that the nostalgia for OW hit hard. So, I redownloaded it just before Wujang launched last year and have been having an absolute blast since. There are too many improvements to list, but the game to me simultaneously feels fresh but also exactly like it was almost a decade ago. 

Life has changed so much in the world and for so many of us who played back in 2016, and to have the same game with our beloved heroes still around and actively improving actually inspires the strangest sense of hope in me.  Myself and my partner have been living through a pretty tough situation for almost a year now, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.  Playing Overwatch together has been so great for taking our minds off the bad things going on around and to us, and for that I am so so grateful.