Board 8 > Reminder that it's the last month to play Overwatch 1

(+) Yeah! (+)

OW2 is coming out on October 4th (well, it's supposed to...), and Overwatch 1 is leaving to make way for the new game.

Last chance to play Rein/Zarya, or have those big burly 6v6 brawls. I'm going to miss that. I'm not going to miss stun moves everywhere, Bastion bunker comps, or any 2CP map though. Gonna play through the last month to get those last games in, but still looking forward to the new status quo.

At the moment all the seasonal items are available if you have left over coins you want to spend, and there's a final 1-month long Competitive season up as a last hurrah. So why not jump in and say goodbye. And always go Rein/Zarya if King's Row comes up.

2CP > Control

There are rumors its gonna be delayed again. The community doesnt know anything though. Theres allegedly less than 3 weeks til OW2 overwrites 1 and nobody has any idea how currency is being handled or what the full details of the Battle Pass are or basically anything else. Thats a pretty bad sign for a game so close to going live. Like 3 years and we hardly know shit about this sequel despite Blizzard constantly claiming theyll communicate more.

My new pet theory is that 5v5 was a logistical decision to have less pros on contract so that when they eventually phase it out it'll be somewhat less severe.

The counterpoint ro that is that Blizzard doesn't pay attention to bad press so why would they do that instead of just killing OWL

I have not done any research or critical thinking on this

My scientific research is that this is going to be a dud because they announced a new female character and nobody is making any porn of her.

This study has been peer reviewed.

I am sadly very confident OW2 will not be a big success. Theyll make some money initially with FOMO tactics, but honestly I think the game is quite likely to kill the series. Theres just SO much negativity with everything surrounding Activision Blizzard, the way the game was left dead for nearly 3 years and it coming back to gut even more stuff and load up on microtransactions.

This kinda thing isnt likely to work too well with a game whose player base has fallen off a cliff. Most of the free players brand new to OW1/2 will be DPS whose first experience is sitting in a 20+min queue for a game before they drop it to play something else instead. Its quite likely to be the biggest launch disaster since Cyberpunk

i know it's not the first but i hate so much that there are gaming experiences in the modern era that can just disappear forever

They shouldn't have nerfed Roadhog.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

(The Symetra rework is when I actually quit)

Steiner posted...

i know it's not the first but i hate so much that there are gaming experiences in the modern era that can just disappear forever

Dont worry Im sure several years from now well see the release of Overwatch Classic for more quick $$$

Overwatch Classic now featuring launch McCree in all his busted glory.

I just had a sudden violent revelation about how wrong I was to make fun of all those WoW Classic players who said they liked their game more when it was bad.

swordz9 posted...

There are rumors its gonna be delayed again.

Yeah, I've been feeling that too. The fact that there's barely anything about it from their social media or advertising is really weird when it's less than a month away. I wonder how bad things really are over there.

swordz9 posted...

I am sadly very confident OW2 will not be a big success. Theyll make some money initially with FOMO tactics, but honestly I think the game is quite likely to kill the series. Theres just SO much negativity with everything surrounding Activision Blizzard, the way the game was left dead for nearly 3 years and it coming back to gut even more stuff and load up on microtransactions.

This kinda thing isnt likely to work too well with a game whose player base has fallen off a cliff. Most of the free players brand new to OW1/2 will be DPS whose first experience is sitting in a 20+min queue for a game before they drop it to play something else instead. Its quite likely to be the biggest launch disaster since Cyberpunk

Well, I think it'll have hurdles to overcome, but I don't think it'll be that bad unless they're REALLY bad at handling the launch. The OW2 betas have shown there's still a ton of interest in the franchise and people are ready to return to the game. As much as the FTP and Battle Pass stuff pisses off hardcore players, it's a very popular business model with more casual gamers and I think that'll bring in a lot of players. I don't think queue times will be a big issue; going to free-to-play, having cross-play, the removal of 2 necessary players per game, and just the influx of launch players in general will make queue times pretty breezy. In the beta the role with the longest queue was Tank, so people who just want to shoot things as DPS will be fine.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

They shouldn't have nerfed Roadhog.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

Haha, would you feel better to know that Roadhog is absolutely busted right now? I don't know how he'll hold up in OW2, but right now he's pretty damn strong. He's had so many small, but frequent, buffs over the past handful of seasons. They didn't know when to stop, and now he's top tier.

My king as returned??

I mean I'm sure he's not back to being an infinite health freak who OHKOs all characters with 200HP or less with Hook+Shot...is he??

I mean, yeah, pretty much. That's his thing.

His ultimate's gotten better too. And damage against him generates less ultimate charge than other characters, so he doesn't feed enemy ults as much anymore.

They had to make all of the tanks unkillable monsters because there's only 1 per team now. So yeah pretty much all of the tanks are broken now by design.

Doing more damage than your two attack characters as the tank is basically expected now.

Dear God.

Honestly I think I would be interested in coming back for another go, or at least an attempt. When I stopped playing it was because I was completely unable to get any joy from normal play, and was only having fun when I went into that ridiculous Mayhem mode where everyone's numbers were ramped up and they got their Ults every 10 seconds, and the matches lasted 20 minutes. It's been a long time though, so maybe the wounds have healed.

1 less tank on both sides isnt gonna speed up queue times any. It wont be noticeable at all at least. I know it might seem like it would, but realistically tank already has by far the smallest player base and a lot of remaining ones are not excited or interested at all in solo tanking still. Like think about it DPS is already clogged queue wise and the game will only attract even more DPS mains who are now happy theres less shields and more vulnerable healers to feast on or brand new entirely and just gonna pick damage because its the most straightforward and fun role.

Overwatch and Blizzard as a whole are at the lowest point theyve ever been. I dont think some people realize how massive the negativity is for OW2 and how little hype anyone has for it. Its been almost entirely doom and gloom on every community for the game Ive seen aside from a couple hopeful people with wishful thinking

There were definitely a few times in the beta where queuing for attack games took more time than the actual game. I really don't know how they fix 10 minute attack queues though.

Maybe they'll go back to 6v6 and do 3 attack, 1 tank, 2 supports

lol

Realistically they cant fix it. DPS has always been and always will be more appealing to the general audience than playing a healer or tank. Its just how it goes. They absolutely cant remove role queue without creating more issues and they cant draw more people to the other roles either especially not when theres nearly 3 times as many character options compared to the other two roles >_>

Reinhart and Zarya aren't in 2??

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Reinhart and Zarya aren't in 2??

all of the characters are returning, but OW2 is going to 1 tank per team matches so you will never again be able to run a Reinhardt and Zarya on the same team.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_Uc-kExqwd4

New support hero. Man if she released like 4 years ago the R34 OW community wouldve been working so hard

swordz9 posted...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_Uc-kExqwd4

New support hero. Man if she released like 4 years ago the R34 OW community wouldve been working so hard

Gotta save some R34 to promote the half-sequel.

I haven't been following OW for a while, but is it me or do some of the new characters just look like reskins of existing characters? I thought Junker Queen was a Zarya reskin at first, and this new character looks like a Tracer skin

Well, they're finally revealing information about how OW2's battle pass mechanics and unlockables work.

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/news/23824003/

A lot of people are going to be mad that new heroes are going to need to be unlocked going forward, but honestly it doesn't seem that bad to me? Yeah, it sucks you won't be able to use the cool new heroes in matches right away without paying, but all free games need SOME kind of hook to get people to spend money, and the lure of being able to play a new character faster is better than some other things they could have done. So it's mainly a matter of if you're impatient or not. You can unlock new characters without paying on the free battle pass, you can earn the currency for the premium pass (and get the quick unlock) just by playing normally, you can use them right off the bat in Arcade Modes if you want to try them out, and they won't be available in Competitive Mode until late after their launch so people will have time earn them for themselves. I know people aren't going to like the idea, but it's slightly reasonable to me.

Also I think people might overlook this so I'll mention it, but if you own OW1 you'll start off with the new hero on launch (and every player will have Soujourn and Junker Queen at launch as well.)

Well its tier/lv55 of the BP apparently to unlock a new hero. If thats the same as gaining 1 level to open a loot box thats a 50+ hour grind just to unlock the new hero for QP/Comp. That would be insane since a lot of people simply dont play OW as much as they used to. They put it that far out to get cash from people who wont want to waste that kind of time.

Grand_Kirby posted...

but all free games need SOME kind of hook to get people to spend money, and the lure of being able to play a new character faster is better than some other things they could have done.

This is literally pay to win

Grand_Kirby posted...

Also I think people might overlook this so I'll mention it, but if you own OW1 you'll start off with the new hero on launch (and every player will have Soujourn and Junker Queen at launch as well.)

Does this mean in general or just the ones that are out at launch?

Assuming it's the latter, having to unlock heroes is fine...in a vacuum.

Unfortunately, in a game being considered by the majority of players to be an expansion rather than a new game, moving FROM characters being free to them NOW requiring time or money is the worst look imagineable. The negative press from this is going to be explosive.

Surprised the heroes are cheaper than Apex, where they're like $20 each.

Also has Blizzard addressed matchmaking related to new hero releases? Are you going to have matches where the enemy team player has the brand new hero unlocked and the player/s on your team in that role doesnt? That wouldnt be fair imo

Has Blizzard considered adding hats?

Could be a groundbreaking addition.

swordz9 posted...

Well its tier/lv55 of the BP apparently to unlock a new hero. If thats the same as gaining 1 level to open a loot box thats a 50+ hour grind just to unlock the new hero for QP/Comp. That would be insane since a lot of people simply dont play OW as much as they used to. They put it that far out to get cash from people who wont want to waste that kind of time.

I didn't assume a OW2 level would take as long as a OW1 level. Not least of which because you get four items in a loot box and 1 from a Battle Pass tier.

In the example picture they show it takes 10,000 xp to reach level 55, which is half it takes to level up in OW1. But I also don't expect every tier to cost the same.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Does this mean in general or just the ones that are out at launch?

It's just for these first three. The following heroes will be on the new model. Although I expect to have enough gold to get a Premium Pass by then anyway.

swordz9 posted...

Also has Blizzard addressed matchmaking related to new hero releases? Are you going to have matches where the enemy team player has the brand new hero unlocked and the player/s on your team in that role doesnt? That wouldnt be fair imo

That's called advertising!

Based on how this stuff tends to go, the new heroes will likely be overtuned at first to encourage buying the battle pass who wouldn't normally do so.

swordz9 posted...

Also has Blizzard addressed matchmaking related to new hero releases? Are you going to have matches where the enemy team player has the brand new hero unlocked and the player/s on your team in that role doesnt? That wouldnt be fair imo

That's how it works in Apex, and every other game with unlockable characters.

And it's shit in those games too

Grand_Kirby posted...

I didn't assume a OW2 level would take as long as a OW1 level. Not least of which because you get four items in a loot box and 1 from a Battle Pass tier.

In the example picture they show it takes 10,000 xp to reach level 55, which is half it takes to level up in OW1. But I also don't expect every tier to cost the same.

They also mentioned quests that have significant XP rewards so I imagine that's actually going to be the way you level up. I expect that playing a game is going to give like 100 battlepass XP and your weekly quests will give 20k or something.

I'd never had to spend money on an Apex character before when I was actively playing, I always had several times as much free currency as needed to unlock a character whenever one came out. Does OW2 have a free currency for unlocks?

For OW thats gonna be really bad if youre matched with a tank who hasnt unlocked the OP broken new tank yet and the enemy has it. Counter play is so important to OW putting heroes behind anything at all is a terrible idea even if half the community is too dumb or bad to make swaps anyways >_>

I really don't think that unlocking characters in OW2 is going to be as bad as some of the other games like Apex. One of the leaks (that was pretty much correct about everything else) mentioned that the "Character Quests" to unlock a character if you miss the battle pass was something like "Win 25 games as a Support in Quick Play to unlock Kiriko"

So if you miss the battle pass they're going to have missions to unlock the characters or you can just buy them outright with real money.

Part of me thinks that this was Blizzard's way of cutting down smurfs too. Maybe it will open up account re-sellers but smurfs aren't going to want to play 200 games to unlock all of the new heroes on their smurf accounts in 2 years.

skullbone posted...

They also mentioned quests that have significant XP rewards so I imagine that's actually going to be the way you level up. I expect that playing a game is going to give like 100 battlepass XP and your weekly quests will give 20k or something.

Yeah, I just re-read the blog post and saw that. Combining game xp and completing the Daily/Weekly challenges should hopefully make BP progression more palatable. You also can still get the xp bonus for playing in a group.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I'd never had to spend money on an Apex character before when I was actively playing, I always had several times as much free currency as needed to unlock a character whenever one came out. Does OW2 have a free currency for unlocks?

You can earn the Premium currency by completing challenges, and it seems like it's going to be used for most everything now. I don't know if the OW1 credits are going to be phased out, but the ones you have from OW1 will be transferred and you can use them on a small number of new unlocks.

Uhh that mission sounds pretty bad to me!

Let's assume a 50/50 win rate.

You have to play support 50 times to unlock the character? Thats a lot of commitment especially if it's not your preferred role.

Grand_Kirby posted...

You can earn the Premium currency by completing challenges, and it seems like it's going to be used for most everything now. I don't know if the OW1 credits are going to be phased out, but the ones you have from OW1 will be transferred and you can use them on a small number of new unlocks.

OK well if it's comporable to the Apex method then that's not an issue, since regular play would be enough to unlock without paying any money.

At that point I don't even know why they're on the battlepass though, unless it really is going to be a much larger hassle to get enough free currency to buy them. It just seems like bad marketing that has already led to a ton of misunderstandings if that's not going to be then case. Not that I wouldn't put it past Blizzard to fuck up marketing.

Playing 5 games a day for 10 days is maybe an hour a day. That doesn't sound unreasonable to me.

skullbone posted...

Playing 5 games a day for 10 days is maybe an hour a day. That doesn't sound unreasonable to me.

Don't underestimate the average consumer's annoyance that other people are playing with toys they don't have yet! It's enough to make a lot of people drop cash.

But again if the free currency works like Apex then this is all a moot point.

Theyre on the Battle Pass to milk money out of impatient people and FOMO. Theres a window and once that window expires we dont really know too much about how/when youll get the hero unlocked after. Its literally intentionally there to get money and theyll claim otherwise with fancy PR talk.

Also imagine if you have to do 50 wins on DPS to unlock the new DPS hero. With queue times oof one hour might get you a whole 3-4 matches

https://twitter.com/sally_amaki/status/1570732973166841857

Oh nice, Sally Amaki is voicing Kiriko.

Though it's interesting how Sally's only voicing her in English despite being fluent in both English and Japanese, and she's an established VA in Japan.

Kiriko is voiced by Fairouz Ai in Japanese.
https://twitter.com/jpPlayOverwatch/status/1570365083804643333

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLsJaMzLltE

Looks like if you don't own OW1 then it does the Super Mario Maker thing where you start with barely any characters or modes and it doles then out overtime as you play.

"Counterpick Based Gameplay" was the original modus operandi of OW, wasn't it?

Alright this stuff is going hard and fast and if any of this gets contradicted I'll say it, but what a day for OW2. Two more things.

All voice chats will be recorded.

You must enter your phone number to play the game.

Both cited as anti toxicity measure

It's 100% an anti-smurfing measure. One of the big concerns going to free-to-play was that smurfs, hackers, and other people who ruin games would just be able to make new accounts constantly to evade bans and troll and screw with players. It's kind of weird they waited this long to explain what they were going to do about it, but it's good that they're doing something.

I'm not sure how the phone thing will work out. You already need to use a number to play high rank Comp in OW1, and extending that to all competitive play would make sense to me. Having it be an requirement for the entire game though is a bit of an extreme choice. On the one hand, it's not like smurfs can't ruin QP games as well, but on the other hand it feels a bit contrary to making the game ftp, which would ideally be something you could try out quickly if you were interested in it. It's not something that bothers me personally, but I wonder how many people won't want to play if they need to enter a phone number.

The First Time User Experience is a bit weird. I remember when I first played Overwatch and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and was flailing about as Hanzo accomplishing nothing. Overwatch is a surprisingly complicated game despite its looks, and I can understand how someone trying OW2 for the first time and seeing over 30 heroes might be overwhelmed. It doesn't seem that different to me than some shooters where you have to unlock new weapons over time, although I still think it might be better to be more flexible. That said, again I'm positive this is mainly an anti-smurf, anti-troll measure more than anything. I'd bet anything some of the first locked heroes are the snipers, Mei, etc.

Overall if this actually cuts down on smurfs and hackers then I'm all for it. Sucks for people who are trying out Overwatch for the first time, but as long as they don't smurf they only have to unlock things once and then it'll be not a big issue.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Alright this stuff is going hard and fast and if any of this gets contradicted I'll say it, but what a day for OW2. Two more things.

All voice chats will be recorded.

Is that new? Most online games record voice chat I thought. Sony and MS record all voice chat on PS5 and XBX too.

The phone thing was announced quite a while ago as well.