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March 28, 2024, 05:45:42 PM

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OverWatch, Blizzards next game

Started by VegaLA, November 10, 2014, 04:45:44 PM

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VegaLA


Fry

Looks pretty good, some really appealing Pixarish character design - except the "British[nb]By way of Dick Van Dyke[/nb]" accent of the flitty, flappy, zappy, teleporty woman Tracer. I desperately hope they change her actor, that sort of gameplay is my favourite, but listening to that shit every time I play would kill me.

But I love the way it looks like it has so much character. Never enjoyed a Blizzard game before, this definitely looks like it could be my first.

One weapon set per character does seem a bit...of an odd choice.

Onken



Bucky O'Hare with a bigger budget. I don't see anything to get excited about.

lazarou

Personally I think it looks ace. The design and characters are obviously a direct attempt to open things up a little more beyond the typical shooter crowd, with about 50:50 women to men and a much more diverse bunch with it, along with what seems to be fairly toned down violence. No doubt there's commercial reasoning behind it of course, but it's still nice to see. In a way it feels like the next step along from TF2.

The one set-per-character thing I can get behind, it was one of those things I loved about TF2 before they started muddying it all up with alternate weapons and crafting nonsense. It can lead to a clean, balanced design where everything fits in place just as it should. Of course, it could also backfire and be boring as anything, but I think they'll have a fair stab at it.

Anyway, it's the first shooter I've been even slightly excited about in a long time.

VegaLA


Chairman Yang

See... TF2 works precisely because nobody playing gives a toss about the outcome of a match, whereas Blizzard fans tend to be...enthusiastic I can just imagine the sort of patter you'll get: "glhf" immediately bookended with "noob team" & "l2p tracer, f@gs'. This definitely looks like it's closer to the DotA end of the spectrum than TF2.

Bhazor


Alberon

Why does pressing that switch on her goggles make her arse bigger?


lazarou

Aye, it's fucking great. I'm actually holding back on playing too much as it's all going to reset on launch and I don't want to burn myself out too much unlocking cool stuff I'm only going to lose. I'll go into more detail later, but I had high hopes and so far it's far exceeding them.

lazarou

I've never felt so spoiled for choice when it comes to character selection. I've been splitting my play time getting my head around D.Va, Tracer, Widowmaker and Zarya and as much as they've grown on me, I'm pining after giving Mei a shot but I still want to put time into mastering my main ladies and arrgh. And where Battleborn hides the more interesting chars behind tedious level unlocks, here everyone is open to choose immediately. Want to be the cool Korean girl with the giant mech right off the bat? Go for it.

The variety of skill sets are absolutely dizzying at first, and take quite some time to get your head around. Tracer's signature skill lets her rewind time to where she was several seconds ago, with the health, position and ammo count she had at exactly that point. With the right timing it lets you go from a near-death out-of-ammo dead girl walking to full health, full clip and right behind the fucker who was just about to finish you off. It takes constant situational awareness to make the most of, but when it pays off it's hilariously satisfying. And that's just one of her toys.

D.Va plays a different game entirely, as a lumbering tank that's lethal at close range but a massive target pretty much always. But with clever use of her limited boosters you can blast off over cover or tear into a mass of enemies before you eject and self-destruct, taking out everything in a twenty-foot radius. Mei can stop enemies in their tracks by freezing them solid or by instantly erecting massive ice walls to temporarily cut off entire lines of attack. Zarya can save her pals by throwing a shield around them as they're about to get cut down, then throwing a vortex into the enemy mass to draw them into a single spot where your team can concentrate their fire. And as crazy and varying as the skill sets are, it feels like everything has a counter with the right combination of characters. Compared to almost every other shooter I've played where class choice is "this dude has a gun, this dude has a bigger one but he's slower, this dude has a rocket" it feels like an epiphany.

And it looks gorgeous, runs like silk and is just soaked in charm. Any time you're not actively blowing shit up, option and result screens are livened up by the stars of the show, posing and preening and just generally showing off the impressive character design. They quip and spout catchphrases but it's all kept fairly low-key, just some pleasant window dressing to the main event. Especially compared (once again) to Battleborn, where every character is in your face and up your bum and even that command rank 30 unlock you've been pining after is determined to show off how much of an irritating prick they are inside the first 20 minutes of your first game with them.

As it's all so much to get your head around for a new player, I'd recommend starting off with a few games against the AI, which will match you up with some other players to find your bearings against a team of fairly crappy bots. A nice, low-hassle way to get acquainted with your faves in a combat situation. If even that's a little too hairy, there's a test arena where you can just twat around with test dummies until you get a feel for things.

The main complaint I'd have is that it's very much focused on its core objective-based team combat, and if that's not your thing then you might struggle with it. There's some minor variation with "escort the tank" maps but it's very much a similar kind of deal. I'd really like to unleash this hero roster on a co-op horde mode like TF2 later added, so fingers crossed for some DLC that goes that direction in the future. It's the one area BB edges it out on, with a varied selection of play modes (albeit on a very limited selection of maps). But then what it does, it does so fucking well.

Maybe I'll burn out on it after a few weeks' serious play, but first impressions: love it.

madhair60

This is great. Loving Reaper, Bastion. Really fun.

lazarou

Quote from: Chairman Yang on November 10, 2014, 11:00:49 PM
See... TF2 works precisely because nobody playing gives a toss about the outcome of a match, whereas Blizzard fans tend to be...enthusiastic I can just imagine the sort of patter you'll get: "glhf" immediately bookended with "noob team" & "l2p tracer, f@gs'. This definitely looks like it's closer to the DotA end of the spectrum than TF2.

I think we're likely to escape that kind of madness due to a few factors. The main one is that games are so brief that the action's much more condensed. Games typically run 5-10 minutes and you're done, so there's none of that DOTA business where everyone's spending a solid half-hour or more building up their seething resentment to the point where they're screaming at everyone else for fucking up the match. That and OW's a premium-priced effort tied to your battle.net account, so potential griefers are going to be much more wary of bans when getting back in the game could put them significantly out of pocket.

The general feel of the thing leans much more towards TF2 than anything else. Even with the higher skill ceiling in learning such a wide variety of characters and counters, it's clearly been designed to be as accessible as possible. Maps are fairly short and tightly designed making them relatively easy to learn, and characters stay with the skills they start with, not like most MOBA variants that couple intricate levelling systems with an almost willfully obtuse set of optional gear. Battleborn has all that business along with matches that average half an hour, so I'm guessing that one's going to be much more of a draw for "you're doing it wrong" types.

Anyway y'all should try it, it's fantastic and free for another couple of days.

Bhazor

I still can't tell. Is the game fully F2P like Heroes of the Storm or Dota. Or do you have to buy it? Is it only free for a limited time?


Quote from: lazarou on May 06, 2016, 09:37:39 PMI think we're likely to escape that kind of madness due to a few factors. The main one is that games are so brief that the action's much more condensed.

Funnily enough thats the reason I never liked Heroes of the Storm. It felt too condensed. Its like someone took football and said "Well the goals are the most exciting part. So lets just do penalty shoot outs."

lazarou

It's been in open beta for the last several days and that will be ending on the 9th. After that you'll be paying full whack when the full version releases a couple of weeks after.

Bhazor

#15
Ok, another question. Are they crazy? I mean its [CURRENT YEAR] and they're releasing a full price multiplayer only game? I mean I know Blizzard has pull and its got its fanatical fan base but when was the last time this business model worked? Evolve, Titanfall and Destiny were all from massive studios and were practically dead after 9 months and The Division seems to be following the trend. [nb]http://www.thecountrycaller.com/74387-ubisofts-the-division-player-base-shrinks-by-81-since-launch/[/nb]

Alternatively are they well aware of it and also well aware of the fact they have a million or so fans willing to immediately preorder whatever they release?

Either way I say 6 months before Blizzard first starts dropping hints at going F2P.

lazarou

Quote from: Bhazor on May 07, 2016, 03:55:10 PM
Evolve, Titanfall and Destiny were all from massive studios and were practically dead after 9 months and The Division seems to be following the trend.
Destiny's still doing well, isn't it? This from a few days ago:
QuoteDestiny has nearly 30 million registered players. As previously reported in November 2015, the game had 25 million players. Activision said during the call to investors that each players has logged over 100 hours on average playing the online shooter.
Doesn't list active players which is the big one, but they're still shifting copies and it's definitely still getting play from people I know, anecdotal as that may be.

QuoteEither way I say 6 months before Blizzard first starts dropping hints at going F2P.
I don't think Blizz have turned a pay game F2P yet. Even with the MMO market going arse over tit, they're still plugging away doing reasonable numbers with full-fat WoW subscriptions, I don't think they're going to be anywhere near as eager to change tack as others might be. Even if it isn't the smash they're expecting, they can take the hit more than most.

Their standard practice seems to be to put out a severely restricted free "starter edition" once a game's been out a good while and has some expansions, and then try to upsell folks from there. I think every full price game since Starcraft 2 has had this treatment, so it seems the most likely way to go. Though I'm not sure exactly how they'd go about it with a game like OW that's got a lot less stuff to bury away behind an upgrade option. Limited maps/heroes on separate demo servers would be a possibility, probably with levels restricted too so you couldn't get too many skins.

Pit-Pat

It's extremely good - having played for a good few hours my friends and I have pre-ordered and are eagerly awaiting the 24th.

I've played with almost all of the characters and enjoyed almost all of those, with particular favourites being McCree[nb]Low health with highly powerful revolver that can shoot off its magazine in one go[/nb], Reinhardt[nb]Sledgehammer-wielding tank with a giant shield and an awesome charge move that's particularly good against Bastions[/nb], Mercy [nb]Healer who can resurrect allies as her special move[/nb], Torbjorn[nb]Shotgun-wielding engineer-type who can set up turrets and drop armour[/nb] and Lucio[nb]Rollerblading passive healer/speed booster who can helpfully shove opponents off cliffs[/nb].

My only real gripes are slight balance issues: I think Bastion still kills opponents far too quickly, and I'm getting really tired of the best-play-of-the-match just being a Bastion mowing down 4 people in as many seconds and I have doubts about Torbjorn and how fair his turret is. I had a horrific match when two enemy Bastions and two Torbjorns had set up 4 turrets in one room and it was entirely impossible to get through it.

Otherwise, I'm really looking forward to 24th[nb]Also because Total War: Warhammer comes out and I can't wait for that[/nb].

lazarou

Okay so this has been out a day or so and the reviews are positively glowing. Right now it's the top-rated PC game this year so far. User reviews are the usual grab-bag of people absolutely raving about it and folks pissing and moaning about every single aspect.

The launch actually went surprisingly well for an exclusively online game with hundreds of thousands hammering at the servers, no doubt the beta helped there. 15 minutes of faff after launch time and everyone was in and cheerily blasting away. By Blizzard standards that's bordering on some kind of miracle.

The longer I play this, the more I'm impressed by the design. Despite the game having no minimap and little in the way of hud elements, it quickly becomes easy to determine where everyone is and the enemy force's current situation. Little touches like teammates automatically calling out snipers and turrets, or the weapon and sound design being so distinctive you can tell what's coming at you from the sound of their gunfire or even their footfalls.

I heavily recommend turning on "Dolby Atmos for Headphones" in the sound options, which uses some clever tech to offer an impressively broad 3d soundscape on a plain set of stereo headphones. Really adds a whole other level to your situational awareness.

Game-wise, I'm still maining D.Va and Mei, but finding myself drawn more and more to Soldier 76 when the supports aren't pulling their weight. He works nicely as a filler character who can put out decent damage and still get some solid healing in.

Loving this so far. I'm a Battlefield player to the core but it's nice to play something as fast and addictive as this.


Soldier 76 is my general purpose go to player.

Pit-Pat

#20
I did an awful lot better in the beta but I'm having difficulty finding my character niche at the moment. I've found myself desperately flicking from hero to hero as I get inevitably killed after running into the fray.

It is amazing how often you will play a round and see someone playing a character so well that you just think "That character is horribly overpowered". My whole team was taken apart by one Tracer player on Gibraltar, then by Pharah on Kings Row, then later by a Junkrat also on Kings Row.

Fuck, I wish I was playing right now.

[Edited for having too much character]

hoverdonkey

I'm having lots of fun as Lucio. He's a support dude. I like being team doctor because then I get to feel I'm still helping my team even if I'm not killing everything in sight. Gets me player of the game quite a lot too.

Hangthebuggers


Pit-Pat

Quote from: hoverdonkey on May 26, 2016, 02:24:30 PM
I'm having lots of fun as Lucio. He's a support dude. I like being team doctor because then I get to feel I'm still helping my team even if I'm not killing everything in sight. Gets me player of the game quite a lot too.

Yeah, I like Lucio too. I love pushing people off the edge on Lijiang Tower and Dorado, even if it is horribly cheap.

I also like Mercy, though it does feel a bit of a shame never to get any kills.

Pit-Pat

Is noone else playing on PS4?

I'm at work currently which feels like a waste of time given that I could technically be playing Overwatch.

lazarou

More than Seven million players in the first week alone. So from the 9 million+ who played the free open beta, more than 70% decided to shell out for the full game. Looks like it's going to do alright.

Having some fun with Pharah at the moment, having to shake the rust off my old Starsiege Tribes chops as I jet around, leading targets with my fuck-off rocket launcher. Still impressed how differently it plays between characters, and I still haven't dug into at least half of 'em properly. One lesson you learn playing Pharah is that people never bloody look up until there's already justice raining down on them. Though as with the Bastion stuff a while back, they'll probably learn pretty quickly.

Pit-Pat

I like Pharah but I find her super attack to be severely underpowered - maybe it's because I choose my moments so poorly but it feels more like hurling mouldy potatoes at people whilst making yourself a target for everyone else's bazookas.

She's also irritatingly vulnerably to Torbjorn's turret which makes attacking with her very frustrating, particularly on maps like Hollywood.

Bhazor

Fuck it. Bought the damn thing. I still say it will go free to play within six months and then get buried under cosmetic upgrades and micro transactions. But goddamn it, it's got wall running and Widowmaker's arse cam. What was I to do? At least now when all the free 2 play crap does come along I get to complain about how the game used to be so much better.

lazarou

Quote from: Pit-Pat on June 03, 2016, 10:30:16 AM
I like Pharah but I find her super attack to be severely underpowered - maybe it's because I choose my moments so poorly but it feels more like hurling mouldy potatoes at people whilst making yourself a target for everyone else's bazookas.

She's also irritatingly vulnerably to Torbjorn's turret which makes attacking with her very frustrating, particularly on maps like Hollywood.

Yeah, turrets are a right fucker. I try and pop up over a wall and take potshots until I can drop the thing, but it's a bit of a crapshoot. I've probably had the best luck with those just brute-forcing my way in as D.Va, hitting the boosters with my shield up to get in behind and just tear up the turret and resident Torbjorn. Her guns are severely underpowered for going toe-to-toe with most characters, but they're good for rushing turrets and snipers.

Pharah's ultimate is a tough one to fire off and not get yourself shot down before it's done with. I've had the best luck when there's some decent ground support keeping everyone distracted, like a concerted push from the team or even just a Winston getting in there and throwing folks around. Try and wait until they're engaged then rain down on them, they won't know which way to turn.

Bhazor

Put about 7 hours all told into this and am really enjoying it for the most part. A couple maps suck (Route 66 in paticular), one or two heroes feel underpowered and theres a clear skill gap as the community settles in. But yeah I really like it. Mostly playing Hanzo, D.va and Pharah. All feel unique and powerful in their own right. That said though, how disheartening is it that with all these fun characters the single most powerful hero in the game is Soldier. A generic gruff COD soldier, whose defining character is that he's a soldier who speaks gruffly.  More and more I see people who only play soldier game after game after game and they're always shit talkers who spam "EZ" when they win or "**** team noobs" when they lose. My first time with him I got a 27 kill streak. I felt like a whore.

Bastion is also a boring cunt but at least he has a silly tank mode and everyone is well aware he's a cunt.

Oh and turrets are bullshit, far too acurate at long range especially on flying heroes. In all it definitely feels like there needs to be some balance updates. Having direct hits from Pharah's rockets only taking like 30% of a fucking snipers health is just ridiculous. Meanwhile soldier and Mcree can just melt anyone in a heartbeat.