Overwatch - That time Blizzard made a non-Diablocraft game.

[Orvek]

Yeah, Ana still seems really tough to use. I'm sure some people will figure out perfect sniper perches and learn to counter Widowmaker. I haven't seen anyone at that skill level yet though. She's definitely a really interesting character, never seen a healer quite like it. 

[clyde]

Playing Overwatch with Idle Thumb Readers last night was super fun.

[eRonin]

It's always a good time! I wonder if we can rope Chris and Nick and the others into playing with us (and streaming it?). I know Danielle only plays on PS4 version

[Korax]

No skin for Mei and Lucio Ball is a pale shadow of Rocket League. The Summer Games event is disappointing so far.

[Dewar]

This Summer Games event has really soured me on the whole Loot Box mechanic. When you have infinite time to get an item, then it's no big deal if it takes me longer to get there. With enough games played, I can be assured I can get that Mercy skin I want, either by randomly drawing it or eventually saving up enough money from duplicates to buy in. Suddenly, when these skins are three-week time-limited boxes the random gambling seems like a lot more of a cash grab. I bought 10 boxes, and opened another 15 from leveling up, and only got one new skin, and it was for the character that I have played the least in the entire game. At this point, I'll only be able to get another 5 or so at the rate I'm leveling, and I've pretty much given up on getting anything good.

 

Another annoyance is that I'd just hit level 120 when the event started. If I'd leveled a little bit slower, I could have gotten a bunch of easy event loot boxes for levels 101-115. At least my wife is getting the easy event loot.

[marginalgloss]

Yeah, I've always found the loot box aspect to be dispiriting, but the Olympic games tie-in seems especially egregious. I don't even particularly care about getting any/all the skins, but it's somehow depressing to think that there's now limited-edition stuff that I'll never have any opportunity to get outside of this period. 

 

The counter argument, I suppose, is that sales from this cosmetic stuff will be indirectly financing new content going forward. Which is good. But we still don't really have any idea what that content will look like, or how much of it there'll be, or for how long the game will be supported. Of course I would like to see a trickle of new characters and maps for a year or two, but Blizzard seem to be taking a lot on trust at the moment. (It helps that the game is really good in spite of all this!)

[mhiggy]

 

Looks like they are making a lot of changes for season 2. What do you guys think? Personally I think I will enjoy the switch to skill tiers like in Starcraft 2. Seeing my rank decrease by an entire rank with each loss was really discouraging.

[SuperBiasedMan]

I'm most keen to see no sudden death, and more of a tough scrap to squeak out a win.

[Dewar]

Interesting, they don't want you to concentrate on your skill rating number, but they are giving end-of-season rewards based on your skill rating number

[BigJKO]

The Cutest Castle Ever! :tup:

 

[clyde]

They should name the new map "Dewar" to honor the person who bought all the loot-boxes that payed for this.

[Dewar]

I've only gotten two packs of 10. My wife, on the other hand....

 

Edit: Had a great night of Overwatch Sunday night, went like 12 and 2, then playing with the same crew tonight got our butts royally stomped and went 2-8 or so before giving up. Very few of these matches, whether lost or won, were close at all. I'm not sure why this happens but it's frustrating.

[juv3nal]

 

gah can blizzard hire Brad Bird and just do a feature length film already

[Dewar]

I'm really impressed at how "realistic" and robotic the little animations are, especially when it first stands up.

[clyde]

I'm starting to want a rail-sliding animation for all the characters. There are a lot of rails to slide on.

[marginalgloss]

Ahhh that was nice.

 

I feel like this video exemplifies the best storytelling aspects of Overwatch in general. It's silent. It lets the world breathe by showing without telling. The focus is on the environmental details, and the expression comes from the animation and sound, rather than quippy dialogue and lore and superheroes doing superpower things.

 

It's just: here's a little story from this beautiful world we created. (Which the other videos sort of do as well, of course, but I like that this one is somehow both more and less outrageous than any of them.)

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I think there's something in my eye...

[Gwardinen]

This video was almost exquisitely engineered to hit me in my week spots - it's effectively the Iron Giant with nature instead of children, and god knows that's a trade I'm always willing to make.

[Jutranjo]

Ahhh that was nice.

 

I feel like this video exemplifies the best storytelling aspects of Overwatch in general. It's silent. It lets the world breathe by showing without telling. The focus is on the environmental details, and the expression comes from the animation and sound, rather than quippy dialogue and lore and superheroes doing superpower things.

 

It's just: here's a little story from this beautiful world we created. (Which the other videos sort of do as well, of course, but I like that this one is somehow both more and less outrageous than any of them.)

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I think there's something in my eye...

 

Yeah, it's extremely uncharacteristic of Blizzard.

[Badfinger]

Ganymede is the best overwatch character.

[Griddlelol]

So I finally bought overwatch. I ruined my ankle so I had a day at home where I couldn't walk and decided to play it. 

 

I can see what all the fuss is about, its real good.

 

One question though - how do you deal with being a healer? It's so...not fun, and all your team mates seem to ignore people shooting at you, and shoot at anything else. 

 

I've also noticed that it's rarely ever a close match. Generally one team destroys the other completely.

[Dewar]

Both Mercy and Lucio have some pretty quick and useful movement options, so it helps to practice with those so you can dodge the occasional enemy who gets into the back line. If there's constantly someone back there hassling you, I'll usually play a half-healer (Zenyatta or Ana) or skip out on healing entirely and grab a character who can self heal (Roadhog or Soldier 76.) Being a healer is lot more fun if you're in a team of friends that you're communicating with.

 

I have noticed the same about the lack of close matches. I think what happens is that, once a team shatters, the tendency is to run back into the fight one-by-one and get slaughtered. Even for a team that's working together, it can be tough to get people to wait and group up. With pubbies, it's near impossible. 

[Griddlelol]

I've already found a few characters I gravitate towards - D.Va, Soldier 76, Tracer and Roadhog. I try to like Mercy, but man healing is boring.

[Dewar]

Mercy is still my highest played, and I have a lot of fun at it, but there are definitely evenings where it's either boring or there are just too many folks getting to the back line and taking me out. Roadhog has quickly been running up the charts of my most-played as well, along with Pharah.

[clyde]

Once you have an understanding about what is happening based on positioning, what characters have the most damage output and who is about to ult, Mercy can become a frantic game of triage-versus-buffing.

But yeah, the other supports allow for drastically different playstyles. For instance sniping with Ana or wall-running, knocking people off cliffs with Lucio.

[SuperBiasedMan]

I enjoy playing Mercy a lot. She's my favourite support. I think you need to focus on people being alive to feel good about what you're doing. That and watch the enemy team fall away.

But also crucially, if people aren't grouping up right for a support then just switch. No point being support for an unsupportive team.