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

[Gwardinen]

3) the time to find a game is crazy, you'll spend more time requeueing than it'll take to finish a stompy match.

 

Are you playing on a console? On the PC I'm not sure I've ever had it take longer than a minute, and it usually takes less than 30 seconds.

 

For those on consoles, it may improve if and when the PS4 and Xbox One get cross-platform multiplayer. Blizzard has seemed open to this idea, but obviously it requires some cooperation from the manufacturers too.

[Vasari]

[JonCole]

Are you playing on a console? On the PC I'm not sure I've ever had it take longer than a minute, and it usually takes less than 30 seconds.

 

For those on consoles, it may improve if and when the PS4 and Xbox One get cross-platform multiplayer. Blizzard has seemed open to this idea, but obviously it requires some cooperation from the manufacturers too.

 

I'm playing on PS4. 30 second - 1 minute wait times are generally expected during daytime hours, but peak hours (like... 7pm EST - 10 EST) usually see 1-2 minute waits and weekend peak hours like last night can see 3-4 minute wait times in the worst cases. Also, fwiw I usually queue in groups at night so that may affect the times. Still something to consider when backing out mid-match, particularly considering it's kind of a pain in the ass to reform groups in this game because there is no way to pull out a full group from the round start screen.

[Gwardinen]

Still something to consider when backing out mid-match, particularly considering it's kind of a pain in the ass to reform groups in this game because there is no way to pull out a full group from the round start screen.

 

Really? That's interesting, because it's totally doable on PC if you're the group leader. When you leave a group there's just a checkbox for "leave as group". Odd that there isn't some kind of UI element for that on console.

[Ewan]

I had a really fun game attacking on Hollywood last night. The defenders went with five Bastions on various positions around the car and were just slaughtering us whenever we approached. It felt like a puzzle to try and figure out the combination of characters and tactics to take them out while the clock was ticking. Genji ended up being successful for me, deflecting and warping around for backstabs. We turned it around and starting pushing the car in overtime, which then happened again on the second checkpoint. 

 

Other than the frantic 6v6 skirmishes, I think my favourite moments playing this game are spent trying to figure out a solution to an oppositions team composition. The quick character switching and the overtime concept are great for this.

[Korax]

Competitive play is out! Yay? Played a few placement matches and saw more hate in chat at the end of ONE GAME than I have in the entire month of regular play that's happened since release.

[thepaulhoey]

I haven't gotten to try competitive yet, do you still need to be Level 25? I'm only 21 or 22.

 

How is everyone finding the game now? I think the community has started to improve a lot, people are more chatty and fun recently and more open to going with the fun. Had a lot of fun the other night in a Pharrah v Junkrat match that just happened and everyone was happy to go with it. There's still some bad players and I try to offer constructive feedback(like Mercy needs to move around and heal everyone not just the tank) but I see a lot less people getting angry at video games. Those who do are generally just ignored.

 

I've been playing with my friend as well and it's a lot more fun as you can strategise to some degree with another person.

[clyde]

I've been enjoying Overwatch a lot. It's great for just jumping in for a single match with randoms or playing with a team of Thumbs for a few hours. I'm starting to play Zarya more on payload maps now that I understand that the arc of her secondary fire and using the payload for cover mixes well. Last night I figured out that Bastion makes a good supressing sniper if you keep moving around. The thing I like about snipers and flankers is that I get to use more of the periphery parts of the map that I have very little familiarity with.

[Dewar]

I haven't gotten to try competitive yet, do you still need to be Level 25? I'm only 21 or 22.

 

How is everyone finding the game now? I think the community has started to improve a lot, people are more chatty and fun recently and more open to going with the fun. Had a lot of fun the other night in a Pharrah v Junkrat match that just happened and everyone was happy to go with it. There's still some bad players and I try to offer constructive feedback(like Mercy needs to move around and heal everyone not just the tank) but I see a lot less people getting angry at video games. Those who do are generally just ignored.

 

I've been playing with my friend as well and it's a lot more fun as you can strategise to some degree with another person.

 

Yup, 25 is still the minimum.

 

I've found that as long as I have a group size of at least 3, things go pretty smoothly, but when I try and match single it still feels like I'm getting lumped in with a bunch of folks that have never played an FPS before *shrug*

[Twig]

i don't play overwatch

 

i don't watch bob's burgers

 

nonetheless

 

i like this tumblr

 

http://thaddeuscrunch.tumblr.com/

[Bucket_of_Lizards]

Competitive has been a mixed back for me, I kinda wanted to check it out in solo Q and had 1 great game where the other team was much worse and we stomped, 1 bad game where one guy was in voice chat calling everyone newbs, and 1 game where we lost, likely really outmatched, but at least people were relatively friendly in chat. The placement games sortof make me feel just like a random cog in whatever matchmaking decides though.

[TychoCelchuuu]

I'm like way behind on the podcast, and I just started listening to the one from early June or something and all the talk about how great Overwatch is made me cave and buy it (on PC). I'm still learning the maps and the heroes and stuff but once I get my bearings and am no longer a liability, let's get togetha and destroy some fools! TychoCelchuu#1473 on BNet.

[eRonin]

Hey Tycho, there's a channel for Overwatch on the idle thumbs slack and discord, and there's quite a few of us who play together! 

[TychoCelchuuu]

I don't know what a slack and discord is but I will go figure that out.

[zerofiftyone]

I don't know what a slack and discord is but I will go figure that out.

You can sign up for the Slack here:

http://stingo.infinitebit.net:8001/

[Dewar]

Olly Moss one day only Overwatch prints http://ollymoss.bigcartel.com/

[Badfinger]

I'm a little bit weirded out by how Blizzard has chosen to roll out the MMR ranking for competitive mode. Almost everybody got placed basically between 40-60, which means that being ranked with someone just a few points different could mean a significant difference in skill. The online stat tracking sites indicate that high 40s is well above 70th percentile for ranked. I'm sure Blizzard feels that the rankings will naturally spread out to where they're "supposed" to be, but a well above average player seeing themselves in the 40s on a 1-100 scale has to be confusing or frustrating.

[Dewar]

I didn't know that. I feel a bit better about my 47 (since fallen to 43) ranking now.

[Badfinger]

I didn't know that. I feel a bit better about my 47 (since fallen to 43) ranking now.

 

I don't know the exact breakdown, but whenever those numbers went out that was just about top quartile. I got a 46 going 6-4 in placements (still salty it should have probably been 7-3), and it said 70th percentile for me. I don't know if that's nearly the distribution anymore. 

 

 

e: looks like no, not even close. The distribution has become more spread out. We're in the sadness zone. I guess I don't know how good at Overwatch I actually am, but my feeling is I should be higher. Getting a sub-50 ranking made me not really want to play competitive.

[Dewar]

Getting frustrated after losing 4 matches in a row and dropping a full rank each time made me not want to play competitive. I do notice that match times in casual go up by quite a bit when some of my more skilled friends join in. I assume that's because that section of the player base is in ranked now.

[Dewar]

Man this evening was savage. Got our asses kicked 10 matches in a row, like not even close.

[clyde]

I just read about that D.Va buff. How does it feel? It sounds really interesting.

I don't think I'll be able to download the patch before I go to bed.

[Dewar]

Oh nice, didn't know this would go live today.

 

I spent my time on the test realm playing around with Ana, so I don't really know yet, but I'll hopefully play some D.Va tonight.

[coaxmetal]

I've only played a few games with Ana on the team (I haven't played her myself). I don't think people have figured out how to use her effectively yet, she hasn't been useful in the games ive played, and also  hasn't been difficult to play against. 

[Dewar]

The one thing I noticed playing as and against Ana is that it's really easy to not notice when you're getting hit by her. I've been able to counter-snipe to great effectiveness because the enemy sniper doesn't try to get out of the way or shoot back until it's too late. Healing-wise, I have found her very lack-luster. I hit the wrong target a lot in brawls, and the healing grenade feels kinda meh. It's still a nice change from being Mercy all the time though. With Zenyatta's buffs I now have 2 main healers and 2 backup healers to choose from, and that's good.