Overwatch's Open Beta Attracted 9.7 Million Players

[Steven Bogos]

Overwatch's Open Beta Attracted 9.7 Million Players

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Blizzard says that Overwatch's open beta was the biggest in company history.

So it turns out that quite a few players tuned in to Overwatch's open beta [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167351-Overwatch-Open-Beta-Begins] last week, as Blizzard has reported that more than 9.7 million heroes played the game during the open beta across PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This makes it the company's biggest beta ever, beating out established franchises like Diablo and Warcraft.

However, the most impressive thing to come out of this beta is that despite the massive player count, we didn't get the "Error 37" shenanigans [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117297-Blizzard-Apologizes-for-Diablo-III-Launch-Troubles] that are expected of high-profile Blizzard launches these days.

"All told, Open Beta participants teamed up to play more than 4.9 billion minutes (over 81 million hours) across more than 37 million matches of intense competitive action and all-out fun," said Blizzard in a press release.

What were your thoughts from the beta? Will Overwatch be a day-1 purchase for you, or did you already get your fill?

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[Charli]

Day one, I have more popsicles to make.

 

[Metalrocks]

lol. i totally forgot about the error issue. but i guess it didnt effect me since i have never cared for diabolo. and to think of it, this was my very first blizzard title.

i sure had a good time with the beta that i did play my fair share of hours. would have played more but im at uni so priorities first. have decided then to pre order the game as well. i just hope they will tweak some issues many have listed in the forum. some characters are UP and others OP.
my favorite character is widowmaker and what should be changed with her is her grappling hook cooldown. also hope that there will be a sprinting option since it is aggravating to walk from one end to the other.

 

[The Enquirer]

This is a really good sign for the launch itself going smoothly as well if they didn't have any issues during what was essentially a free trial.

 

[ShakerSilver]

IIRC recall that Battlefront got over 9 million beta players as well. Such statistics aren't really indicative of the success of a product. Not that I didn't enjoy some of the time I had with the game, but not quite sold on dropping $40 on to continue playing it.

I'd also blame the lack of network errors as a result of the 20 tickrate servers (yeesh) putting less stress on them.

 

[Justank]

Decent fun playing solo, absolutely amazing with a full group of friends. Pre-ordered.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

while it's all good fun, and I'll probably get it, I can only hope it has more game modes and features in it in the final product, I only played the beta for a few days and I was already getting tired of it.

 

[Zydrate]

I had already preordered it, and plan to play more. Bastion was my jam.

 

[Metalrocks]

while it's all good fun, and I'll probably get it, I can only hope it has more game modes and features in it in the final product, I only played the beta for a few days and I was already getting tired of it.

me too, but once you play different characters, you can have fun. when blizzard have extended it, i kept on playing and had more enjoyment. i played mercy a lot too (second fav character) and was just busy enough with healing. playing her was great and when you have players who actually appreciate your duty, they comment on that as well and even give you the highest votes too. once i even got 12 votes because i my team so happy. this alone was encouraging to keep on playing.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Already spoke of my Lucio-Love. Pre-Ordered as well. Hating the wait.

I did notice only one match with any lag. It was really a great experience and I want to play again.


I WANT TO PLAY AGAIN.

while it's all good fun, and I'll probably get it, I can only hope it has more game modes and features in it in the final product, I only played the beta for a few days and I was already getting tired of it.

me too, but once you play different characters, you can have fun. when blizzard have extended it, i kept on playing and had more enjoyment. i played mercy a lot too (second fav character) and was just busy enough with healing. playing her was great and when you have players who actually appreciate your duty, they comment on that as well and even give you the highest votes too. once i even got 12 votes because i my team so happy. this alone was encouraging to keep on playing.

... Ok. A little jealous. The last full match I played before the Servers went down, I got the Play of the Game, healed 50% of the team's damage, Held the winning cap, and basically was a horrible pain in the other team's butt... and they gave it to 76 because he had more kills than me.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

I may well get it after it. Also helps that I pulled 2 legendary costumes while I was playing. I might want to keep them.

 

[Metalrocks]

@obsidian jones
i have never gotten play of the game with mercy. even when i healed like mad, it went to someone i have given more power or healed and got a bunch of kills. which are all thanks to me. but nope, its the guy who got the kills.
i have only gotten play of the game 3 times during my time playing the beta. all of them with widowmaker. since i didnt really liked the other characters or had no interest.
in the forum, people have also complained about it as well how they are healers and dont get really recognized for their efforts. but are given to people they have helped to provide the kill streaks.

@dr crawver
sorry, but your entire unlocks will be reset. i have reached level 16 and have to start from scratch again. hopefully upgraded the system like loot boxes give stuff for your character instead characters you dont play.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I pre-purchased it once the Beta was over. I'm really glad I got to try it for free.

I went from "Meh, I don't care about Overwatch" to "HOLY CRAP I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE" in about 2 matches. It was a TON of fun, and I don't know how I'm going to get through the next 12 or so days it'll take before release.

If I hadn't had the chance to play it for free, I would probably have overlooked the hell out of the game. Now, I'm wigging out waiting for the actual release.

 

[CrazyBlaze]

Honestly this is an FPS that I really enjoyed. There are very few of those, especially when it comes to multiplayer, but I had lot of fun in this. It doesn't feel like a normal FPS and every character plays and moves a lot more different than what you usually see. Theres a lot of movement and if you play things right you can use the area to your advantage. There are a couple of things I do hope get changed. There are a couple of maps (Kings Row and Annubis mostly) where there is a huge chokepoint right at the start with no other options to get through and it can really slow you up. Bastion needs a bit of nerf, something that would make the player move or not just stay in turret mode in one spot, because as he is he can really take out a team with his fast and high damage. And I think Winston could use a bit of a buff. Make his shield stronger or something. Outside of that pretty much everyone seems balanced and fairly easy to grasp to basics with, though mastering them and making full use of them is another story.

 

[Justank]

@obsidian jones
i have never gotten play of the game with mercy. even when i healed like mad, it went to someone i have given more power or healed and got a bunch of kills.

Mercy Play of the Game will almost always come from ressing 4/5 people, and unless someone gets 4+ kills via DVA/Reaper/Hanzo type ults, you're pretty much guaranteed to get it. Very, very unlikely that you're going to get it just from healing people.

 

[EbonBehelit]

9.7 million players is a very surprising number, considering how unbelievably bad the matchmaking was. It felt like it was drawing upon a player pool that was too small.

This is worrying since, if anything, the number of players on release is actually going to be considerably less than the open beta: I don't think the public are totally sold on the game for the price Blizzard is asking. I'm certainly not paying $80 for it on launch.

The map pool needs some work too: almost every single map heavily favors the defending team. The absence of a Capture the Flag map is also baffling.

I may well get it after it. Also helps that I pulled 2 legendary costumes while I was playing. I might want to keep them.

Afaik the progress everyone made during the beta was totally wiped. Bums me out a bit too.

There are a couple of things I do hope get changed. There are a couple of maps (Kings Row and Annubis mostly) where there is a huge chokepoint right at the start with no other options to get through and it can really slow you up. Bastion needs a bit of nerf, something that would make the player move or not just stay in turret mode in one spot, because as he is he can really take out a team with his fast and high damage. And I think Winston could use a bit of a buff. Make his shield stronger or something.

Again, the map pool seems to heavily favor the defending team, with most maps having at least one major chokepoint that's super easy to defend.

Bastion is a controversial character due to his relatively low skill floor and lazy playstyle. He's not OP though: at least half the roster has a way of easily dealing with him, especially Tracer and Genji. It's when you get 3 or 4 Bastions/Toblerones defending a node from multiple angles that things become nightmarish, especially with a Winston covering them. On that note, buffing Winston's shield would actually be an indirect buff to the above comp.

In my eyes, the only characters I consider to be somewhat overpowered are Mei (lol Blizzard frost-mage), McCree (free kills with flashbangs), and especially Tracer - a character so annoying that I can't really put it into words.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I didn't even bother with the open beta. I just don't care about this and I don't understand the hype behind it.

 

[The Wykydtron]

After playing the beta for a few days, it's a resounding "eh" from me. Every single defence map feels like Engies on Last on all the points but with more cancer (fuckin' Bastion/Engie combo on defence with a decent tank is pretty much GG WP) and no half decent Spy to ruin your sentry nest.

It doesn't help when the few characters I liked were the mid to low tier D.va and Mercy the walking target. Zero other characters appealed to me except a couple of Genji games where I cracked him out to utterly ruin a Bastion.

Overall, it's not bad but it's not the genre defining masterpiece it's hyped up to be. I'm 50/50 on whether I think the game has staying power after the initial novelty wears off, especially if the matchmaking is as imbalanced as the beta.

Also Mei. Just Mei.

Spoiler

 

[Metalrocks]

@obsidian jones
i have never gotten play of the game with mercy. even when i healed like mad, it went to someone i have given more power or healed and got a bunch of kills.

Mercy Play of the Game will almost always come from ressing 4/5 people, and unless someone gets 4+ kills via DVA/Reaper/Hanzo type ults, you're pretty much guaranteed to get it. Very, very unlikely that you're going to get it just from healing people.

didnt really had that luck so far. the most i was able to get were 3. i try that usually no one dies in a huge number. i lose 1, maybe 2 but thats about it. unless i get killed, then of course i have no chance to run back again to resurrect everyone.
but well, once the game is out, i can give it a try. i know that eventually i end up getting it. so far i have managed it to be in the voting list for effective healing. and other players thanked me for being a good mercy.

i guess it was in the beta, but i think its not always working properly. i once achieved a quad kill with my widow, and the game of the play went to another widow in my team who just killed 2 people.