The Balances Overwatch Needs Before Launch

[Steven Bogos]

The Balances Overwatch Needs Before Launch

Overwatch is a great game that needs a few balance passes before launch.

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[Loop Stricken]

I essentially disagree with every point you make.

 

[Harlemura]

Having not played the game myself I don't know how strong these points are, but I don't think the multiple hero thing is a problem. The game's been designed not only to have the option to change heroes mid game, but to encourage it to adapt to your opponents' strategies. Like, I heard that getting all 6 people as Winston was super strong a while ago, but it turns out that it was countered by all 6 opponents switching to Reaper and taking advantage of his ability to shred through tanks. Likewise, if you're against a few too many Bastions, send some Tracers in there to bomb 'em.
Also I want multiple heroes to stay because I've been waiting to play as Tracer for like a year now and if I can't play her on release because other chumps keep picking her I'm gonna be friggin' furious.

I'm also surprised you don't mention Zarya in your "desperately needs balancing" list. Roadhog and Tracer have some pretty outstanding weaknesses (Roadhog having only health and no armor, and Tracer falling over if she takes just a couple of headshots, for example), but from what I've heard Zarya has very little going against her. A tank with shields for herself and allies that reduce damage, and if she does that right gets rewarded by being able to deal huge damage on her own. And citation needed on this one, but don't her shields prevent crowd control effects like Roadhog's hook and Mei's slows? If so, there's another point in the favour of the games balance based around counterpicking.

 

[kurokotetsu]

The Balances Overwatch Needs Before Launch

Overwatch is a great game that needs a few balance passes before launch.

Read Full Article

Interesintg. I haven't played Overwathc (will probably try it in the open Beta), but there is one thing I disagree in the article, at least in regards to TF2. IN Payload the defending team is not overwhelmingly in favor of winning, and in the competitive format, the standard is the attackers winning everytime (which is why they stopwatch system is implemented to know which team wins). Usually the imbalances in spawning times and the fact that if you kill the defenders you are still next to the cart and can spawn camp them easily, means a coordinated team will usully take last. It is the hardest point in most maps, but it can be done with coordination and good plays and usually attckers that know what they are doing will push it.

About the one hero limit, I would go rather the TF2 way than the MOBA way. In MOBAS the very limited team size and lack of changes mid game makes sense to limit the repeated heroes. But in TF2 where you can change at anytime having repeated heroes is less of a problem. And if you want to stop 6 if the same class, just place class limits, like no more than two of the same class in the team, like they do in comp TF2.

 

[Newage]

And citation needed on this one, but don't her shields prevent crowd control effects like Roadhog's hook and Mei's slows? If so, there's another point in the favour of the games balance based around counterpicking.

I'm in the beta, and I can attest that Zarya's shield removes and prevents any kind of CC.

I have to say, I disagree with a lot of the points. Your examples for duplicates are not the best. Both Bastion and Torb have clear counters. In general, attacking teams have the advantage when it comes to adapting the team comp and strategy, and I've had a much easier time winning on attack. If you break the first line of defense, you can make a single push for a victory, especially on payload maps.

 

[NinjaTank56]

None of these "issues" are balance, they are all design choices. I highly doubt they will change before launch.

As for the issues themselves, I can only say that in the beta weekend I was apart of, none of these things were a problem. Obviously I only got 3 days to play, and most of the people playing were new, so take that with a grain of salt
I have not, however, seen many of these issues pop up in overwatch streams. Occasionally during a competitive game someone will complain about multiple heroes, but every multi-hero composition has either been countered or changed before they were a serious issue. Time will tell if that keeps up after launch, however.

 

[Metalrocks]

still not a 100% about this game. i sure love TF2. fun game since you have different classes to choose from. but since this game is from blizzard, will it require monthly fees?

 

[The Enquirer]

Like, I heard that getting all 6 people as Winston was super strong a while ago, but it turns out that it was countered by all 6 opponents switching to Reaper and taking advantage of his ability to shred through tanks. Likewise, if you're against a few too many Bastions, send some Tracers in there to bomb 'em.

This was one of the things that A LOT of people in Beta and the developers had mentioned. You're going to most likely be switching characters, at high levels, a few times throughout the match because each character is better suited for certain situations and taking out different characters. The game is heavily based around team composition.

Now of course if there is a character with a clear cut advantage that's different, but character "a" being able to beat character "b" between two equally skilled opponents is a design choice.

 

[jayzz911]

still not a 100% about this game. i sure love TF2. fun game since you have different classes to choose from. but since this game is from blizzard, will it require monthly fees?

Heroes of the storm, Starcraft an Diablo don't have a subscription. The only game that does is WoW. So to answer your question, No it won't.

OT: I also disagree with pretty much everything you said. I hate TF2, I think it's incredibly overrated and a boring game to play. I don't have that problem with overwatch. Every char has a counter, i've won on offense and lost on defense plenty of times. If all your solutions by your own admission are anti fun, they might be bad solutions.

 

[Metalrocks]

still not a 100% about this game. i sure love TF2. fun game since you have different classes to choose from. but since this game is from blizzard, will it require monthly fees?

Heroes of the storm, Starcraft an Diablo don't have a subscription. The only game that does is WoW. So to answer your question, No it won't.

OT: I also disagree with pretty much everything you said. I hate TF2, I think it's incredibly overrated and a boring game to play. I don't have that problem with overwatch. Every char has a counter, i've won on offense and lost on defense plenty of times. If all your solutions by your own admission are anti fun, they might be bad solutions.

cool. thanks. this changes things a bit.

@your your view on TF2
agree with the overrated. to me its still a fun game but only for a short amount of time. sure, i have played it a lot when it came out but after a wile, as with many games; it gets boring. i think i have played it the last time last month for a few hours and thats it.

 

[gact]

I havent played it yet but for what I have seen having some heroes with a "press q to wipe out an entire team" power seems really bad design for a competitive game.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

Blizzard needs to balance the sexy, huehuehue!

I got nothing, sorry. lD

 

[CritialGaming]

More butts. I feel like this game does not have enough butt. I want more poses of Roadhog bending over away from the camera so I can see that big flabby fucking ass. More cushion for the pushing *****!

God this game just leaves a bad taste in my mouth now. I am also not a big fan of people at the moment.