Overwatch Open Beta Extended

[elvor0]

I'm glad they're extending the Beta, but I'm unfortunately getting a lot of Titanfall vibes from the game, as it feels like there needs to be more than the multiplayer in this game, which, while fun and engaging, seems to not have much reason to stay on after you've kind of played all the modes and characters.

Does anyone know if there's a real campaign with this game at all? They've been putting out trailers with story substance, but it feels like that would be a waste if there's no story to actually play....

I'm glad they're extending the Beta, but I'm unfortunately getting a lot of Titanfall vibes from the game, as it feels like there needs to be more than the multiplayer in this game, which, while fun and engaging, seems to not have much reason to stay on after you've kind of played all the modes and characters.

Does anyone know if there's a real campaign with this game at all? They've been putting out trailers with story substance, but it feels like that would be a waste if there's no story to actually play....

Unfortunately no, and THAT is its greatest sin. Its just a pure MOBA game, no campaigns, no story missions, just mindless arena matches. I'd have been fine if they did what mmo's did (if you can give it any praise); give us a straight, if bland, string of story missions to boost your character and then have you use them in arena matches.

Why is this a bad thing?

It's an arena shooter, why do you /need/ campaign and whatnot? I'd rather them focus their time on making the MP the best it can be, rather than tacking on a story mode just for the sake of it. You said it yourself you'd be fine with a bland string of story missions, but if they're bland, why bother making them?

There are plenty of shooters that do just fine without campaigns. Or the campaigns are ignored for being bland tackons.

 

[crimsonspear4D]

I'm glad they're extending the Beta, but I'm unfortunately getting a lot of Titanfall vibes from the game, as it feels like there needs to be more than the multiplayer in this game, which, while fun and engaging, seems to not have much reason to stay on after you've kind of played all the modes and characters.

Does anyone know if there's a real campaign with this game at all? They've been putting out trailers with story substance, but it feels like that would be a waste if there's no story to actually play....

Unfortunately no, and THAT is its greatest sin. Its just a pure MOBA game, no campaigns, no story missions, just mindless arena matches. I'd have been fine if they did what mmo's did (if you can give it any praise); give us a straight, if bland, string of story missions to boost your character and then have you use them in arena matches.

Why is this a bad thing?

It's an arena shooter, why do you /need/ campaign and whatnot? I'd rather them focus their time on making the MP the best it can be, rather than tacking on a story mode just for the sake of it. You said it yourself you'd be fine with a bland string of story missions, but if they're bland, why bother making them?

There are plenty of shooters that do just fine without campaigns. Or the campaigns are ignored for being bland tackons.

It's not necessarily a bad thing, its just that the setting and character stories are REALLY interesting. I don't know what they could've done with it, it just seems like kind of a waste to me. Mulitplayer and arena games are okay I guess, I'm not really a fan of them, but it just seems like each of the characters could've had their own game or something.

 

[The Enquirer]

I'm glad they're extending the Beta, but I'm unfortunately getting a lot of Titanfall vibes from the game, as it feels like there needs to be more than the multiplayer in this game, which, while fun and engaging, seems to not have much reason to stay on after you've kind of played all the modes and characters.

Does anyone know if there's a real campaign with this game at all? They've been putting out trailers with story substance, but it feels like that would be a waste if there's no story to actually play....

Normally I don't follow a game's development because a lot of the time I just get angry, but I have followed this one. As far as I know there is no single player planned. I know they want it to be entirely PvP. To save them a little trouble they could do something like Unreal Tournament's Assault Mode where you reenact certain historical events. Could be interesting.

 

[TilMorrow]

I've only played a couple of hours of the Open Beta myself but so far I've come away with the impression that each of the characters although unique, feel like they're lacking something in some areas (like some form of sprint/temp speed boost on some and the cool downs and balance feel off on certain abilities like Widow's Grapple or the fact that Bastion can heal freely in either mode or that Mercy is just massively weak in all areas). At the moment I'm seeing Bastion, Hanzo and Zenyatta being the most OP characters in a good players hands since Bastion is ridiculous at area denial and security, Hanzo is extremely deadly and accurate high damage dealer (which is likely why an Aimbot for him has already been developed and being used in the beta -_-) and Zenyatta has great healing, debuff and damage output in comparison to the little health he has. In my opinion I have to say that Overwatch is fun to play but doesn't really feel like it offers enough at the moment to validate buying it.

 

[SmugFrog]

IThe biggest problem I can see is that the descriptions of hero abilities are somewhat opaque and hide features that may not be obvious at first glance, like for example did you know Winston's leap ability actually does damage? It's not just a mobility tool it can actually hurt people.

Or that Genji's deflect, deflects every projectile coming your way directly to where your crosshairs are pointing, not just bullets too Rienhart's melee attacks can apparently be deflected.

Those things are actually described in the game on the character tab when it shows you what their moves do. I like that the game doesn't force it all on you with tutorials and text popping up all over the screen telling you what abilities to activate at what time. It encourages experimentation and playing the way you want.

Spoiler: Winston's Help Screen

Spoiler: Genji's Help Screen

 

[Newage]

At the moment I'm seeing Bastion, Hanzo and Zenyatta being the most OP characters in a good players hands

Out of the three, only Zenyatta is relevant in competitive (and even then, I'm not sure he still is considering orb stacking isn't a thing anymore). Hanzo's good, but is competing with Widowmaker, who's much more efficient at taking out squishies due to her hitscan weapon. at lower levels of play, he's a good pick for attack teams, as his ult is a bit more useful than Widow's for uncoordinated teams.
As for Bastion, while I've heard that he has been wrecking face in pub games during the open beta (I played during the second phase of closed, but didn't play during the last 4 days), he's not very good. Yes, he deals a lot of damage. He's also very immobile while dealing this damage, which means he gives a lot of ult charge (that is, if he's being healed, otherwise he just dies), which is a pretty big problem for a defensive hero. I would understand the complaints if he had 600 health while sieged like he used to (although, there were still ways to get rid of him easily at that time), but this is a fairly balanced iteration of the character (I personnally think he's on the weak side). He's been in this state for about 8-10 weeks.

For me the Bastion situation is more a problem of new players (not all of them, ofc) not understanding that they're gonna have to learn how to counter heroes, learn the layouts of the map, and in general learn how to play.

 

[Steven Bogos]

What's really funny is talking to my friends playing on consoles. The characters they complain about being "OP" - Winston, Troljborn, Reinhart - characters that don't require any "aiming" with their weapons. On PC Tracer, Widowmaker and to a lesser extent, Bastion are the characters that can really dominate a game. I'm really worried about how Blizzard will balance the game around the terrible controls console players have to use. I hope that auto-aim characters aren't nerfed because of it, because it will make them useless on PC. Heck, Winston is already one of the weakest characters on PC.

 

[RJ 17]

My only complaint: needs more maps/game modes. Sure a campaign - especially if co-op - would be nice, but it's not necessary. This really is just Blizzard's version of TF2: just go out there and shoot stuff. That's pretty much all there is to it.

What's really funny is talking to my friends playing on consoles. The characters they complain about being "OP" - Winston, Troljborn, Reinhart - characters that don't require any "aiming" with their weapons. On PC Tracer, Widowmaker and to a lesser extent, Bastion are the characters that can really dominate a game. I'm really worried about how Blizzard will balance the game around the terrible controls console players have to use. I hope that auto-aim characters aren't nerfed because of it, because it will make them useless on PC. Heck, Winston is already one of the weakest characters on PC.

Everyone's got at least one character that they can't stand. There was a guy on my team who wouldn't stop moaning because we were in a game with 2 McCree's. Another guy I play with swears that Junkrat is OP as all hell and needs to be nerfed. Personally: I can't stand a well-played Genji because he'll kill the fuck out of everyone.

But when you find yourself up against what you consider to be an OP character, take a lesson from the Dark Souls community and "Git Gud". The entire point of being able to switch heroes in-game is so you can counter whatever the hell the enemy is doing. So for my example: there is exactly 1 weapon that Genji can't reflect: Mae's freeze spray. So any time the enemy has a Genji show up on their side, you can bet your ass I'm switching to Mae. Just freeze the crap out of him and pop him with an icicle. Problem solved.

 

[WindKnight]

I'm glad they're extending the Beta, but I'm unfortunately getting a lot of Titanfall vibes from the game, as it feels like there needs to be more than the multiplayer in this game, which, while fun and engaging, seems to not have much reason to stay on after you've kind of played all the modes and characters.

Does anyone know if there's a real campaign with this game at all? They've been putting out trailers with story substance, but it feels like that would be a waste if there's no story to actually play....

It does feel like the game needs a mann vs machine style PVE mode beyond the bot matches

 

[Xerosch]

For someone who stayed far away from every online Multiplayer game except some MMOs I'm having a lot of fun in the Beta. I mean, I have so much fun and love the art and character design so much that I'll pretty surely hand over some cash on launch day.

Just a quick question for veterans of the genre: Are matches supposed to be over so quickly? For all the tactics possible, players generally just seem to rush at each other. I guess that's because of the matchmaking, but does it get a little bit more tactical the higher your level gets?

 

[hermes]

However, any progress made in the beta will not carry over to the live game.

God dammit. I had a pretty cool Torbjorn skin that unlocked by pure luck...

 

[hermes]

What's really funny is talking to my friends playing on consoles. The characters they complain about being "OP" - Winston, Troljborn, Reinhart - characters that don't require any "aiming" with their weapons. On PC Tracer, Widowmaker and to a lesser extent, Bastion are the characters that can really dominate a game. I'm really worried about how Blizzard will balance the game around the terrible controls console players have to use. I hope that auto-aim characters aren't nerfed because of it, because it will make them useless on PC. Heck, Winston is already one of the weakest characters on PC.

Everyone's got at least one character that they can't stand. There was a guy on my team who wouldn't stop moaning because were were in a game with 2 McCree's. Another guy I play with swears that Junkrat is OP as all hell and needs to be nerfed. Personally: I can't stand a well-played Genji because he'll kill the fuck out of everyone.

That is true. Looking at the Internet and talking to friends is a good way to notice everyone has their idea of who is OP. I have a friend that hates Reaper with a passion, and another one that feels the same way about Junkrat. I didn't notice people thought Bastion was OP until I went to twitter.

Personally, I hate Genji with a passion and think Hanzo's Ultimate is a little much.

 

[RJ 17]

What's really funny is talking to my friends playing on consoles. The characters they complain about being "OP" - Winston, Troljborn, Reinhart - characters that don't require any "aiming" with their weapons. On PC Tracer, Widowmaker and to a lesser extent, Bastion are the characters that can really dominate a game. I'm really worried about how Blizzard will balance the game around the terrible controls console players have to use. I hope that auto-aim characters aren't nerfed because of it, because it will make them useless on PC. Heck, Winston is already one of the weakest characters on PC.

Everyone's got at least one character that they can't stand. There was a guy on my team who wouldn't stop moaning because were were in a game with 2 McCree's. Another guy I play with swears that Junkrat is OP as all hell and needs to be nerfed. Personally: I can't stand a well-played Genji because he'll kill the fuck out of everyone.

That is true. Looking at the Internet and talking to friends is a good way to notice everyone has their idea of who is OP. I have a friend that hates Reaper with a passion, and another one that feels the same way about Junkrat. I didn't notice people thought Bastion was OP until I went to twitter.

Personally, I hate Genji with a passion and think Hanzo's Ultimate is a little much.

Yeah, if the Bastion gets a good spot he can be a nuisance, but he's just a sitting duck. The only way to be truly effective with him is to keep moving to a new spot every now and then. The thing is that he is only really good at locking down a defense objective, and there doesn't tend to be that many good angles to defend from.

My best anti-Bastion maneuver was as Reaper: teleported behind the Bastion, two close-range blasts and he was toast. Then I ghost-walk to the middle of the objective and immediately ult once I "rematerialize" (for lack of a better term ) and wiped the entire enemy team.

Granted...that's about the ONLY good play I've pulled off with Reaper, but it was still pretty sweet!

But yeah, the moral of the story: getting rocked by a certain hero? Find another hero that counters that one. From what I've seen so far in the beta, there is no hero in the game that doesn't have a weakness.

Genji is weak against Mae, Bastion is weak against gap-closers, McCree is weak against high-mobility (i.e. Tracer), I haven't found a strong counter for Junkrat yet other than another Junkrat, but I haven't even managed to play as all the heroes yet.

 

[RJ 17]

For someone who stayed far away from every online Multiplayer game except some MMOs I'm having a lot of fun in the Beta. I mean, I have so much fun and love the art and character design so much that I'll pretty surely hand over some cash on launch day.

Just a quick question for veterans of the genre: Are matches supposed to be over so quickly? For all the tactics possible, players generally just seem to rush at each other. I guess that's because of the matchmaking, but does it get a little bit more tactical the higher your level gets?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they went for fast matches when designing the game. After all, games are all on a timer, so either the offense caps the objectives in the allotted time or the defense holds out FOR the allotted time. Blizzard is in a "phase" of making fast-past multiplayer games. Hearthstone matches never last that long, and it's incredibly rare to see a Heroes of the Storm match go past 20 minutes. This game appears to be no different. While having good team coordination is a must, the time restraints force the offense to press hard for the objective.

One thing that I don't like is how easily the objectives can be captured. Your defense team can hold out for 8 minutes straight. In the last 10 seconds the offense get 2 guys on the objective and cap it before time runs out. Game over, you lose. One balancing issue I'd like is for an "Overtime" mechanic that benefits the defense the way the current Overtime benefits the offense.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Played a bit of the closed beta about a month back, which was around the time I started a little (much needed) break from this forum.

It plays well, looks pretty, and has excellent variety in both character play style and distinctiveness. It's another high quality Blizzard title.

Debating a purchase, even after that pose kerfuffle, but I'm having difficulty justifying another 60 (48 with Amazon's preorder discount) bucks on a game when I've got, literally, hundreds of hours of content sitting, unexplored, on my HDD and in my steam library.

It's a hard knock life, to be sure.

 

[sonicneedslovetoo]

IThe biggest problem I can see is that the descriptions of hero abilities are somewhat opaque and hide features that may not be obvious at first glance, like for example did you know Winston's leap ability actually does damage? It's not just a mobility tool it can actually hurt people.

Or that Genji's deflect, deflects every projectile coming your way directly to where your crosshairs are pointing, not just bullets too Rienhart's melee attacks can apparently be deflected.

Those things are actually described in the game on the character tab when it shows you what their moves do. I like that the game doesn't force it all on you with tutorials and text popping up all over the screen telling you what abilities to activate at what time. It encourages experimentation and playing the way you want.

Spoiler: Winston's Help Screen

Spoiler: Genji's Help Screen

I know they have the help screens but they aren't very descriptive, for example they don't mention that reinhart's hammer attacks can be deflected by Genji's ability and weird stuff like that. Or that Symmetra's charge up orb attack can't be deflected and goes through shields. I think if more people knew about stuff like that then their opinions of the characters would change.

(Also the servers run at 20hz so I'm not sure how much all that matters)

 

[Newage]

What's really funny is talking to my friends playing on consoles. The characters they complain about being "OP" - Winston, Troljborn, Reinhart - characters that don't require any "aiming" with their weapons. On PC Tracer, Widowmaker and to a lesser extent, Bastion are the characters that can really dominate a game. I'm really worried about how Blizzard will balance the game around the terrible controls console players have to use. I hope that auto-aim characters aren't nerfed because of it, because it will make them useless on PC. Heck, Winston is already one of the weakest characters on PC.

I seem to remember Kaplan (or someone in charge of gameplay and balance) saying that balance will be separated on PC and consoles.

And by doing a quick Google search, I found it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC3v38Joo4U#t=1m04s

I think it's a great decision, and I'm very happy that they will work on balance depending on the platforms.

 

[Newage]

I know they have the help screens but they aren't very descriptive, for example they don't mention that reinhart's hammer attacks can be deflected by Genji's ability and weird stuff like that. Or that Symmetra's charge up orb attack can't be deflected and goes through shields. I think if more people knew about stuff like that then their opinions of the characters would change.

(Also the servers run at 20hz so I'm not sure how much all that matters)

Actually, Symmetra's orbs are deflectable by Genji (the only thing he can't deflect are beams, so Zarya's, Mei's and Symmetra's left click). As for the melee attacks, which include Reinhardt and Torbj's hammer, are only blocked. The damage is not reflected on the attacker (and this is also the case for the hook of Roadhog, it's blocked and not deflected).

 

[uncanny474]

What's really funny is talking to my friends playing on consoles. The characters they complain about being "OP" - Winston, Troljborn, Reinhart - characters that don't require any "aiming" with their weapons. On PC Tracer, Widowmaker and to a lesser extent, Bastion are the characters that can really dominate a game. I'm really worried about how Blizzard will balance the game around the terrible controls console players have to use. I hope that auto-aim characters aren't nerfed because of it, because it will make them useless on PC. Heck, Winston is already one of the weakest characters on PC.

Everyone's got at least one character that they can't stand. There was a guy on my team who wouldn't stop moaning because were were in a game with 2 McCree's. Another guy I play with swears that Junkrat is OP as all hell and needs to be nerfed. Personally: I can't stand a well-played Genji because he'll kill the fuck out of everyone.

That is true. Looking at the Internet and talking to friends is a good way to notice everyone has their idea of who is OP. I have a friend that hates Reaper with a passion, and another one that feels the same way about Junkrat. I didn't notice people thought Bastion was OP until I went to twitter.

Personally, I hate Genji with a passion and think Hanzo's Ultimate is a little much.

Yeah, if the Bastion gets a good spot he can be a nuisance, but he's just a sitting duck. The only way to be truly effective with him is to keep moving to a new spot every now and then. The thing is that he is only really good at locking down a defense objective, and there doesn't tend to be that many good angles to defend from.

My best anti-Bastion maneuver was as Reaper: teleported behind the Bastion, two close-range blasts and he was toast. Then I ghost-walk to the middle of the objective and immediately ult once I "rematerialize" (for lack of a better term ) and wiped the entire enemy team.

Granted...that's about the ONLY good play I've pulled off with Reaper, but it was still pretty sweet!

But yeah, the moral of the story: getting rocked by a certain hero? Find another hero that counters that one. From what I've seen so far in the beta, there is no hero in the game that doesn't have a weakness.

Genji is weak against Mae, Bastion is weak against gap-closers, McCree is weak against high-mobility (i.e. Tracer), I haven't found a strong counter for Junkrat yet other than another Junkrat, but I haven't even managed to play as all the heroes yet.

I think (or maybe hope is more accurate) that a well-played Bastion that takes advantage of all their abilities will be viable at high level play, since he's an absolute terror if he's got good support from the rest of his team. Having played a good amount as him, I can counter just about any threat if I see it coming and there's only one (except for Roadhog's hook; that stuff will rip a bastion in half). So, so long as I have a good tank, and people running around feeding me intel on what's coming (and as long as you don't just sit your ass in the same corner all game like a chump) I'm pretty safe as Bastion.

In general, I haven't hit a character who I'd call "OP". There are certain characters that are absolutely beastly if played well (Genji springs to mind, as does Tracer), but if played poorly, I've had those characters become a joke. And it does feel like every character in the game has some way to shut them down, whether it's vulnerability during their ult (Reaper in particular goes down like a little punk if you hit him) or a specific character that can hard-counter them (the Mei vs Genji matchup mentioned earlier is one of the better examples).

If I have one complaint balance-wise, tho, I think D-VA's in-mech ult is a little too large or a little too quick. The blast radius of that thing is, frankly, silly. That said, I don't think that ult, or D-VA as a character are "OP".