Overwatch Open Beta Starts Today

Steven Bogos

The Taco Man
Jan 17, 2013
9,354
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Overwatch Open Beta Starts Today

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You can play Overwatch's open beta for free right now on Xbox One, PS4 or PC, even if you didn't pre-order.

If you've been "onlywatch"-ing Blizzard's upcoming shooter Overwatch [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/overwatch], jealous of all the cool kids that got into the closed beta, now is your chance! From today until May 9 the game is in a full open beta, meaning anyone can join in the fun, regardless of whether they pre-ordered or had a beta key. What's more the beta is open for all three of the game's platforms: PC, Xbox One and PS4.

For instructions on how to join on your platform of choice, go to the game's official Beta website [http://overwatch.campaign.blizzard.com/hero/tracer/default.html#lang=en-au]. No purchase is necessary!

The game launches later this month, on May 24, so checking out the beta is a great way to "try before you buy". If you find you enjoy it, you can pre-purchase [https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/buy/] the game for your platform of choice, in either the standard (PC only), "Origins", or "Collectors" editions.

It's worth noting that all progression including skins, rewards, levels, and stats gained during the open beta will be reset at launch.

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MercurySteam

Tastes Like Chicken!
Legacy
Apr 11, 2008
4,950
2
43
Already been playing since the early access opened up. Aus servers have been better since server maintenance on the first day, but can still end up on US servers now and again. Either way just glad that the Onlywatch is over!
 

Hawki

Elite Member
Legacy
Mar 4, 2014
9,651
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Tried to install, checked the specs, my computer can't run it.

Which, given that this is a Blizzard game, is probably quite sad. :(
 

Deathfish15

New member
Nov 7, 2006
579
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I'll give this a 'bit' of go, but my primary right now is BattleBorn. BB seems to be much more fun and a more fleshed out game than OverWatch. Mind you Blizzard has the "easiest" MMO on the market; "easiest" MOBA on the market; and their latest RTS/dungeon crawler iterations (i.e. StarCraft and Diablo) have been "easy" too. One can replace the wording from easy to dumbed down and the point still remained firm. Blizzard is the McDonalds of gaming: Cheap, easy, flashy, and "billions served".
 

Summerstorm

Elite Member
Sep 19, 2008
1,428
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Hm... haven't used my battlenet account since.... eh... when did Diablo II came out?

Ah well.. let's see if i can remember my password. Let's see what this is all about (other than ALL THE huge amounts of 3D Porn this game generates, hehe)
 

Metalrocks

New member
Jan 15, 2009
2,406
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created an account for this game just to play the beta. so far so good. colourful, cheerful, crazy characters to choose from. so far no complaints, but i have only played for a few hours only.
 
Mar 30, 2010
3,785
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Fuck. I'd planned on being productive this weekend.

I'd made a 'to-do' list and everything.

EDIT - Wow, Tracer's 'cheeky Cockney rascal' voice isn't annoying *at all*. I've only played for 30 mins and already it's gotten old. That gripe aside it's pretty fun.
 

Charli

New member
Nov 23, 2008
3,445
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Goddammit when I freeze the entire enemy team as Mei with her ultimate can everyone else kill them off a little bit and not leave me to tickle them with my freeze gun. :|


...Yeah I'm having fun, can you tell?
 

Odbarc

Elite Member
Jun 30, 2010
1,155
0
41
FPS with exclusive death-match mode games are horrifically boring for me. Play it for five minutes too ooh-and-ahh the graphics and then you've probably done everything the game can offer you.
It's sort of neat that each character has their own model and weapon which can break up the game a little bit but your still shooting moving targets while shooting and at the end of the day you'll have gained nothing but a kill:death ratio (which they apparently don't show in this game).

I think children love these kinds of games for being better than someone else at these games and 'can 1v1 you' as a means to shit-talk back when they are clearly doing poorly (and likely worst) in other games.

I won't exactly write this game off forever, I could log into that beta right now, but there's just nothing there to hook me. As far as releasing an FPS, it's too bad they don't simply tack on the SC:Ghost campaign just for giggles. THAT and then I'd have spent money on it.

In all that regard, I've been having lots of fun with Fallout 4's new survival update. Level 28 and dying every day. Can't seem to go past 20 minutes without surely dying but if I get the chances to sleep every 5 minutes, I live for hours.
 

2HF

New member
May 24, 2011
630
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So I knew nothing of this game before about 3 days ago but it seemed to be a big deal so I figured why not. I downloaded the beta and was thrust into the tutorial.

I get a gun in my hand and I pull the trigger. What do I get? Tiny little blue pew pew lasers. I used a special power or whatever it was, with rockets. What do I get? Tiny little pew pew rockets. I felt no heft. No power. I felt like I was going into battle with a nerf gun.

I remember back when I first picked up Halo, that Magnum felt like it could take someone's head off. It sounded like it too. Here I get the sense that after each fight the characters run inside for teddy grahams and High C.

Maybe that's exactly what they're going for but it's not for me. I'm gonna have to pass.
 

Metalrocks

New member
Jan 15, 2009
2,406
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have played now quite a bit of it. i have some disappointing parts and moments. like when i play d.va, you expect to absorb some damage being in that armor suit, but i die as quickly as her without her suit.
also when i play widowmaker, at times headshots are not always a 100% effective.

its still a fun title never the less. like a modified version of TF2. i just see how i feel about it once the beta is over.
 

Chefsbrian

Senior Member
Jun 25, 2012
123
0
21
Nurb said:
Why does every game need a 3rd party launcher now
In their defense, Blizzard has been using this launcher for all their games since Starcraft 2, so that's what, almost six years now? It works well, runs lean, and doesn't hassle the fuck outta me.

Anyhow, Overwatch is really feeling like my old Team Fortress days, but better. The characters are pretty good, and more importantly, they all feel capable against all the others. Its less hard counters, and more of playing right will let you kill every other type. Its really quite satisfying.
 
Feb 26, 2014
668
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Well, I've played for a bit and I've got to say. I don't mind the game. It's fun. But I hate the other players. Particularly their habit of abandoning the objective. It happens so much that it's actually become frustrating. Oddly enough it only happens in PvP. When in a game against the AI the players will actually play the objective, but I guess that's because the AI tend to b line it straight toward the objective.
 

The Wykydtron

"Emotions are very important!"
Sep 23, 2010
5,458
0
0
Chefsbrian said:
Nurb said:
Why does every game need a 3rd party launcher now
In their defense, Blizzard has been using this launcher for all their games since Starcraft 2, so that's what, almost six years now? It works well, runs lean, and doesn't hassle the fuck outta me.

Anyhow, Overwatch is really feeling like my old Team Fortress days, but better. The characters are pretty good, and more importantly, they all feel capable against all the others. Its less hard counters, and more of playing right will let you kill every other type. Its really quite satisfying.
You've not played much Mercy have you? Practically any offensive, defensive/tank character can 1v1 her super easily because her damage is so bad and even using her sidearm hurts the team 9/10 times because plinking away at the other team at long/mid range is nowhere near as useful as keeping everyone else alive. Like running to your closest team member screaming "help" with damage upgrade on is better self-defence than swapping guns if you've got like a Reaper on you. She's basically human D.va in combat effectiveness (AKA fuckin' awful), in fact I have a sneaking suspicion that her gun is a reskin of D.va's.

Playing her right I find makes her not able to kill everyone, it just makes her able to not die to everything and everyone through proper positioning and awareness of when to just leave the area. Seriously, play her for a few games and you feel like you're playing with a huge target on your head.

Also if you hear some high damage AOE ult incoming, leave. Everyone will walk into it, die then you walk back in and revive like 4 people. GG Easy.

OT: Yeah this game is pretty fun I guess. All I play is D.va and Mercy and D.va feels like suiciding on the enemy team is sometimes a better course of action than trying to pistol your way to a second mech, mostly because of the short respawn times and how fast the mech can get from spawn to the frontlines. She's weird. An easy one to get Play of the Game though, boost ult into objective, kill a bunch of people, get new mech immediately.

Finally, fuck Tracer. Her fake British accent is almost insultingly bad and nobody on my team can play her well ever.
 

Chefsbrian

Senior Member
Jun 25, 2012
123
0
21
The Wykydtron said:
Chefsbrian said:
Nurb said:
Why does every game need a 3rd party launcher now
In their defense, Blizzard has been using this launcher for all their games since Starcraft 2, so that's what, almost six years now? It works well, runs lean, and doesn't hassle the fuck outta me.

Anyhow, Overwatch is really feeling like my old Team Fortress days, but better. The characters are pretty good, and more importantly, they all feel capable against all the others. Its less hard counters, and more of playing right will let you kill every other type. Its really quite satisfying.
You've not played much Mercy have you? Practically any offensive, defensive/tank character can 1v1 her super easily because her damage is so bad and even using her sidearm hurts the team 9/10 times because plinking away at the other team at long/mid range is nowhere near as useful as keeping everyone else alive. Like running to your closest team member screaming "help" with damage upgrade on is better self-defence than swapping guns if you've got like a Reaper on you. She's basically human D.va in combat effectiveness (AKA fuckin' awful), in fact I have a sneaking suspicion that her gun is a reskin of D.va's.

Playing her right I find makes her not able to kill everyone, it just makes her able to not die to everything and everyone through proper positioning and awareness of when to just leave the area. Seriously, play her for a few games and you feel like you're playing with a huge target on your head.

Also if you hear some high damage AOE ult incoming, leave. Everyone will walk into it, die then you walk back in and revive like 4 people. GG Easy.

OT: Yeah this game is pretty fun I guess. All I play is D.va and Mercy and D.va feels like suiciding on the enemy team is sometimes a better course of action than trying to pistol your way to a second mech, mostly because of the short respawn times and how fast the mech can get from spawn to the frontlines. She's weird. An easy one to get Play of the Game though, boost ult into objective, kill a bunch of people, get new mech immediately.

Finally, fuck Tracer. Her fake British accent is almost insultingly bad and nobody on my team can play her well ever.
Personally, I've not played any Mercy out of bot matches, but my friend plays her religiously. It works well for us, because I tend to play McCree, who can clean up anyone who gets to close trying to focus on the medic. Still, I keep bugging my friend to play someone else, like Lucio, but she just won't have it. Hell, she lost us a few matches when she insisted on being the SECOND Mercy on our team. I just assumed that she was doing terrible because she's really shitty at these kinds of games.

You definitely need to carry her, but that Rez is fucking awesome on king of the hill or defense. D.va is pretty good, she's my go to tank, along with Roadhog, love that hook. I don't find her mechless form terrible, she can deal with supports and Reaper at a distance well enough. She gains credit towards her ult a lot faster in human form it seems, so I only gotta skirmish for ten to twenty seconds before I'm back in.

Tracer's accent is definitely a bit too much, but it doesn't really bother me like it seems to bug others. I can see why people are annoyed though.
 

DudeistBelieve

TellEmSteveDave.com
Sep 9, 2010
4,771
1
0
2HF said:
So I knew nothing of this game before about 3 days ago but it seemed to be a big deal so I figured why not. I downloaded the beta and was thrust into the tutorial.

I get a gun in my hand and I pull the trigger. What do I get? Tiny little blue pew pew lasers. I used a special power or whatever it was, with rockets. What do I get? Tiny little pew pew rockets. I felt no heft. No power. I felt like I was going into battle with a nerf gun.

I remember back when I first picked up Halo, that Magnum felt like it could take someone's head off. It sounded like it too. Here I get the sense that after each fight the characters run inside for teddy grahams and High C.

Maybe that's exactly what they're going for but it's not for me. I'm gonna have to pass.
I feel much the same way. Even Reaper, the guy wields dual shotguns... theres no kick to any of them.