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Overwatch 2 | Season 1 & New Hero Kiriko Announced

tmlDan

Member
i love overwatch but that gameplay trailer looked super underwhelming.

Really love her character design, can't wait to play tho
 

Mitsurux

Member
Not sure how i feel about all of the changes to how you get unlocks (Battle pass, Premium battle pass, locking heroes behind battle pass progression etc.). The FAQ on their site goes into a lot of detail explaining it, but how will it work in practice we will have to wait and see. As a player who played Overwatch one in bursts, this kinda stuff has me concerned (when i pop back in to play will i have to grind to get to try out future new heroes that i may have missed from earlier seasons?).
 

asker

Member
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This seems to confirm that they intend to lock heroes behind paywall. No scruples. What happened to Blizzard is a disgrace.
 

YukiOnna

Member
Finally a more cute designed hero, been a while when under the Jeff Kaplan era. Looking forward to trying OW2 with the new updates.
 

Dynasty8

Member
Never really played Overwatch 1....but with the way Halo Infinite is going now, maybe I should jump into OW2.

Would I get automatically destroyed from all the pros? Oh and how does the game play with a controller? I've always preferred controller from the old Halo days.
 

Wildebeest

Member
What even is Overwatch 2 any more? Have they just cancelled the real Overwatch 2 that Kaplan originally wanted and are changing monetization on the Overwatch completive modes they had in open testing that nobody was interested in?
 

The_hunter

Member
Never really played Overwatch 1....but with the way Halo Infinite is going now, maybe I should jump into OW2.

Would I get automatically destroyed from all the pros? Oh and how does the game play with a controller? I've always preferred controller from the old Halo days.
Game is fun, I put 250 hours in it last year as a new player. Controls were good on console.
 
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Sp3eD

0G M3mbeR
Never really played Overwatch 1....but with the way Halo Infinite is going now, maybe I should jump into OW2.

Would I get automatically destroyed from all the pros? Oh and how does the game play with a controller? I've always preferred controller from the old Halo days.

That’s the best part of the F2P model is that tons of players will flood the game at first and while you might have a ringer in a couple games, normally 1 person isn’t enough to tip the scales and they will be quickly taken to higher rank games as even the arcade mode is governed by hidden SR that doesn’t let people that don’t play competitive hover around the newbies long. Pretty much a roundabout way of saying you will be in lots of games that will give you time to learn what’s going on with others of newish skill level.

For controls, I played ps4 OW1 for thousands of hours and I loved the controls. My only beef with console was in diamond rank on up you started seeing players with obvious mouse adapters that had a marginal advantage that was pretty noticeable. Made me quit competitive.
 
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For controls, I played ps4 OW1 for thousands of hours and I loved the controls. My only beef with console was in diamond rank on up you started seeing players with obvious mouse adapters that had a marginal advantage that was pretty noticeable. Made me quit competitive.
It only became worse once they introduced the update with a ton of control options, yet those options still didn't have gyro aiming as an option to counter mouse players. That was around the time I fully let go of the ranked grind and gold weapon grind and stuck to arcade modes only. It seems I didn't miss anything though because shortly after GOATS was the comp standard and we all know how that arc ended up going.

Even with all of this worrying news I'm still curious about OW 2 and I won't mind that battle pass grind as long as the PvE campaign truly delivers.
 

kubricks

Member
So... she is a wall climbing Moria?
Heal looks like auto aim, the kunai looks a bit like damage orb... and she teleports instead of fade?
 

Dynasty8

Member
What can we expect from PvE? Have they mentioned anything at all? Personally I hope it's something akin to Destiny 2 with strikes, dungeons and raids.
 

PhoenixTank

Member
yeah this game will fucking die if they don't change that IMMIDEATELY.

I wouldn't even be affected by this since OW1 players get her instantly, but still, this is fucked beyond believe in a game like OW
You will however be affected for every hero after her.
They need to backpedal ASAP but right now they're justifying it as below:

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/news/23824003/ said:
With the launch of Overwatch 2, our roster will expand to 35 heroes as Sojourn, Junker Queen, and Kiriko join the fight. As we build new heroes and balance the existing cast for our new 5v5 PvP experience, we have shifted our hero design approach to allow you to have an impact on your matches with a range of different heroes and strategies. This means reducing the presence of specific hard counters to heroes.


For example, in the original Overwatch—especially at higher skill levels—the strongest way to shut down a great enemy Tracer diving into your support line was to swap over to Cassidy. If that Cassidy player was effective enough, the Tracer could even feel a need to switch themselves to avoid that hard counter. While Overwatch 2 heroes will each have their own clear strengths and weaknesses, and some heroes will be more effective against others, we believe our game plays better and is more fun with fewer hard counters and a broader range of effective hero picks. A further benefit is having your personal favorite heroes be viable more often. That philosophy will be guiding us moving forward.



This focus also means that when a new hero is introduced (beginning with Kiriko), we will delay introducing them into Competitive modes for a few weeks. This will allow us to tune their balance quickly if needed, as well as give players time to experiment with them.


Because of this shift in design approach to heroes, we believe that launching new Overwatch 2 heroes through the Battle Pass system is fair to our players, respects the competitive nature of the game, and aligns with our goal of supporting Overwatch 2 as a live service moving forward.


So – how exactly do new heroes enter the fray in Overwatch 2? New heroes will debut for everyone in Overwatch 2 at Tier 55 on the free track of the Battle Pass. They’ll unlock immediately on the premium Battle Pass track.


New heroes will typically come out every alternate season, except for Season One and Two, which will each feature a new hero. After that, we are planning a new hero in Season Four and Season Six.


There will be ways to earn heroes introduced in earlier seasons in future seasons, so everyone will have the opportunity to earn these heroes by playing: this applies to players who start playing in future seasons, and to players who didn’t level previous Battle Passes enough to unlock the hero. You will be able to earn heroes from past seasons through special new challenges, or you can directly acquire them in the shop with Overwatch Coins.
Stinks of corporate overreach - Gods help 'em if this is what the devs actually believe.

What can we expect from PvE? Have they mentioned anything at all? Personally I hope it's something akin to Destiny 2 with strikes, dungeons and raids.
PvE is delayed, won't be there at launch. Not a huge amount of news.
 
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The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
What can we expect from PvE? Have they mentioned anything at all? Personally I hope it's something akin to Destiny 2 with strikes, dungeons and raids.
No one gives a shit about pve besides the loud minority lol.
 

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
If done properly, PvE can bring in as many people as PvP. To say no one gives a shit is baffling when games like WoW, FFXIV and Destiny are mostly PvE and doing so well
You compare games that's always focused on pve with a game that always focused on pvp.
 

Vaelka

Member
From the character's design to the gameplay design, this is the first time where I felt that a new character didn't belong in Overwatch. I don't know how to fully explain it, but everything about her feels like it would come from a game that's trying really hard to imitate Overwatch.

I feel the same about a lot of the redesigns.

Overwatch 1 had a really unique, fun and creative look.
In Overwatch 2 it feels like they tried too hard to make them look '' tactical '' to a fault.
They just kinda feel bland and generic.

I dunno how to explain it exactly but I feel this a lot about character designs nowadays, they're designed on a checklist it feels like for what a '' cool character design '' is.
The original designs looked so clean and purposeful, the new ones feel overdesigned and pseudo-tactical in that they just have a bunch of random metal plating thrown in.
Does Widowmaker in Overwatch 1 for example make sense as a stealhy assassin?
Not really, but it doesn't matter her design was very clean and visually appealing and unique.
The redesign is still nonsensical for a stealthy assassin but it looks and feels like it's trying more to be and like it's attempting to '' make sense '' in a performative way that it ends up feeling and looking dumber to me.
And the cleanliness to it is just gone.

The old designs just looked like they embraced the cartoony nature of it, the redesigns look and feel like they're afraid of it.
 
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Dynasty8

Member
You compare games that's always focused on pve with a game that always focused on pvp.

True, but OW has all the right things going for it to hit a home run with the PvE. PvP will still be a key focus, but It would be a missed opportunity to go light on the PvE. I think it's way more than just the loud minority on this one.

But again, it needs to be done properly and not half assed. Provide challenges, cool teamwork mechanics, raids, dungeons, titles.and rewards to earn, etc.
 
You compare games that's always focused on pve with a game that always focused on pvp.
They've said since the announcement of Overwatch 2 that they're pouring a significant amount of resources into the PvE. Considering all that we've received from their dev team since then has been 1 new hero and 1 new map, and that they've only announced 1 new PvP mode with a few new maps and 2 new heroes, I'd say it's pretty obvious that's what they've been working on. Keep in mind they even first premiered the game with the PvE, having multiple well known OW E-sports players and ex-OW veterans playtest and show off the mode at Blizzcon 2019.

maxresdefault-6836385.jpg.webp


We know that there are RPG elements like leveling, a skill tree system, and talents to choose from:

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We also know that multiple heroes will be selectable, which rumors have been around that there will be different main storylines to match(focused on Talon, Overwatch, and Junkers).

overwatch-2-hero-progression-screenshots_mz9q.jpg


Considering how good Blizzard's campaign and co-op experiences are in other games, there is high potential here. I'm just hoping that this all amounts to something substantial enough to have it's own playerbase, rather than just the seasonal missions we received in OW 1.
 

Wildebeest

Member
Overwatch 2 launching without its main new feature and a super grindy battlepass that makes you play competitive OW formats that are barely changed and people were sick of five years ago. Are they OK over there? Do they have enough copium?
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
I play a lot of Paladins so I'm waiting for this to come and try... But players of both games say OW is much slower and not so frenetic
 

Jennings

Member
I searched for the guy's name and didn't see it in recent threads, so maybe this hasn't been discussed here yet. Lead hero designer, Geoff Goodman, has departed from Blizzard.


The lead hero designer behind Overwatch's huge roster of characters—and the ones to come in its upcoming sequel—has left Blizzard, the company confirmed to PC Gamer. Geoff Goodman "made the decision to leave Blizzard earlier this year," a Blizzard spokesperson said. The last public appearance by Goodman was in a group interview(opens in new tab) with press in June.

Blizzard provided a statement about Goodman's departure: "We thank Geoff for his many years of service at Blizzard and wish him all the best. His ability to bring to life Overwatch’s diverse hero roster through gameplay has been incredible, and the mark he’s left on the Warcraft and Overwatch teams will be felt for years to come."

Goodman's history with Overwatch goes all the way back to before it was known as Overwatch, when the team was still working on project Titan.
 

The_hunter

Member

Looks like the most interesting of the new three heroes. She seems strong with high mobility and group invulnerability/debuff, but has slow healing. Junker queen and Kiriko seem less specialized in their roles and more of a mix with a dps.
 
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The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
Overwatch 2 launching without its main new feature and a super grindy battlepass that makes you play competitive OW formats that are barely changed and people were sick of five years ago. Are they OK over there? Do they have enough copium?
Ow has always been about being competitive i think they survive that a vast minority is sad over the lack of pve content at release.
 

Wildebeest

Member
Ow has always been about being competitive i think they survive that a vast minority is sad over the lack of pve content at release.
It isn't about people "being sad" it is about the game having features that make it competitive with similar titles, so more people are tempted to try it and keep playing. How long do you think they are going to keep out pumping new characters and maps for a dwindling OW competitive community that maybe even just watches content about the game and doesn't even play any more.
 

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
It isn't about people "being sad" it is about the game having features that make it competitive with similar titles, so more people are tempted to try it and keep playing. How long do you think they are going to keep out pumping new characters and maps for a dwindling OW competitive community that maybe even just watches content about the game and doesn't even play any more.
Mention similar titles to Overwatch.

Team Fortress 2 is straight up pvp only.

R6 siege has some pve, but I'd say you would get your moneys worth by getting any other game that's more pve oriented.
 

BlackTron

Member
Pay or grind, both are shitty AF in a game that is all about picking counters.

Overwatch was originally conceived in this way, but they decided it didn't make any sense in this game so it was changed to what we got, pay a full game fee up front and get all characters.

The only problem is that they took away Overwatch 1 and changed it to the F2P model they didn't think made sense to begin with for the forced 2.0 patch we're getting lol.

So yeah, we're back to square one of Blizzard being a dumpter fire. TBH I didn't even watch the video and don't think I will play OW ever again. Which is crazy because it was exactly the title I needed to keep me into gaming a few years ago. Instant zany fun with randoms, colorful graphics and crazy characters. I guess it held me over for Halo to come out.
 

Wildebeest

Member
Mention similar titles to Overwatch.

Team Fortress 2 is straight up pvp only.

R6 siege has some pve, but I'd say you would get your moneys worth by getting any other game that's more pve oriented.
I guess it is to be seen if Overwatch experiences massive growth due to this rebranding and aggressive monetization change.
 
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