Overwatch

[Stab You in the Back]

should tell you enough when no one talks about blizzcon either.

Blizzcon was a "virtual" event this year, with prerecorded streams. So, obviously, all the shills who normally promote the hell out of the it were stuck at home watching it like everybody else. There were also no new game announcements, no release date announcement for previously announced games, and no warcraft expansion.

I know you think your perceived lack of Blizzcon hype is some kind of amazing failure signaling the end of Blizzard, but really, it means nothing.

 

[ZMOT]

There were also no new game announcements, no release date announcement for previously announced games, and no warcraft expansion.

I know you think your perceived lack of Blizzcon hype is some kind of amazing failure signaling the end of Blizzard, but really, it means nothing.

so, if the lack of hype was only in my imagination, what were people excited about? what great new stuff can I look forward to after reforged?
and if there were so many great things blizzard is cooking up, why didn't I hear about it?

I mean, it's not like a company needs to release stuff and get people hyped, it's not why blizzard has their own convention or something. I'm sure they'll do fine, now with vicarious visions helping them with the d2 remaster and diablo IV...

 

[Stab You in the Back]

so, if the lack of hype was only in my imagination, what were people excited about? what great new stuff can I look forward to after reforged?
and if there were so many great things blizzard is cooking up, why didn't I hear about it?

I mean, it's not like a company needs to release stuff and get people hyped, it's not why blizzard has their own convention or something. I'm sure they'll do fine, now with vicarious visions helping them with the d2 remaster and diablo IV...

No, I'm telling you there was a distinct lack of hype because of the venue ("streaming") and the lack of product announcements, not because the company is dying.

Blizzard is not Ubisoft. They don't shit out yearly iterations of their franchises and charge full price for what is essentially a new coat of paint on an old beater. OW2 is, at a minimum, 18 months away from release. Diablo IV possibly even longer. You'll see the hype build when they have something to show. But until then, calm your tits.

 

[ZMOT]

Blizzard is not Ubisoft. They don't shit out yearly iterations of their franchises and charge full price for what is essentially a new coat of paint on an old beater.

yes, blizzard is closer to bioware in that regard, which is still alive too.
the hype for the next dragon age and mass effect will be immense...

 

[Tanner Glass]

No, I'm telling you there was a distinct lack of hype because of the venue ("streaming") and the lack of product announcements, not because the company is dying.

Blizzard is not Ubisoft. They don't shit out yearly iterations of their franchises and charge full price for what is essentially a new coat of paint on an old beater. OW2 is, at a minimum, 18 months away from release. Diablo IV possibly even longer. You'll see the hype build when they have something to show. But until then, calm your tits.

I mean, it isn't yearly but are we really saying that Overwatch 2 looks like a huge accomplishment so far and not a "new coat of paint" on OW1, which itself was a "fresh coat of TF2 styled paint" on Project Titan? Or that Starcraft 2 was a huge re-invention of the genre and not a "new coat of paint" on SC:BW? Diablo 3 from Diablo 2 (and Diablo 4 from Diablo 3).

It has nothing to do with the venue - every other company is operating in the same exact space and generating tons of hype for much smaller announcements. The lack of products announcements aren't a sign of a dying company - the lack of products are. Diablo 4 feels super rushed together after the botched announcement of of Diablo : Immortal, but even if that wasn't true, it's still coming out on the back of Diablo 3's complete disaster of a launch (that took 2 years and a paid expansion to get to "not bad"). Overwatch 2 is adding in a lot of stuff people thought they were getting in OW1. Any World of Warcraft announcement is generally met with "I hope this isn't as bad as the last expansion".

The most hype Blizzard has generated in the last ~10 years was by re-releasing and resupporting a version of WoW from 2004 - an idea they openly mocked prior. The most hype from this Blizzcon was them announcing they're rolling out the Burning Crusade expansion (2005), even if everyone already knew this was coming based on questionnaires sent out over the last year. They're having large scale issue with making products that large segments of their own userbase gives a fuck about - that's not a great look for a company as storied and highly regarded as Blizzard.

 

[The Marauder]

I don’t understand what Blizzard is hoping to achieve with Overwatch 2.

I watched this entire video that showed off nothing but gameplay, and it looks exactly the same as Overwatch 1. There are no remastered visuals at all. The closest thing to that I saw was when they showed characters having more expressive faces.

 

[Stab You in the Back]

I don't know if its a one day thing or they're planning on keeping it around for awhile, but the "experimental" game mode that launched today is super fun.

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/news/patch-notes/experimental/

 

[Dante Alighieri]

I don’t understand what Blizzard is hoping to achieve with Overwatch 2.

I watched this entire video that showed off nothing but gameplay, and it looks exactly the same as Overwatch 1. There are no remastered visuals at all. The closest thing to that I saw was when they showed characters having more expressive faces.

Yet another $40-60 game purchase.

 

[Tanner Glass]

I don’t understand what Blizzard is hoping to achieve with Overwatch 2.

I watched this entire video that showed off nothing but gameplay, and it looks exactly the same as Overwatch 1. There are no remastered visuals at all. The closest thing to that I saw was when they showed characters having more expressive faces.

It really feels like that the OW team wanted to make an expansion but the higher ups wanted a full sequel and they're scrambling.

 

[FatalTater]

Archives event started yesterday. I really like Archives but I am not especially excited this year.

 

[HIVidaBoheme]

Archives event started yesterday. I really like Archives but I am not especially excited this year.

The new cosmetics are hardly an incentive. Honestly I am just playing the event to have fun with other friends in the same team.

 

[Stab You in the Back]

The new cosmetics are hardly an incentive.

Ah, but every new event is an opportunity see what lengths blizzard will go to hide female characters' butts,

 

[Kotol]

they dont want to show anything about the overwatch 2 because they know its still a ways away. and if anyone who cares noticed, the game is full of life. tf2 is souless garbage. i hate diversity but when it comes to a hero shooter, overwach nails it perfectly.anyone who still clings to this idea that tf2 is anything but garabage is a boomer who needs to grow up. now back to overwatch 2. its gonna have more fluid looking movments, the world will look more alive, the characters will be more human like. its not about a change of scenery or updated graphics but an immersive alive world. destiny 2 is exactly the same as destiny 1. hell theyre even brinining old content, why they opt for sequals is obvious; money. but i dont see anything wrong with a second instalment to overwatch 2.

If you like Overwatch way way more than TF2, that's fine. If you hate TF2, that's fine. I wouldn't call it soulless, though. You can call Valve's lack of care/updates for their games soulless, sure, but the game itself has incredibly memorable and unique characters and mechanics. There is a reason the game still has a very loyal fanbase.

I also agree with you that the diversity is handled well enough, it doesn't get on your nerves in game and the characters and the game don't take themselves too seriously. Blizzard also missed a big opportunity by not fleshing out the world, story and characters even more. They'll hopefully fix that with Overwatch 2.

Yes, I am somewhat biased because I didn't like the way Overwatch was handled, imo it should have stayed a fun shooter instead of trying to be a competitive game. But hey, I wish Overwatch all the best regardless for the sake of the community.

 

[MooseGump]

Gonna give this thread a good necro because Jeff Kaplan left blizzard lol

Another letter is posted in this article, but I love this part

Oh yeah, good pace huh

 

[Smug Chuckler]

He was also Vice President of the company too but for some reason Allen Brak became president instead of him when Mike left.

 

[mandatorylurk]

People who play the game and in the community still are saying it looks like Jeff was kicked out going by his statement. I wonder if Jeff was the one more responsible for things that hurt the game like bad balancing and role queue or was the one who was trying to fix the mess it became.

Makes OW2 feel like it will be a mess that even the 3D porn makers can't salvage.

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

what will happen too overwatch two now? will pvp and different abilities still be a free update if you have the first game or will you have to buy the entire package?

 

[Smug Chuckler]

So far, OW2 is just a pve mode, you don't need to buy it if you just want to play pvp.

 

[iceteayo]

People who play the game and in the community still are saying it looks like Jeff was kicked out going by his statement. I wonder if Jeff was the one more responsible for things that hurt the game like bad balancing and role queue or was the one who was trying to fix the mess it became.

Makes OW2 feel like it will be a mess that even the 3D porn makers can't salvage.

Jeff was a good face but a lot the balancing went through him and anyone who still regularly played Overwatch will tell you some metas were just bad.

 

[Tanner Glass]

People who play the game and in the community still are saying it looks like Jeff was kicked out going by his statement. I wonder if Jeff was the one more responsible for things that hurt the game like bad balancing and role queue or was the one who was trying to fix the mess it became.

Makes OW2 feel like it will be a mess that even the 3D porn makers can't salvage.

I got the feeling that Kaplan is a MMO guy through and through (Everquest and WoW) and was given the "Project Titan" project and was probably forced to salvage it into the TF2-syled shooter that became Overwatch. He gave it his best but probably started losing enthusiasm when it became clear that Blizz/Acti viewed Overwatch as a franchise and would be pushing into Overwatch 2 - even if Kaplan and team didn't have any major/innovative ideas and he had to sit for a year or two in the weird OW2 "expansion and sequel" that frankly doesn't seem to have much going for it.

I don't like Overwatch, but I can see why people who aren't me might like it. Kaplan, though, probably didn't want to get locked into being the "Overwatch 1/2/3" guy and having Acti/Blizz shove OW2 down his throat, shoving OW League down his throat, combined with several other key Blizz employees leaving and waiting out their non-competes before showing up at Dreamhaven probably was a sign for him to hang it up. Blizzard has been creatively bankrupt for a while and the stagnation is probably very stifling for someone like Kaplan who is probably working for fun instead of money.