Overwatch

[Smug Chuckler]

In my opinion, a game should be a game first before establishing it as an eSport. Let the community decide.

Yeah but this is Blizzard which tried to tailor every fucking game it made to be one since 1998.

 

[guffrey__]

In my opinion, a game should be a game first before establishing it as an eSport. Let the community decide.

No one was ready for OWL, at all. They were in the middle of reworking their biggest support (Mercy) when they launched OWL. They locked all conversation to a megathread that none of the devs gave a shit about. It was a shitshow.

 

[KillThemCrackasBabies]

Yeah the fact that they spend huge amounts of time reworking and tweaking otherwise fine characters in order to make them more useful in that retarded league was obnoxious as shit.

 

[Belvedere]

OW e-sports is the most astroturfed shit I've seen. Blizzard spent ungodly amounts of money on that alone trying to create hype for a game that was in no condition to be considered a viable competitive game. Just the way the different characters have been balanced into oblivion and considering the minuscule roster the game has it was unavoidable for matches to devolve into meta-mirror fights over and over again, it is boring at every level to play and watch. The fact that it has been 4 fucking years and still the only viable sniper in the game is Widowmaker and the only counter is another Widowmaker is laughable. Then there is the joke that are the OWL teams which are supposed to represent players from across the U.S. and the world and yet 90% of the players are South Korean - just look at the "Miami" team, WTF is this shit?! If OW really was the kind of game that attracted a huge number of players worldwide, we would actually see the type of "diversity" Blizzard spouts so much about, it is all set up.

What else can be expected of a game that was created from the smoldering remains of a cancelled MMO that Blizzard failed to make work after 9 years in development Hell.

 

[Smug Chuckler]

I don't think OWL is going to be around next year, A-B has dun goof with their optics lately and is forced into broadcasting on Youtube. Also this year they don't seem to be shoving OWL into your face on the b.net launcher like before.

V

Also remember Heroes of the Storm? Blizzard tried really hard to make it the LoL killer and had it broadcasted on mainstream networks like ESPN and they had failed miserably before pulling the rug from under its own league's feet. I suspect once the game dlc OW2 gets released we will see the game be relevant for one more year. Keep an eye out on Jeff Kaplan, if he leaves to another game or company, it will be the beginning of the end.

 

[mandatorylurk]

When all is said and done the brand will be remembered more for lootboxes and porn than the actual game. Great legacy Blizzard, all you had to do was balance the game beyond OWL and pretend to care about the playerbase instead of actively dismissing it.

 

[Tanner Glass]

In my opinion, a game should be a game first before establishing it as an eSport. Let the community decide.

But investors don't want a share of "community loved game" - the want a share of "gigantic famous esports" game.

 

[Fagnacious D]

just look at the "Miami" team, WTF is this shit?!

A few of those guys look like they were cloned from the same guy.

 

[ChucklesTheJester]

View attachment 1446328
A few of those guys look like they were cloned from the same guy.

It's like a real life version of Donut steel.

 

[SirenBrain]

Hasn't the OW esports scene already had one investor bubble pop? And they're on their way to a second.

 

[guffrey__]

OW e-sports is the most astroturfed shit I've seen. Blizzard spent ungodly amounts of money on that alone trying to create hype for a game that was in no condition to be considered a viable competitive game. Just the way the different characters have been balanced into oblivion and considering the minuscule roster the game has it was unavoidable for matches to devolve into meta-mirror fights over and over again, it is boring at every level to play and watch. The fact that it has been 4 fucking years and still the only viable sniper in the game is Widowmaker and the only counter is another Widowmaker is laughable. Then there is the joke that are the OWL teams which are supposed to represent players from across the U.S. and the world and yet 90% of the players are South Korean - just look at the "Miami" team, WTF is this shit?! If OW really was the kind of game that attracted a huge number of players worldwide, we would actually see the type of "diversity" Blizzard spouts so much about, it is all set up.

What else can be expected of a game that was created from the smoldering remains of a cancelled MMO that Blizzard failed to make work after 9 years in development Hell.

OWL was honestly the biggest spit in the face to the community. The forums never agree on anything, but the one thing literally 100% of the community agreed on was that OW was in no way, shape, or form ready to be introduced into the eSports scene. Despite no one wanting an Overwatch eSports and the roster being completely and totally fucked (which it still is), they debuted while reworking arguably the biggest hero in the game, and it came out looking like shit. It's just two different teams with the same exact hero comp and strat going toe-to-toe. Then the devs start making their balancing changes around what the pros want instead of what their actual playerbase needs. The game ends up being a nightmare match of counter-picks where the only heroes you can play are either meta heroes or just direct counters to the most OP player on the enemy team.

Not to mention the attempts at "balance" (which were way too fucking little, too late) have all fallen squarely flat on their faces. The 2-2-2 role queue was a certfied shit-show. They locked maps people wanted to play for no reason, decentivizing people to play comp if their prefered maps weren't in rotation. They locked four different heroes a week for fuck-all reason, decentivizing players to play comp if their prefered heroes weren't in rotation. They released heroes into comp without taking into consideration the community's feedback from the PTR, which, depending on how good/bad they were in comp, they'd either make so bad that you couldn't play them, or they'd overpower them so much that they'd be the meta; just countless amounts of totally amateur errors spanning four years that this "seasoned and professional" gaming studio made.

It's sad too, because this game had so much potential, but these incompetent and lazy ass devs just completely ruined it. The game has been an unbalanced and broken mess since day one and the developers just don't seem to give a shit, only now because their Titanic of a title is sinking when it hit the iceberg of reality, the reality that their name doesn't carry any weight anymore and the hype from Overwatch it had at first is completely fucking dead and no one really gives a shit about it as much as they did before; only now do they want to steer this game in the direction they should have before, but it's far too fucking late, which they realized, which is why they're making a sequel which isn't really a sequel and is just a much-needed patch with a $60-$70 price tag on it.

And people will buy it.

 

[The Last Stand]

View attachment 1446328
A few of those guys look like they were cloned from the same guy.

Blizzard may have a cloning faculty

It's sad too, because this game had so much potential, but these incompetent and lazy ass devs just completely ruined it. The game has been an unbalanced and broken mess since day one and the developers just don't seem to give a shit, only now because their Titanic of a title is sinking when it hit the iceberg of reality, the reality that their name doesn't carry any weight anymore and the hype from Overwatch it had at first is completely fucking dead and no one really gives a shit about it as much as they did before; only now do they want to steer this game in the direction they should have before, but it's far too fucking late, which they realized, which is why they're making a sequel which isn't really a sequel and is just a much-needed patch with a $60-$70 price tag on it.

Are they trying to balance Overwatch from a eSports point of view or a consumer's point of view? OWL is more successful than other attempts at eSports, but that's because Blizzard has the financial backing and goodwill from their fans. And they are enticing viewers by offering bonuses just for watching sponsored streams.

Another thing, why did Blizzard offer OWL skins for sale in Overwatch with another purchasable currency that you wouldn't get otherwise? They look like skins that somebody could whip up with Photoshop in a few seconds, yet they want money for them like they're jerseys? The average player wants to play for fun; Overwatch needs to focus on its community BEFORE anything else.

 

[guffrey__]

Blizzard may have a cloning faculty

Are they trying to balance Overwatch from a eSports point of view or a consumer's point of view? OWL is more successful than other attempts at eSports, but that's because Blizzard has the financial backing and goodwill from their fans. And they are enticing viewers by offering bonuses just for watching sponsored streams.

Another thing, why did Blizzard offer OWL skins for sale in Overwatch with another purchasable currency that you wouldn't get otherwise? They look like skins that somebody could whip up with Photoshop in a few seconds, yet they want money for them like they're jerseys? The average player wants to play for fun; Overwatch needs to focus on its community BEFORE anything else.

That's the issue; no one at Blizzard is interested in the community. It's pretty much dead at this point (with good reason). The devs are desperately trying to keep the eSports scene alive cuz it's the only thing that anyone who pays attention to Overwatch still cares about, which means it's the best way to exploit their fans, which would explain the useless jerseys. Overwatch is dead in the water and Blizzard knows this which is why its trying to get people to watch their shit eSports at any cost. I remember at one point, if you opened the Battle.net launcher, that shit would just play automatically and muted, which meant if you opened the launcher and booted up the game, paying the screen no mind, you'd count as a viewer of their shit OWL.

It's pretty laughable the extent Blizzard is willing to embarrass themselves for a few eyeballs on their League.

 

[The Last Stand]

They really need to balance Pharah and Mercy. That is OP. And do something about Widowmaker on consoles. Lately, I heard PS4 has a problem with mouse + keyboard users in Competitive. Blizzard said that's up to Sony & Microsoft to enforce so they're mum about it.

 

[guffrey__]

They really need to balance Pharah and Mercy. That is OP. And do something about Widowmaker on consoles. Lately, I heard PS4 has a problem with mouse + keyboard users in Competitive. Blizzard said that's up to Sony & Microsoft to enforce so they're mum about it.

lol they've had keyboard+mouse console player issues since the game's inception. They always say they're gonna fix it and never do. Also, Pharmercy is pretty busted, but ever since Mercy's rework, it's much more manageable. Still an issue in lower levels tho. Aside from that, they have a myriad of issues tho, shit that didn't make sense at a design level. For example, their medal system makes no sense for a team-effort game, since it completely decentivizes people who are doing well as a hero that may not synergize with the other heroes to just lock and never switch, even tho they might desperately need a switch.

This game's been a trainwreck since its release, but up until two years ago, it's been a rather fun and managebale trainwreck. But now, they've just gone completely off the rails.

 

[Tanner Glass]

Blizzard may have a cloning faculty

Are they trying to balance Overwatch from a eSports point of view or a consumer's point of view? OWL is more successful than other attempts at eSports, but that's because Blizzard has the financial backing and goodwill from their fans. And they are enticing viewers by offering bonuses just for watching sponsored streams.

Another thing, why did Blizzard offer OWL skins for sale in Overwatch with another purchasable currency that you wouldn't get otherwise? They look like skins that somebody could whip up with Photoshop in a few seconds, yet they want money for them like they're jerseys? The average player wants to play for fun; Overwatch needs to focus on its community BEFORE anything else.

OWL is not more successful than their other attempts at esports - thier most successful esport was one they found accidentally, Starcraft : Brood War.

When Brood War took off, Blizzard realized how much money there was in esports and then realized that because they didn't own the leagues, that they were missing out on even more money. That's why every game after had an "official" league stapled on to it and why they never really take off, because the games are junk that Blizzard is trying to put out to try and get more of that sweet, sweet esports money.

OWL is also the worst league because they're trying to do so much with it. They're trying to make it like a real sports league - and they enforce a minimum salary for all players, and healthcare, housing, etc - the cost of a team is a minimum of $350,000 a year before player insurance, housing, sub/alternates, etc. That's also assuming that you sign every player for league minimum, and not the alleged $150,000+ that some of the top players make.

Winning the league (in 2019) gets the org $1,100,000 - which is not a lot when your team costs you close to $800,000 (assuming 12 players at minimum salary + housing/travel costs) and you've only got a 5% chance of winning the league (20 teams). Teams are likely bleeding money and Blizzard is trying to keep them alive so OWL can keep moving forward.

 

[Banditotron]

Despite no one wanting an Overwatch eSports and the roster being completely and totally fucked (which it still is), they debuted while reworking arguably the biggest hero in the game, and it came out looking like shit

Who was the "biggest hero" at the time? How were they changed?

Pharmacy

The pharah mercy combo is a nightmare, but balancing it is near impossible because pharah sucks in every other context. She's just a worse echo.

 

[The Last Stand]

The pharah mercy combo is a nightmare, but balancing it is near impossible because pharah sucks in every other context. She's just a worse echo.

Make both hitboxes bigger when they're together. Reduce her flight speed. Increase damage output but reduce splash damage.

How's that?

 

[guffrey__]

Who was the "biggest hero" at the time? How were they changed?

Mercy was the biggest support hero in the game and arguable the biggest hero period. Every game had a Mercy lock, and they decided to fuck with her ult because some autists who don't understand that 75% of the hero roster has CC that could swiftly counter her ult, complained about how broken her rez was. In the middle of making these changes, they decide to release OWL, and it came out either during her rework or extremely soon after, which just wasn't the time. The game was nowhere near ready for an eSports.

Basically, they removed mass rez and replaced it with a single rez every 30 secs. They wanted to remove mass rez while still making her viable, but shortly after reworking her, added Ana and Moira to the game, who outheal her so much that she's basically been a throw pick ever since.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

Also remember Heroes of the Storm? Blizzard tried really hard to make it the LoL killer and had it broadcasted on mainstream networks like ESPN and they had failed miserably before pulling the rug from under its own league's feet.

It's like they wanted it to be the LoL killer and esports ready and yet they catered so fucking hard to the casuals to the detriment of ranked and pro play. They took months and months to nerf or buff certain heroes, and some went years before being hit with a nerf bat or buffed into a playable state.