Overwatch

[Silicone_Milk]

I disagree with the idea of making a game that's supposed to be about countering heroes with opposing heroes being so focused on a single one having to be shutdown for any other group of heroes to succeed. And, again, I've had matches where either myself or a teammate has killed the enemy Mercy and we push in, pop a couple ults to clear the team and sit on objective only to have the Mercy we had just killed fly to one of the souls of her teammates, Q, and the point is now contested, enemies pop their ults and we're toast. Killing Mercy is not a counter to her ult, just a delay and no hero should have an ult with no counter to it.
To be fair, I think Zenyatta's ult can't be countered or interrupted other than just wait it out, but it feels a lot more strategic using it to protect the team from a nasty incoming ult or two. I think it has the same range as Mercy's ult as well and the team kind of has to stick around you to get protected/healed.

Mercy is, for me at least, dreadfully boring to play. I've only picked her to secure wins for my team hanging back and Qing if more than one teammate was killed.
Typically the teams I'm with die close enough to each other so as to be able to rez multiples of them. Either from contesting a point or fighting on the payload to prevent its movement. It's not hard to reliably rez multiple teammates at all, a lot of Mercys I've seen just pop it as soon as the first teammate dies.

[DooMer]

Mercy is just where the meta game starts. Once you change strategies or find a good counter character to shut her down, it forces the opposing team to adapt and counter your strategy, and eventually Mercy don't seem all that great anymore.

[scared?]

Moron alerts!...

[U4EA]

The animated shorts they've released are tremendously well done, per the usual Blizzard standard.

The original cinematic trailer:
[youtube]FqnKB22pOC0[/youtube]

Recall:
[youtube]sB5zlHMsM7k[/youtube]

Alive:
[youtube]U130wnpi-C0[/youtube]

Dragons:
[youtube]oJ09xdxzIJQ[/youtube]

Hero:
[youtube]cPRRupAM4DI[/youtube]

We Are Overwatch:
[youtube]IBIwGKDwnWY[/youtube]

Launches tomorrow. I ended up deciding to get it. A good buddy of mine is really into it and we ended up having a lot of fun during the beta.

[Eraser]

Can't wait to dig in again

[Don Carlos]

So a few people I know love this and are trying to get me to buy it. All the reviews have been hugely positive...anyone playing it here?

[Eraser]

Well, yes, I am

[Transient]

It's nice to see Blizzard finally figured out how to animate shit. Remember the old cinematics from Diablo and Warcraft?. Even back in the day they were awful. They looked nice as still shots, but in motion it was all wrong. When did they go from Korean animation sweatshop to Pixar level cinematics?

[U4EA]

It's nice to see Blizzard finally figured out how to animate shit. Remember the old cinematics from Diablo and Warcraft?. Even back in the day they were awful. They looked nice as still shots, but in motion it was all wrong. When did they go from Korean animation sweatshop to Pixar level cinematics?

You have a very skewed memory if that's your impression of old Blizzard cinematics. The Diablo, Warcraft, WoW cinematics have almost always been top tier relative to what other games were producing at the time. D2, when the wanderer sets the inn ablaze? Act 3 with Tyrael? Act 4 when they open the portal? Baal assaulting Secheron? The LoD finale? Show me one other game from the year 2000 with cinematics like that. Not as familiar with the Starcraft series, but those were great too, from 1998 no less. The marines investigating the derelict ship. The hillbillies getting attacked by zerg. W3/TFT had incredible cinematics too. The fight against Mannoroth. Archimonde and the World Tree. Arthas becoming the Lich King. I don't know if you thinking of the Warcraft 1/2 days specifically, because I never played those. WoW's cinematics from WotLK onwards have been absolutely stellar, and the older ones were nothing to sneeze at. Yes, Overwatch cinematics have a fairly distinct style and these are far better than what Blizzard have produced in the past, but they're also a lot more recent. And of course they're never going to compare to animated movies, they don't have a fraction of the budget.

So a few people I know love this and are trying to get me to buy it. All the reviews have been hugely positive...anyone playing it here?

I'm playing it. It's fantastically good fun

[Transient]

I was specifically referring to the original Diablo and Warcraft, and I wasn't comparing them to anything in particular. I'm just saying they've come a long way. I think it was around WoW when a marked difference started to emerge.

[U4EA]

I was specifically referring to the original Diablo and Warcraft

Yeah, but that's not really saying much is it? "Quality of cinematics improves drastically in 22 year span". Stop the presses!

When did they go from Korean animation sweatshop to Pixar level cinematics?

I think it was around WoW when a marked difference started to emerge.

Looks like you've solved your own riddle there [although I'd place it a few years prior, closer to the D2/W3 era].

OKAY I'M DONE I'LL STOP NOW

[Transient]

Not every post has to be a revelation.

*hug*

[Don Carlos]

Went out and bought this to kill some time before Rome. It has a very Avengers "Save the world with your team" sort of feel to it. It is basically Team Fortress 2 with a lot of different characters, which is no bad thing in my opinion. TF2 is quality and I can see this game stealing a lot of my time once I get to grips with the characters.

Friendly Fun

[Eraser]

In before "Bastion is overpowered"

[Transient]

I caved in and bought the game. It's pretty well polished.

[U4EA]

Going back to the balance discussion on Mercy. Game's been out for two weeks now, and I've played a hefty amount of support during that time. I don't believe Mercy is overpowered, especially in random groups. I'm going to make a lot of comparisons to Lúcio, because Mercy and him really are the two primary healers. Zenyatta is not directly comparable as he only has Orb of Harmony [single target on one character] and Transcendence [ult]. He plays pretty offensively too with Orb of Discord. In any case, I almost never see him used as a primary healer, he's mostly there in addition to one of the others, and his healing output is a fraction of what Lúcio and Mercy can produce. Symmetra is tagged as support, and does have Photon Shield, but she's more of a defence character with Sentry Turret and Teleporter.

Firstly, my personal experience and impressions. I've spent about 7 hours playing Lúcio and just a bit less than that on Mercy.

Mercy can actually be really frustrating to play as. There are a number of drawbacks to her skill set. The range on Caduceus Staff is fairly limited [15m], and although you've got to watch out for positioning and not unduly expose yourself to enemy fire [especially snipers] on all characters, it's harder to do with Mercy if you want to keep people alive.

Doing well with Mercy is strongly dependent on having a good team with you. If you have a good tank protecting the squishies, and good offence players who position themselves well behind cover and make sure you can reach them when they need healing, you can do reasonably well. On the other hand, in many pub games you're going to run into people playing overly aggressively, standing out of position, and overall just not doing a good job of protecting you. Mercy is weaker in those situations.

You can also only do one thing at a time as Mercy. You can choose to either heal one character, provide a damage boost to one character, or use Caduceus Blaster [which is rarely the correct move]. Quickly and effectively picking the correct target to heal or damage boost amongst a cluster of teammates can be tricky. Occasionally I'll have to stop casting, re-position and re-target, and then cast again to hit the right target. Sometimes I'll need to do that multiple times, and it can get really tricky in the heat of battle when you're getting attacked from multiple sides. Sometimes it results in wasted time when you're not healing the character you want. Sometimes they'll die before you can target them.

Lúcio's tool set is very different, and seems to work better with random pub teams. He's easier to play, hardier, and his healing is almost entirely passive. You're never just healing one character, you're healing everyone in range and LOS. The range on his heals [30m] is double that of Mercy's heal. The regular heal is weak [12 lps], but when you Amp It Up, it's almost as strong [40 lps] as Mercy's single target heal [50 lps], remembering again that it's for everyone in range and LOS. Drawback being, it's on a cooldown, but playing well with Lúcio means learning when to use it effectively.

Self healing? As Mercy you can't. You have to stop taking damage for a few seconds before your passive heal kicks in, which means hiding, and potentially breaking LOS with allies. You cannot target yourself and heal. Lúcio's song heals him as well.

Lúcio can also do multiple things at the same time. As Mercy, you have to pick between the heal, damage boost, and firing the pistol. Lúcio can heal and fire simultaneously. I pump out an average of 2,519 damage per match as Lúcio, better players can probably do a lot more. I get a reasonable number of eliminations with decent damage contribution. I can put in a significant amount of damage into Reinhardt shields, breaking them that much faster. I can harass snipers, forcing them to move, making them less effective. I can take out Toblerone turrets. All the while healing my team at the same time. Can Mercy's damage boost put out similar damage numbers overall? There's no easy way to calculate it, but I'm sure it can. Not nearly as easily though, and without the extra person firing shots. And you have to make sure your teammate that you've damage boosted can aim well. And you can't be doing anything else at the same time.

With Mercy, you're outsourcing a lot of your usefulness into your teammates, and that's not always going to pay off. You can't guarantee the other random pub player is going to be any good, but you can at least know that you are a good player.

Mobility wise, I find Guardian Angel is pretty good for flitting around from player to player. Once again though, its usefulness is dictated by your team's positioning. It doesn't help you get back into the action quicker aside from the final leap when you reach your team. Lúcio's mobility song is mega useful for getting people back into the action after deaths, or reaching objectives quicker at the start of the match. The other thing Mercy struggles a lot with is getting separated from the team. E.g. running back after a death and getting singled out by an enemy roamer. You're almost always going to be an easier kill as Mercy, whereas Lúcio has the solo mobility, healing throughput, damage, and CC [Sonic Amplifier knockback] to evade or kill them.

Finally, let's talk ultimates. IMO, Resurrect is not as good as Sound Barrier. Getting that perfect 4-5 person clutch res to save the match is rare in practice. I've had a 4 person res happen literally just once since the game launched. It's not often that many people to die in close proximity to each other, and at the same time, and you also haven't died, and you're able to get back in time before you're killed, and hit the button. In many skirmishes, I've found myself having 1 person die, and then hoping another will soon so that my res can be useful. We'll have a bit of a respite while the enemy team is reloading, or waiting for mini cooldowns to come up, etc. In that time, the first person's death bubble will tick over, and I'll need to decide whether to res a single person, or wait for someone else to die and hope for their timers to overlap. And then the timers don't overlap. And you feel very sad that you have a useless ult. I've eventually realized it's better to just get the 1-2 person res, and to get it quickly to start charging up your next one. I think that's why it charges as quickly as it does, you're meant to use it often. If I get 3 people, I consider myself lucky.

Sound Barrier is pfg. What's better than ressing people after they die? Not letting them die in the first place. Sound Barrier can absorb a lot of damage. It completely negates one or more ult from the enemy team. Instead of scrambling for cover, your teammates can hunt down the ulting enemies since many times using an ult can leave you exposed and vulnerable. I've completely absorbed a D.Va ult in the middle of 5 teammates, saving the match. Didn't lose a single person. As Mercy, I would have had to run out and save myself, then fly back in and res, hoping everyone was in range, and that I was able to hit the button before getting killed. Pharah, Reaper, Hanzo, so many other ults, are almost all entirely negated. You can throw in an Amp It Up at the same time if the shield gets shredded too quickly.

I'm sure at least part of my perception of Mercy is because I'm either not a good Mercy player [abysmal 26% win rate with Mercy vs. 64% with Lúcio], or I have the terrible misfortune of mostly getting grouped with bad players when I'm on her. In fairness though, the time I put in with Mercy was in the first days after launch, when I didn't really know the maps or the game that well. My Lúcio playtime is all more recent when my overall game knowledge and experience is higher. I don't think I would be as bad with Mercy if I picked her now, but with Lúcio being a sturdier choice for random pubs, it's hard to go back. Not sure if this invalidates my argument, but I don't think it does. I am going to try Mercy again soon and see if I can do better.

The surest way of learning how to counter specific characters is to play them yourself, and find out what you struggle with. And I don't just mean in a match or two here and there. Really put in the time to learn the ins and outs, the tricks and the frustrations. When you find yourself consistently struggling for LOS and range, or to meaningfully use your res, or select the correct target for healing, you'll know how to frustrate and harass an enemy Mercy. And yes, occasionally a great Mercy will be paired with a good team and seem invincible, or will pull off an amazing res, and you'll lose the match. But that's OK. You can't win them all. As long as it's not happening an inordinate amount, it's balanced. And you'll appreciate a well played Mercy that much more and not be as frustrated playing against her, because you'll know how much work was required to pull it off.

Which brings me to, statistics. Not just my own, but across the entire player base. Have a look at the Master Overwatch website, which has a page ranking heroes overall. I've linked the PC stats only to not muddy the numbers with console gamepad peasantry.

http://masteroverwatch.com/heroes/pc/global

This is aggregate data counting matches played by all indexed players. They retrieve the raw data using Blizzard APIs, and present it in what is quite frankly, a very smexy layout. Check out the win rate percentages across the two healing supports.

Lúcio is the third best character with a win rate of 57.8%, while Mercy is dead last at 48%. They say you can twist statistics to say anything, but I'm not sure what else to make of this, other than that Mercy is not overpowered. And it isn't representation skewing the numbers either, they're both selected at just about the same rate, with Lúcio accounting for 7.22% of all matches and Mercy for 7.48%. So it wouldn't really be fair to say that Lúcio is stronger in KotH maps [which is where most people pick him] therefore his win rate is higher.

These numbers are for quick play games, and it's possible the situation is going to be vastly different in ranked mode, or professional level competitive tournament play. I guess we'll have to wait for the competitive scene to warm up and for ranked mode to be introduced [later this month]. I've done some light reading, and most competitive comps use both Mercy and Lúcio, but if they need to drop a support for a different character [e.g. Symmetra on defence], Lúcio is generally the one who is sacrificed. I think that makes sense in context, because in competitive pre-made groups, most of Mercy's random pub weaknesses aren't going to apply. You have known teammates who are going to be good players. Regardless, quick play is where everyone else is, so I think this is relevant.

TL;DR: Mercy isn't overpowered, don't let just that factor put you off the game

[Eraser]

Great post!

[Don Carlos]

Holy Shit U4EA! I will read that when I have a spare day

[Eraser]

Love that masteroverwatch site by the way. Have been comparing stats with my colleagues at work

[Transient]

In my experience, Mercy is best when you're teamed up with friends who know WTF they're doing, and Lucio is better for PUBs. When I'm in a random Quick Match, people tend to spread out and break LOS too much for me to be particularly useful to the whole team. My guess is that when people see me pick Mercy, they assume that the group will be all set without any more support, and we end up with 3 Pharahs on the team. I tend to end up following around 1 or 2 of the smarter players and hope the rest figure it out. Plus the enemy will look for the gold wings, as Mercy makes for a tasty snack. Lucio, on the other hand, kind of fades into the background during a busy fight.

[scared?]

When would u not play on pubs? Nerd alert!!!...

[SoM]

so Jay Wilson is leaving Blizz

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/172154/jay- ... s-blizzard

good riddance

now if only Gabe Newell would fuck off

[Don Carlos]

Whilst we're Gaben bashing (kinda), can we take a moment to recognise the abject failure of Steam Machines. Lol?

Did order me a Steam pad though. I look forwards to hours of fiddling for optimal comfort and precision for each and every game, then never playing them.

Ordered one too

Just wanted to try it out given how handy I have become with a PS4 pad on DOOM

[U4EA]

I'm sure at least part of my perception of Mercy is because I'm either not a good Mercy player [abysmal 26% win rate with Mercy vs. 64% with Lúcio], or I have the terrible misfortune of mostly getting grouped with bad players when I'm on her. In fairness though, the time I put in with Mercy was in the first days after launch, when I didn't really know the maps or the game that well. My Lúcio playtime is all more recent when my overall game knowledge and experience is higher. I don't think I would be as bad with Mercy if I picked her now, but with Lúcio being a sturdier choice for random pubs, it's hard to go back. Not sure if this invalidates my argument, but I don't think it does. I am going to try Mercy again soon and see if I can do better.

Have played another 24-ish games with Mercy over the past two days, with a win rate of ~50% [which is roughly where I would hope it to be], bringing my aggregate with her up to 33.3%. I have much better map awareness, positioning, and survivability, and I think I'm playing better as well; swapping to pistol more often, pre-planning escape routes & LOS breaks, using Guardian Angel more effectively, not being as reckless in trying to keep foolhardy teammates alive, etc. Feeling a lot better about her, but still don't think she's overpowered. My most effective res by far was 2 people [including our Reinhardt] with ~1 minute remaining near the end of Route 66 on attack. We were able to stick to the payload after that, and with some well timed ults from our Zarya, Hanzo, and Soldier 76, won the match in overtime.

What I love about Lúcio and Mercy is just how different their healing styles are, and how differently they play compared to each other. They are both really distinctive, and really fun to play, with different strengths and weakness. They really complement each other well

[Eraser]

http://www.brothers-brick.com/2016/06/0 ... ch-heroes/