Blizzard's Overwatch Catch-All

RooksGambit wrote:

A cartoonish team based multiplayer shooter. Hmm, pretty similar conceptually to Team Fortress. Actually in thinking about it, Blizzard really doesn't innovate, pretty much ever. All their games are derivative. What they do very well though is perfect. So yeah, they may be all clones of other games, but they're shiny, fun well polished clones

The game looks more like WoW in terms of art style. WoW and guns, and different world stylings.

WoW came before TF2.

I'd say Blizzard never invents. They innovate and iterate on existing genres and games better than pretty much every one else in the industry though.

WizardM0de wrote:

the interface (typically something Blizz knocks out of the park) seems uninspired.

?? what were you expecting? holographics? It's a shooter you don't need anything inspired. In fact you want it as unobtrusive as possible.

Archangel wrote:

while everyone keeps saying that it's ripping off TF2 (Medic, Engineer), the whole thing looks and feels to me like a first-person MOBA: The highly-differentiated heroes, the special powers, and so on. = TF2 along with a mess of other FPS games out there.

Not really a MOBA with no creeps or towers, though, is it?

It's just a team shooter with lots of special powers.

Faceless Clock wrote:
Farscry wrote:

Yeah, it's not like all the women's character designs are uniformly lithe and leggy with bodytight clothes and armor that show off their figure!

Sorry, I love Blizzard's quality of art, but they played it "safe" with their women character designs here. Pyxistyx's criticisms are quite valid.

So you're concerned they're not squat enough? Have you played a video game before? There's room for improvement, but again, this is way better than the vast majority of competing games and better than Blizzard's past work. In fact, can you tell me what competitive multiplayer games do it better? I'm curious 'cause I can't think of any.

Actually, Diablo 3 did it better (though not by much). The female barbarian has a distinct build for her body versus the other women in the game.

So did World of Warcraft: Tauren, Pandaren, Dwarven, Gnome, and Goblin females at least look quite distinctive compared to the other stereotypically lithe and leggy female bodies in the game.

Sorry that looking at even just two other Blizzard games for some body diversity was too difficult, so you had to resort to absurdity ("they're not squat enough?") and a lazy insult ("have you played a video game before?") in a poor attempt to invalidate my points.

Faceless Clock wrote:

So you're concerned they're not squat enough? Have you played a video game before? There's room for improvement, but again, this is way better than the vast majority of competing games and better than Blizzard's past work. In fact, can you tell me what competitive multiplayer games do it better? I'm curious 'cause I can't think of any.

Room for improvement = not good enough

For some.

I don't know why you are harping on this, pyxi yawned. Not exactly the biggest gauntlet thrown.

garion333 wrote:

I don't know why you are harping on this, pyxi yawned. Not exactly the biggest gauntlet thrown.

I wouldn't have tacked on my own posts to this topic if the response to her hadn't been patronizingly dismissive.

Farscry wrote:

A different conversation totally unrelated to my 'input'

Your avatar is so cute.

I just had to say.

Gumbie wrote:

Someone on twitter is saying it's a F2P with microtransactions....yuck.

Just like Hearthstone and Hero's of the Storm

On a less trolltastic note this does seem to be following Morhaime's stated philosophy of focusing their efforts on games having fun.

Garrcia wrote:

On a less trolltastic note this does seem to be following Morhaime's stated philosophy of focusing their efforts on games having fun.

Yup, I actually think that from a gameplay standpoing, this looks more interesting than if it had been a full-blown MMO. I'm looking forward to giving the game a shot whenever it releases!

I have trouble getting excited for a TF2 clone when TF2 still exists. I really don't like the aesthetic of this game. I've got a similar problem with the look of HotS. That said, I'm still willing to give it a shot. But, at this point, I have to assume that they'll use the LoL model just like HotS where you have to pay to permanently unlock the characters. If that ends up being the case, my interest drops to zero.

Mr Crinkle wrote:

Some day, someone will make a team-based, class-based shooter without snipers, and I will play that game from the day it's released until my death.

Heh, it's pretty much my go-to class, and this one has a f*cking grappling hook!

WizardM0de wrote:

To me this reeks of Blizz trying to recoup money spent on Titan by stripping a portion out and making it F2P. I look forward to being proven wrong though!

Even it if is, and it totally is, so what?

ahrezmendi wrote:

I like what I'm seeing in the panel. The focus on heroes instead of classes gets a huge thumbs up from me. This allows them to continue to add new ways to play, which is one issue I've had with other team shooters. I like the art style, I like the abilities. It all looks like a lot of fun. I'll give it a try if I get into the alpha/beta.

Yeah, I did get tired of TF2 eventually, and some classes never spoke to me (and I was mediocre at it as a whole).

Koz wrote:

I thought the cinematic was honestly kind of dumb in a wannabe-Pixar way

I was crying by the end of the cinematic, to echo the little brother, it was so cool!

RolandofGilead wrote:

I was crying by the end of the cinematic, to echo the little brother, it was so cool!

I agree! And I loved the little touch of the security guard being blissfully ignorant of the whole situation by playing Hearthstone.

Looking forward to trying this game out.

The most direct comparison is TF2, but there seems to be a bit of Mirror's Edge in there as well based on how some of the models move.

I was actually thinking more tame anime for the art stylings.

I see Iria, Appleseed, Guyver, G-force, Ninja Scroll, Trigun, Escaflowne, Front Mission (which is similar to Gundam but...) and Macross inspiration. And I say tame because it you know that source material, the women, while certainly endowed in Overwatch, are much more "enhanced" in the corresponding anime.

Farscry wrote:
Faceless Clock wrote:

So you're concerned they're not squat enough? Have you played a video game before? There's room for improvement, but again, this is way better than the vast majority of competing games and better than Blizzard's past work. In fact, can you tell me what competitive multiplayer games do it better? I'm curious 'cause I can't think of any.

Actually, Diablo 3 did it better (though not by much). The female barbarian has a distinct build for her body versus the other women in the game.

So did World of Warcraft: Tauren, Pandaren, Dwarven, Gnome, and Goblin females at least look quite distinctive compared to the other stereotypically lithe and leggy female bodies in the game.

Sorry that looking at even just two other Blizzard games for some body diversity was too difficult, so you had to resort to absurdity ("they're not squat enough?") and a lazy insult ("have you played a video game before?") in a poor attempt to invalidate my points.

Man, I've offended you, I guess. Sorry about that.

I agree Diablo 3 does it better, though The Barbarian an outlier in that cast. All the remaining female characters could be accused of being too slim and tall, I think.

I don't agree about World of Warcraft at all though. Yes the female Tauren is there. Yes the female dwarf is there. But those character models were incredibly lazy and basically boiled down to "Eh I dunno, female cow thing? Just slap some big jugs on her I guess!" And the few important females in WoW NPC cast were very stereotypical.

So yea, I think Blizzard is getting better. And I think it's worth recognizing improvement, rather than always comparing to an ideal and criticizing what does not meet it.

Maybe I'm just being charitable because I played SMITE a few months ago and I saw some similarities in the kind of game that is and what Blizzard is making. Have you played SMITE? Good god. It's practically softcore porn.

Sign me up. It looks like they cross bred Unreal Tournament (2004) with anime, with a City of Heroes backstory. Log in, make stuff go boom, have some fun.

I can't wait to play Winston.

This looks pretty sweet. I always felt like it was just too late for me to get in on TF2 by the time I was interested. I'd love to get in on the ground floor for one of these, and Blizzard's seems like a pretty safe bet. Count me in.

Have to admit that it really looks amazing. I don't mind if Blizzard makes an FPS that borrows from best ones out there. No one has a monopoly on good ideas. Besides, they'll give it the usual treatment they are capable of that makes it unique to them.

I'm not crazy about F2P, but whats the use in fighting against it? It's a model that is here to stay.

All of that being said, nothing has really grabbed me about it. SO FAR.

I'm holding out for final judgement until I can learn a lot more.

I wonder if any of the characters are playable by old folks like me whose reaction time has gone to hell. If not, I'm really sad that I won't be able to play this, because it looks pretty cool.

Maybe someday someone will make a shooter that isn't all hyper fast and twitchy.

BadKen wrote:

I wonder if any of the characters are playable by old folks like me whose reaction time has gone to hell. If not, I'm really sad that I won't be able to play this, because it looks pretty cool.

I'm old and make up for my fading reactions by playing smarter (sometimes).

mateo wrote:

Sign me up. It looks like they cross bred Unreal Tournament (2004) with anime, with a City of Heroes backstory. Log in, make stuff go boom, have some fun.

I can't wait to play Widowmaker.

FTFM. What's so awesome about her is 1) her gun isn't just a sniper rifle so you engage at medium range! 2) Wall-hack ability, 3) Grappling hook 4) Looks can kill. All I can say is f*ck yeah, someone there really loves playing sniper a lot because they've made a perk out of everything that is usually frustrating about the role.
It really looks like someone had a good time long ago in the egyptian maps in Unreal Tournament.

BadKen wrote:

I wonder if any of the characters are playable by old folks like me whose reaction time has gone to hell. If not, I'm really sad that I won't be able to play this, because it looks pretty cool.

Maybe someday someone will make a shooter that isn't all hyper fast and twitchy.

I fear the same, I couldn't really keep up with ut2k4 and TF2 barely but it was too frenetic, but hey, come play Planetside 2 with us! The secret is to aim at the chest and let the vertical recoil give you headshots, or drive a vehicle, of which there are many, and you can blow them up with anti-tank mines, that you can drop out of an air troop transport. Damn what a good game.

BadKen wrote:

I wonder if any of the characters are playable by old folks like me whose reaction time has gone to hell. If not, I'm really sad that I won't be able to play this, because it looks pretty cool.

I think that depends on what you like to do. There are defender and tank classes, both of witch shouldn't be terribly twitchy. And there's always the support classes like healers and such. It's really only the strikers that should require some degree of twitch skills to play.

I find it interesting that widowmaker is listed as a defense character. Hmm, a defense class with sniper rifle?

I might have thought support, but yes, staying in the back does not lend itself to offense, unless you're packing a 155 mm howitzer.

fangblackbone wrote:

I find it interesting that widowmaker is listed as a defense character. Hmm, a defense class with sniper rifle?

They said defenders are good at holding choke points, which is kind of what snipers do. Aren't they technically defenders in TF2? It's been a while since i've played

She can also reveal enemy player locations, which is a somewhat defensive ability.

I doubt the classifications are super strict, though. Defense probably means more "does not run into combat," than "literally stays at base all the time."

I want to play Gundam lady. I want to fly through the skies and shoot rockets while screaming. Though realistically I'll probably end up with Mercy, I played medic a lot in TF2.

BadKen wrote:

I wonder if any of the characters are playable by old folks like me whose reaction time has gone to hell. If not, I'm really sad that I won't be able to play this, because it looks pretty cool.

Maybe someday someone will make a shooter that isn't all hyper fast and twitchy.

There's a quote from the panel where they stated that some classes are specifically designed not to be twitch based.

Neozilla wrote:

Aren't they technically defenders in TF2?

Snipers are classified as support with medics and spies. The classifications don't really mean much. One of the best offensive classes is labeled as defense (demo) and one of the best defensive classes is under offense (pyro).