Blizzard's Overwatch Catch-All

RolandofGilead wrote:

Lucio's gonna be fun on maps with pits.
Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywTNgR3ldFc

Damn he looks like a really fun support class. I am in!

Woooooooooooo

Signed up! Thanks for the heads up!

Signed up as well Looking forward to this!

Huh, I was assuming that they'd start the beta at/just after Blizzcon. Signed myself up too. Got into the Hearthstone beta and the Heroes alpha, will have to see if I can continue the run.

Just let me be the cowboy! Pretty please!

I just signed up for the beta today, and am hoping I'm chosen. This has sounded good ever since announcement.

I threw my name in as well. I am curious about the game, but if I don't get in, I won't be crushed. I saw they want 100% feedback, which makes me wonder what the usual feedback percent is. In my mind, I imagine it's pretty low, like 5% of players, but I really have no idea. I also don't believe that declaring that you are looking for 100% feedback is likely to boost the usual percentage by more than 1%. Again, no facts or experience behind this, just kind of what I thought when I read that.

When they say 100% gameplay feedback they likely mean that the feedback should be about gameplay, not technical stuff, which instead seems to the purpose of the Stress test weekends.
Not that people should provide more feedback, which is surely a hopeless endeavor.

Blizzards betas are pretty much always about gameplay so there was probably no need to clarify, but 'tech alphas' and betas have gotten more common I guess - Heroes of the storm had a tech alpha.

I hope I get in, if only because I'm half-addicted to "new shinies" but also because I'm pretty curious about this game at this point.

TF2 has moved beyond me at this point, so a new contender in this game space would be a welcome refresher.

anyone get lucky today?

Looks like i missed out on this one...

Nah, I wasn't expecting to get in, but I was hoping. I guess I'll have to wait for one of those stress test weekends.

Ditto, no luck here.

No luck either. But I was really really hoping.

No joy here either

Based on the reddit thread it seems most (all?) the keys went to youtubers and Twitch streamers.

Koz wrote:

Based on the reddit thread it seems most (all?) the keys went to youtubers and Twitch streamers.

So they're just using it as advertising and not actual feedback, got it.

ukickmydog wrote:
Koz wrote:

Based on the reddit thread it seems most (all?) the keys went to youtubers and Twitch streamers.

So they're just using it as advertising and not actual feedback, got it.

To be fair streamers and youtubers play a lot more than the usual consumer as it is their job. I would love to be in the beta but I also can't play it for 8-12 hours a day every day like a streamer. They will also be able to watch the streams and get direct feedback not just stats etc. that is collected from normal games. It is also advertizing and also a huge boost to those streamers that got keys so I understand why they did it. I'm frustrated I didn't get in but don't blame them.

ukickmydog wrote:
Koz wrote:

Based on the reddit thread it seems most (all?) the keys went to youtubers and Twitch streamers.

So they're just using it as advertising and not actual feedback, got it.

That's exactly what I thought. Free marketing and advertising. On the one hand, I can understand it. On the other hand, I wish they were more transparent about what this "beta" actually was.

I seriously haven't had this much fun since TF2 !!! The game play is awesome, the team play really seems to work well, despite all the different characters you can choose from.

Spoiler:

ok, nope, me neither : (

So, overwatch is pretty damn good fun! Deffo needs some tweaks (UI is a little difficult to read, i'm sure there is balance, maps are like tf2, but the signposting isn't near as strong) , but me and my buddy played around 5 games last night and once i got the hang on things it was great. I even got a play of the game for smacking someone into a wall.

TempestBlayze wrote:
RolandofGilead wrote:

Lucio's gonna be fun on maps with pits.
Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywTNgR3ldFc

Damn he looks like a really fun support class. I am in!

I used him last night to break sieges. We were trying to get in a door that had the shield guy or the robot (i'm not 100% which one it was) and his knockback was nice to get them out of position. also great when the ape jumps on you.

maverickz wrote:
ukickmydog wrote:
Koz wrote:

Based on the reddit thread it seems most (all?) the keys went to youtubers and Twitch streamers.

So they're just using it as advertising and not actual feedback, got it.

That's exactly what I thought. Free marketing and advertising. On the one hand, I can understand it. On the other hand, I wish they were more transparent about what this "beta" actually was.

Yup.

I'm having a hard time figuring out why I'm so annoyed/cynical about the Youtube/Twitch streamer crap. It's no different than the way the gaming press has always been catered to. Maybe because with the streamers it feels like they've stripped away the thin veneer of professionalism that the gaming press has tried to prop up, and instead we can now see this as the raw bribery it's always been?

Just a FYI: My buddy (who got me the invite) has said that here is no keys at the moment, only invites. Apparently a lot of fake keys are floating around, even though there is zero keys given out so far. Don't be tempted:P

It is Friends and Family beta at the moment, which i guess means streamers if they are bliz's friends...

Actually I randomly got into the beta so I think there are some regular people to fill out the population. There's also enough players that queue times are pretty fast, I don't think they can all be industry insiders.

Overall the game reminds me a lot of TF2 with some DotA/LoL design elements thrown in, e.g. ultimate abilities (beyond just the Medic's Ubercharge) and distinct roles that are filled by multiple characters. It's pretty fun and I like the variety but I'm still not sure how it really stacks up to TF2 yet, TF2 was a game I really liked and played for a long time but I haven't kept up with it recently.

Some things I've noticed so far:

1. No one knows how to play. This is of course an issue with the game being really new but it seems like a lot of players don't understand how to play the TF2 style point capture and payload. Class balance can be spotty, although the game does a good job of suggesting what's missing at round start, and people don't really know how to play their role or wait for teammates before charging in, and this hurts more because of the small 6v6 team size.

2. Hero balance seems a little off. It's mostly good but some characters feel useless for their roles, particularly for tanks and supports. This is inevitably the case for games with large character rosters, but sometimes the gulf is pretty big. For example, I think Zarya is by far the worst tank since the damage on her weapon's primary fire is terrible. Bastion seems overpowered compared to other defensive heroes because of his very high damage and relative ease of play.

3. Objectives are simple, almost every map has just two control points. There might be some with three but they're all just in a linear sequence. Some of my favorite TF2 maps had more interesting structure with multiple control points.

4. Maps are at times more sprawling than TF2 maps but can also have more chokepoints. Some of the maps seem better suited to the high mobility heroes, but those are the ones where it's just frustrating to play as a hero without mobility in their kit. I've been in several games where the attackers just break against the single defended chokepoint they can't get through without using a more mobile character to flank or using a tank's shields to inch through.

5. Builder heroes have to play more aggressively. This is a distinct playstyle decision that's different from TF2's Engineer. Here builders have to get into the action much more to be effective. There are no ammo pickups so Torbjorn has to get scrap from dead players to upgrade his turret, which requires him to play further up. Symmetra's ultimate is a teleporter but she needs to charge it by dealing damage.

As Latrine suggests... plenty of non streamers and completely non public people got in the beta.

I know two people who don't even have twitch or YouTube accounts that are in. Another friend out in California got in.

A friend of mine who has never played any Blizzard game outside of Diablo 3 got in. He has no plans to even install the game.

Them's the breaks.

Spoilers. Isn't this cool?

Not free. $40

Got a beta invite some days ago as well. Not particularly interested (since its a shooter).

Maybe it will be fun in premades with people working together. The games I played mostly felt like random people doing random stuff.
Maybe I just need to try some classes that are less shooter'ish too.