Overwatch Thread

I think Zenyatta needs a little more vitality, too. He's already a pretty good damage dealer.

@static_shock: She's good at being annoying, but not much else. Just about any hero can 1-2 shot her, and she doesn't have any good damage output methods. Hell, she's actually 100% useless if the other team has a semi-competent Zarya.

The only hero I've actually seen her do well against is Lucio, but if he has his right click she can't do much to him.

I tend to think Mei is supposed to be annoying situational character, good for defense. Not the kind of character I personally enjoy playing as, but with the right team composition, a Reinhardt, Symmetra, Bastion. She can slow down characters entering a choke point, and also block them into compromising situations, for say Widow, and split up an opposing team, so you have numbers advantage. I actually used her long range icicle more than freeze ray too.

I mean there are ways to counter her, but it depends what the objective is, and other variables. When I have used her, my team dominated, but that might have been because I was on a good team and knew the map we were on really well and… I am also brand new at the game, so probably in groups of new people.

You can shoot through the shield.... Why does the 76 insist on sprinting balls to the wall only to get riddled by the Torbjorn?

Understood.

Most heroes can't "1-2" shot her. Her HP is higher than most of the cast outside of tanks and bastion. She can also go invulnerable and heal herself. So it's not easy killing her.

I think her icicle should be nerfed. It's like mcree's pistol but with no damage drop off.

Every one dislikes Mei but I find Genji to be the most annoying character. With my top three characters played being McCree, Lucio & Roadhog I've noticed Genjis attempt to solo the whole team.

I personally don't believe that Mei is useless, quite the contrary actually. While she could be considered more situational a competent player with a strong team composition can disrupt the opposition quite heavily if they play a good Mei, she can counter the more mobile heroes that other heroes struggle with while isolating or halting the oppositions advance, and her Icicle is very powerful.

Recently I've been playing a lot of Hanzo, despite not being in my top 3 (Junkrat, Soldier and Renihardt - Lucio if I'm forced to play support but my team has two support mains) I'm quite good and I still don't understand why he's not a big player in the competitive scene. I know people say that Widowmaker does what he does better but I don't consider Hanzo a sniper (not in the same sense that Widow is anyway), he's a mid-close range skirmisher. The large hitbox and high damage make him a lot more versatile than Widowmaker, as of late I can't recall losing a 1 v 1 with a Reaper at close range and even Tracer's can be countered comfortably (dependant on skill of course) with a flick shot (that has a remarkably high success rate). Maybe it changes at higher skill levels but then again I'm not that low (Rank 58 competitive high).

@giliad_: Hanzo is inconsistent with his damage. Yeah a more skilled Hanzo will one shot 200 hp characters but that less consistent than chip damage Widowmaker can contently put out for her team to get the kill.

Not as fun as I thought it would be. Give me crazed mercenaries over the hero and villain schtick. The videos were pretty cheesy. I main Winston and Symmetra.

I've tried that before. It didn't end well. LOL.

@static_shock: Playing Roadhog there has been many times I've walked out of spawn and hooked & one shotted a Genji.

@mr_ingenuity: That has happened to me often. I've been able to avoid the hook by deflecting it, and sometimes, if I get hooked, I use Swift Strike just after being reeled in to avoid getting shot at point blank range.

I play Roadhog sometimes, and his hook/shoot combo is inconsistent I find.

There are times I'm able to one shot kill 200 hp heroes. Other times they survive and I have to shoot them again just to finish it, or they just escape from me.

Is the game still suffering DDoS attacks?

Woo, competitive values are finally released. I'm guaranteed to get 300 points = 3=

Damn. So, you're ranked 65+? Nice.

@static_shock: Only 65 at highest, the bare minimum for it lol. Solo play is one hell of a ride with rank progression

So, how's everyone doing with the event? So far, I have Lucio's selecao skin and Tracer's sprinter skin

OVERWATCH PTR NOW AVAILABLE - AUGUST 17, 2016 Patch Notes

RIP Genji

General

• Ultimates that consume the ultimate meter when activated will now drain the meter more quickly (.25 second instead of 1 second)
• Reverted a recent change to reduce size of heroes' projectiles

Developer Comments: Altering the size of projectiles in flight had too many unintended side effects to keep in the game, at least in its current form. We will continue watching this and make additional changes if necessary.

D.Va

• Defense Matrix
  • After being activated, Defense Matrix will begin regenerating following a 1-second delay (formerly .5 seconds)

Developer Comments: Defense Matrix was too efficient when tapped repeatedly, instead of being held. Now, the recovery delay matches the ability cooldown.

Hanzo

• Hanzo will now experience a 30% decrease in speed while aiming (formerly 40%)
• Maximum projectile speed has been increased by 30%

Developer Comments: Hanzo has the potential to deal a lot of damage, but he can feel really inconsistent, even at a medium distance. By increasing the projectile speed, we’re extending his reliable range, making it easier to land shots without having to perfectly predict enemy movement.

Mei

• Blizzard
  • The Blizzard projectile now pierces barriers
  • Radius has been increased from 8 meters to 10 meters

Developer Comments: Mei has an interesting toolkit, but her ultimate often felt like it was too difficult to use effectively. Consequently, it felt weak compared to many other ultimate abilities. The freeze effect has been piercing barriers for some time now, but the projectile would still be blocked. Now, you can throw it down exactly where you want it, so it’s much easier to utilize the full radius effectively.

McCree

• Deadeye
  • Now drains over a .25-second period (instead of displaying a 50% reduction on the ultimate meter when activated and 0% when confirmed)

Developer Comments: If players managed to counter or avoid McCree's ultimate, it would often regenerate very quickly since only half of the ultimate charge was spent. Now, this ultimate works like every other ultimate that has a duration.

Mercy

• Caduceus Staff
  • Healing Beam
  • Healing-per-second has been increased by 20%
• Resurrect
  • Resurrected allies will be able to maneuver after 2.25 seconds (reduced from 3 seconds)

Developer Comments: Resurrection now allows teammates to jump back into the fight more quickly, which should help Mercy survive after activating her ultimate. Mercy's healing is also getting a boost to solidify her role as a strong, single-target healer.

Genji

• Double jump no longer resets when wall climbing
• Dash
  • No longer deals damage to traps like Widowmaker's Venom Mine or Junkrat's Steel Trap
  • No longer bypasses Junkrat's Steel Trap
• Swift Strike
  • No longer interrupts quick melee attacks
• Dragonblade
  • Duration of Genji's ultimate has been reduced from 8 seconds to 6 seconds

Developer Comments: Genji was a little too difficult to pin down, and these changes will balance his speed. Swift Strike no longer cancels the recovery time from a quick melee attack, so players will no longer be able to get a free melee attack before using Swift Strike. Lastly, Dragonblade's duration was long enough that it often felt too difficult to reasonably counter.

Lúcio

• Amp It Up
  • The boosting of movement speed has been decreased by 30% (from a 100% increase to a 70% increase)

Developer Comments: Thanks to Lúcio's speed increase, he was almost a must pick in every lineup.

Roadhog

• Chain Hook
  • If the hooked target isn't in Roadhog's line of sight when retracting the hook, they will be moved back to the position where they were originally hooked

Developer Comments: This change means that hooked targets will be less likely to slide along walls, potentially ending up in an odd place after they've been reeled in.

Zenyatta

• Orb of Discord
  • The amount of damage amplified by a target with Orb of Discord has been decreased from 50% to 30%
• Orb of Destruction
  • Damage has been increased from 40 to 46

Developer Comments: Zenyatta is in a far better place since the last update, but the strength of Orb of Discord has turned him into an almost mandatory pick. These changes reduce Orb of Discord's effectiveness, but his damage-dealing potential has been increased. The amount of damage that he delivers should feel largely unaffected by the change.

MAP BALANCE CHANGES

Watchpoint: Gibraltar

• Watchpoint: Gibraltar’s first checkpoint has been removed

Developer Comments: The balance changes that were implemented in previous patches have eliminated the need for Watchpoint: Gibraltar to have an extra checkpoint.

That Genji nerf was too severe.

@isenwyn@just_banter No need for a PM, just post it here lel

So, console/Rankings? lel

@queen_marceline: I've told you mate, consoles are for scrubs. If you get it on PC, we could do some damage together though...

@just_banter: Lol. What's your rank doe?

Damn, and Isen plays on Xbox while I play PS4 lel

@queen_marceline: Look at the first post of this thread. They sent it back since then, but it had 5 screen tears and the GPU was more broken then it was when I first sent it. Sent it back, still yet to return. Probably why you shouldn't buy a PC from another state I guess lol

@just_banter: Damn, you're below scrub O:

I don't think I'll ever play OW on consoles.

@queen_marceline: Harsh, but probably true tbh. I've kept up with the meta, but I'm gonna be rusty when I come back. I was pretty good when I was playing though, and Lucio isn't difficult, so I'll probably just main him until I get back into the swing of things.

You watch, I'll be 82 rated before you know it!

@just_banter: Lel, k. Wow, that means you missed out on the Rio event right?

With the skins and Lucioball? Yeah, unfortunately. I only had the Zylbrad videos to see me through that. Sad times :'(

@just_banter: RIP. I got every skin except for Genji and McCree lel

LOL mei got a buff, I am going to rekt even more *insert evil laugh here.

Making Hanzo easier to land shots, bahahahehehahah ahahahehe yeaaahaheh

The only thing I care about in this patch is Genji's nerf, it's about damn time. Genji is utter cancer on console imo, especially on quick play when they can have 2-3 of them...f*cking stupid

He didn't really need it. People were just complaining about the character's high-level play.

@static_shock: Agreed

To be fair, I don't think those nerfs don't really hinder him that much. Besides what they did to him, he's still a monster with damage and deflection. The reduction of the Dragonblade's duration and taking away the double jump reset when wall-climbing are really the only things that make a difference. But, not that much of a difference.

Lol...this scrub just started raging at me for not following him into a 6v1 while I'm playing Mercy...like, what lol

So what does everyone think about Anna then? Worthwhile or would you stick with a different healer? I can only play Lucio and Zenyata anyway so I don't have much of an opinion.

Studies have shown that Bastion players are more skilled than any other kind of players

@nerise: Torbjorns also, yehaheheh hehe

@giliad_: Ana, to me, is difficult to play with. That's all I can tell you.

Ana is more of a supplementary healer. She'd good when combo'd with another healer like Lucio or Zenyatta. Though, you need to have some good aim to heal the more agile targets mid-battle.

If you want pure healing you'd be better off with a Lucio or Mercy.

I main McCree. I think the game is incredibly fun and quite addictive but I don't think it is fit for competitive play at all. As much as that must break Blizzard's heart.

It's pretty much what I figured. There are way too many characters for the game to be properly balanced. Unlike TF2 character matchups are absolutely vital to determining the winners of skirmishes which can be pretty frustrating. Overall it's just too difficult for them to properly balance all the characters with each other.

On the subject of Ana I think she is an interesting idea for a character but I have no use for her. I play on PS4, and on consoles straight-up sniping is pretty much worthless making both her and Widowmaker nearly useless.

I'm not sure I quite agree, I think that the 'large' hero choice opens it up to a dofferent competitive play. Adaptability and change is the core of the game, if two team are roughly equal but one is changing heroes and picking the counters then that team is going to win indefinitely. Everything can be dealt with if you're coordinated and competent.