Another reason why blizz’s matchmaking sucks: I’m playing dps and even though we’re winning, both tanks and a dps go afk. I look them up and they’re smurfing on off roles, although it looks like they’re trying to throw their way down. We report and avoid.
The next fucking game they’re on the other team. They immediately start harassing me (I mute them) but play to win and crush my team (they’re about 1k higher than my team in actuality).
Then they proceed to spam me with friend requests.
So thanks to the way blizz promotes toxicity, I not only lost double the SR, but I got to be harassed twice! Thanks blizz!
0
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
they really should change the capture/contest conditions for all the modes to be on the ground in the box. I'm tired of Richard Hammond swinging forever on Lijiang tower garden, or Lucio doing ez wallride, feet on the point or it doesn't count.
they really should change the capture/contest conditions for all the modes to be on the ground in the box. I'm tired of Richard Hammond swinging forever on Lijiang tower garden, or Lucio doing ez wallride, feet on the point or it doesn't count.
they really should change the capture/contest conditions for all the modes to be on the ground in the box. I'm tired of Richard Hammond swinging forever on Lijiang tower garden, or Lucio doing ez wallride, feet on the point or it doesn't count.
Nah, it's important that every character be able to use their full range of abilities while contributing to control of the point. It shouldn't (and doesn't) extend infinitely upward, but there should be room for aerial characters to be useful, plus it encourages more interesting counterplay.
+3
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
We want to let you know that Jeff Kaplan has decided to leave the company after a long and storied career here, and that Aaron Keller, a Blizzard veteran and founding member of the Overwatch team, will be stepping in as game director.
Aaron has been a critical part of the Overwatch team and a key driver in creating the vision for the game. He helped create Overwatch as an original member of the team, and as an 18-year veteran at Blizzard, he has worked side-by-side with Jeff for a long time, not only in building Overwatch but previously in helping to build WoW as well. A few words from Aaron:
Greetings, Overwatch Community,
Jeff’s been a great leader, mentor, and friend, and he knows how much we’re going to miss him. I’ve been lucky to work alongside him and the rest of the Overwatch team for many years in building something that continues to inspire people all around the world, and I’m honored to carry the torch forward.
I love Overwatch. From our first pieces of concept art, to the first maps we built, to the first time I was able to run around as Tracer (who at that early point shot laser beams out of her eyes), this game has just clicked with me. I love its inspiring, hopeful, beautiful world worth fighting for. I love its characters—larger than life, colorful, powerful, and global. And most of all, I love the fast, fluid gameplay requiring teamwork, situational awareness, and quick decision making.
I also recognize that making games at Blizzard has always been a group effort and never about just one point of view. Together with the rest of the team I feel fortunate that we have a deep bench of development and creative leaders, numerous veteran Blizzard artists and designers, and some extremely talented new blood as well—along with tons of support throughout the company for the live game and for Overwatch 2.
Speaking of Overwatch 2, development is continuing at a good pace. We have an exceptional vision we’re executing on, the reaction from many of you to the updates we shared at BlizzConline thrilled us, and we have exciting reveals planned for this year and beyond as we ramp to launch. We’ll be sharing more frequent updates about Overwatch 2 progress and new features in the live game with you all very soon.
While I have no pretenses about filling Jeff’s shoes, I’m excited to step into the game director role and continue to be part of a team that’s putting all of its heart, talent, and focus into the next iteration of Overwatch, and I’m honored to continue serving this incredible community.
-Aaron
We’re also tremendously grateful for Jeff’s contributions over the years. Please see a personal note from Jeff below:
i am leaving Blizzard Entertainment after 19 amazing years.
it was truly the honor of a lifetime to have the opportunity to create worlds and heroes for such a passionate audience. i want to express my deep appreciation to everyone at blizzard who supported our games, our game teams and our players. but i want to say a special thanks to the wonderful game developers that shared in the journey of creation with me.
never accept the world as it appears to be. always dare to see it for what it could be. i hope you do the same.
gg,
jeffrey kaplan
You’ll hear more from Aaron and the rest of the Overwatch team soon. In the meantime, please join us in thanking Jeff, and in welcoming Aaron into his new role.
I have no real opinion of this at the time. If patches and updates get longer then I'll go down that CyberPunk 2077 road with the game joker laughing all the way.
So Jeff Kaplan leaves Blizzard-Activision before OW2 releases...
I'm guessing we're going to be seeing all new monetization options being introduced to OW2. Definitely a battle-pass, but let's see what else Activision can squeeze in now.
Holy shit OW2 is going to be a disaster, that personal note couldn't make it any clearer he was forced out.
I didn't get that, it seems pretty boilerplate to me. Maybe the dude just wanted to retire, I know I would in his shoes.
I think the community always exaggerates the degree of control that individual leaders have over the creative decisions of a game. In a good studio everything is a team effort. Jeff leaving now doesn't invalidate any of the work he put into OW2 in the years up to now, and I have no reason to be doubtful of the qualifications of Aaron.
Retire at year 19 in the middle of development? And yes obviously Jeff isn't the only creative force in Overwatch: the problem is I think he left because he was clashing with the suits about how much live service garbage to put in OW2.
Retire at year 19 in the middle of development? And yes obviously Jeff isn't the only creative force in Overwatch: the problem is I think he left because he was clashing with the suits about how much live service garbage to put in OW2.
19 years at one company is a hell of a long time, when I see someone quit after that long I don't assume there was drama. I'm positive he no longer needed the money.
Overwatch came out right before Fortnite and battle passes swept the world, and the execs at Blizzard were angry that Overwatch wasn't Fortnite in terms of success.
Combine Jeff leaving with all the other top-level departures, the overall quality of shipped products, customer service for their games being gutted, big delays on any new content, etc.
Blizzard already said they were gonna monetize and battle-pass every single game. Likely, most of the stuff for actual design of OW2 seemed done, and they're now retooling it into something that can be monetized more like an Apex or a Fortnite.
I haven't played a battle pass game aside from Apex, so I don't know how non-Battle Royale games do their battlepasses.
Overwatch came out right before Fortnite and battle passes swept the world, and the execs at Blizzard were angry that Overwatch wasn't Fortnite in terms of success.
Combine Jeff leaving with all the other top-level departures, the overall quality of shipped products, customer service for their games being gutted, big delays on any new content, etc.
Blizzard already said they were gonna monetize and battle-pass every single game. Likely, most of the stuff for actual design of OW2 seemed done, and they're now retooling it into something that can be monetized more like an Apex or a Fortnite.
I haven't played a battle pass game aside from Apex, so I don't know how non-Battle Royale games do their battlepasses.
It's gonna suck, probably?
I play apex but I haven't ever bought a battle pass
Holy shit OW2 is going to be a disaster, that personal note couldn't make it any clearer he was forced out.
I didn't get that, it seems pretty boilerplate to me. Maybe the dude just wanted to retire, I know I would in his shoes.
I think the community always exaggerates the degree of control that individual leaders have over the creative decisions of a game. In a good studio everything is a team effort. Jeff leaving now doesn't invalidate any of the work he put into OW2 in the years up to now, and I have no reason to be doubtful of the qualifications of Aaron.
you don't leave after almost 20 years with that short of a message if all was well
I think it's clear that all is not entirely well with Overwatch 2, but what they announced already sounded pretty good to me, and I don't see how they could screw up the monetization. It's already loot box driven, and they already have a pseudo battle pass with every event. Even if they decide to emulate Fortnite or whatever, battle passes are arguably more equitable than loot boxes are. What exactly are you guys afraid of them doing?
“Activision Blizzard has said it is planning to apply the Call of Duty® framework across its other franchises, including premium content, free-to-play access to all consumers, expansion to mobile and continuous regular delivery of in-game content.”
I'm actually inclined to say that they would be better off transitioning Overwatch to a F2P game and selling the PvE content + cosmetics, rather than the weird hybrid model of dumping everything into a sequel release while the community waits for years. If that's what the suits are forcing them to do then I'm not too upset about it - but that's all total speculation. As far as the gameplay design is concerned, I'm pretty satisfied with Overwatch's direction, and I don't expect that transitioning it to Aaron will dramatically change their design philosophy.
0
AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
Everything I've read and seen about OW2 tells me it is an expansion pack under the guise of a sequel because historically sequels sell more than expansions ever do.
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
0
surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
edited April 2021
i mean its much more than any conventional expansion pack
eg diablo 2 lod adds 2 classes and a 5th act
ow2 adds an entire pve campaign mode, revamps every model in the game, adds substantial quantities of new pvp content and has an engine overhaul
i mean its much more than any conventional expansion pack
eg diablo 2 lod adds 2 classes and a 5th act
ow2 adds an entire pve campaign mode, revamps every model in the game, adds substantial quantities of new pvp content and has an engine overhaul
thatse not a conventional "expansion pack"
If you subtract the stuff that's being added for free to OW1 as well (maps and heroes at least), OW2 starts to feel a lot less like a proper sequel. It feels like there was one faction in ActiBlizz that wanted to keep running Overwatch as a live service game with a PvE expansion, and another faction that wanted the short term boost in sales that would come from releasing a real sequel, so they had to come up with a bizarre compromise solution that pulls from both ends at once.
I think we can agree that it either bodes super well because Jeff is super confident all he can do for OW2 has been done.
Or we should be very sad, and treasure OW even in its flawed state, because whatever comes next is so bad it forced out our beloved Jeff.
And not even like in a creepy, meme-y way. It's just in a world of immense corporations that only grow larger, it was cool to have an honest, humble, and genuine voice for a game I love which was actively being tinkered on over the five years I've played.
Jeff feels like he's from a different time and era and he is, and it's actually a super bummer that Blizzard is sinking into the sea.
I mean I'm sad Jeff is leaving too, but Blizzard isn't going anywhere. OW2 will likely be good even if the monetization ends up being annoying, Diablo 4 and the Diablo 2 remake both look awesome, Blizzard is gonna be fine.
I think we can agree that it either bodes super well because Jeff is super confident all he can do for OW2 has been done.
Or we should be very sad, and treasure OW even in its flawed state, because whatever comes next is so bad it forced out our beloved Jeff.
And not even like in a creepy, meme-y way. It's just in a world of immense corporations that only grow larger, it was cool to have an honest, humble, and genuine voice for a game I love which was actively being tinkered on over the five years I've played.
Jeff feels like he's from a different time and era and he is, and it's actually a super bummer that Blizzard is sinking into the sea.
I'm 99% sure it's a bad sign. Leaving in year 19, when OW2 is in a hot development phase.. And when it is known that he basically HAD to call the OW expansiom "Overwatch 2" because activision wanted it to follow the yearly CoD model more closely..
I'm pretty convinced OW will be following the CoD model after, and maybe even already with OW2.
i'm waiting for the, we told you it was going to be an expansion but just kidding it's a brand new game, pay us 60 bucks + pass fees and none of your stuff from OW1 comes over. Do i think activision is crazy enough to do it? yes i do. WIll i like it? no, i will not like it.
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
Blizzard games have never fully ridden on the 'auteur theory' that other franchises may have - for sure, there are certain individuals that the community have always associated with the overall direction of lore and tone but for a lot of these games (and especially in the case of Overwatch), there's always been a sense that their type of games being heavily multiplayer-focused could never be fully managed by a single person
The loss of Jeff doesn't necessarily translate to some kind of tectonic shift in overall game balance or content strategy, unless we have actual concrete detail on what his role was primarily when liaising with executive decisions at an Activision level - given how fluid the definition of some gamedev titles actually are depending on scale
everytime i see his name i get flashbacks of Tigole Bitties rants in EQ
i'm not sure Jeff is a loss at all in terms of what the game is, i mean, here's a 4 year old quote from him:
“I think on the big spectrum of loot boxes, between ‘really good’ and ‘really evil,’ I’d like to think we’re more on that ‘really good’ side with what we’re trying to do,” says Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan.
i don't know him personally but that's the kind of message that tells me he understood who gave him a paycheck.
When Overwatch came out it was widely considered to be a pretty good example of how to do loot boxes - cosmetics only, everything accessible for free in-game.
+8
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
edited April 2021
I'm not sure if CoD changed but they weren't against often putting (usually OP) weapons in randomized boxes with no way to just buy them.
Either way I've soured on loot boxes in general even "good" one but I understand the psychology behind them probably means they ain't going nowhere.
When Overwatch came out it was widely considered to be a pretty good example of how to do loot boxes - cosmetics only, everything accessible for free in-game.
the loot boxes themselves were only part of the philosophy though and really no different than a random reward popping up for "leveling" that other games do. The real problem is that there are definitely skins that are only available via money (the mercy pink skin which is great because it was for a great cause), but also the blizzcon rewards and the league stuff (that you can't get close to all of them even if you watch every game).
i know it's not going away but the implementation of it is just disturbing on a level. If a game is good, it deserves money. if i put time into it, it deserves money. If i give money, it shouldn't be "random" what i get. It's no better than a gacha game at that point. If i give money for loot i should know what i'm going to get for my money. It is gambling and i abhor it. We wouldn't pay money for a vehicle or food or anything else and be happy with a random result.
That i don't "have" to pay money to participate in the game makes it slightly less terrible but still not "good".
The only change from the experiment seems to be Sombra doesn't go in and out of stealth faster, and instead they increased her movement up 5% more than the experiment to a total movement speed boost of 65%
That Moira buff is going to fuck with more things than they think without a proper counter, with it she builds ults during the first fight now.
0
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
Overwatch was actually the game that soured me on loot boxes. l m a o
0
surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
i mean on the scale of lootbox implementation overwatch lootboxes are pretty good
precisely because they dont affect gameplay
the problem with them is nobody cares about them so they make no money lul
Posts
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
The next fucking game they’re on the other team. They immediately start harassing me (I mute them) but play to win and crush my team (they’re about 1k higher than my team in actuality).
Then they proceed to spam me with friend requests.
So thanks to the way blizz promotes toxicity, I not only lost double the SR, but I got to be harassed twice! Thanks blizz!
Would bunny hops count?
Nah, it's important that every character be able to use their full range of abilities while contributing to control of the point. It shouldn't (and doesn't) extend infinitely upward, but there should be room for aerial characters to be useful, plus it encourages more interesting counterplay.
I have no real opinion of this at the time. If patches and updates get longer then I'll go down that CyberPunk 2077 road with the game joker laughing all the way.
Dinoflask hardest hit.
I'm guessing we're going to be seeing all new monetization options being introduced to OW2. Definitely a battle-pass, but let's see what else Activision can squeeze in now.
I didn't get that, it seems pretty boilerplate to me. Maybe the dude just wanted to retire, I know I would in his shoes.
I think the community always exaggerates the degree of control that individual leaders have over the creative decisions of a game. In a good studio everything is a team effort. Jeff leaving now doesn't invalidate any of the work he put into OW2 in the years up to now, and I have no reason to be doubtful of the qualifications of Aaron.
19 years at one company is a hell of a long time, when I see someone quit after that long I don't assume there was drama. I'm positive he no longer needed the money.
Combine Jeff leaving with all the other top-level departures, the overall quality of shipped products, customer service for their games being gutted, big delays on any new content, etc.
Blizzard already said they were gonna monetize and battle-pass every single game. Likely, most of the stuff for actual design of OW2 seemed done, and they're now retooling it into something that can be monetized more like an Apex or a Fortnite.
I haven't played a battle pass game aside from Apex, so I don't know how non-Battle Royale games do their battlepasses.
It's gonna suck, probably?
yeah absolutely. probably was a "monetize the game more, or else" situation
I play apex but I haven't ever bought a battle pass
you don't leave after almost 20 years with that short of a message if all was well
eg diablo 2 lod adds 2 classes and a 5th act
ow2 adds an entire pve campaign mode, revamps every model in the game, adds substantial quantities of new pvp content and has an engine overhaul
thatse not a conventional "expansion pack"
which tbh seems like a perfectly understandable approach
If you subtract the stuff that's being added for free to OW1 as well (maps and heroes at least), OW2 starts to feel a lot less like a proper sequel. It feels like there was one faction in ActiBlizz that wanted to keep running Overwatch as a live service game with a PvE expansion, and another faction that wanted the short term boost in sales that would come from releasing a real sequel, so they had to come up with a bizarre compromise solution that pulls from both ends at once.
Or we should be very sad, and treasure OW even in its flawed state, because whatever comes next is so bad it forced out our beloved Jeff.
And not even like in a creepy, meme-y way. It's just in a world of immense corporations that only grow larger, it was cool to have an honest, humble, and genuine voice for a game I love which was actively being tinkered on over the five years I've played.
Jeff feels like he's from a different time and era and he is, and it's actually a super bummer that Blizzard is sinking into the sea.
I'm 99% sure it's a bad sign. Leaving in year 19, when OW2 is in a hot development phase.. And when it is known that he basically HAD to call the OW expansiom "Overwatch 2" because activision wanted it to follow the yearly CoD model more closely..
I'm pretty convinced OW will be following the CoD model after, and maybe even already with OW2.
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
The loss of Jeff doesn't necessarily translate to some kind of tectonic shift in overall game balance or content strategy, unless we have actual concrete detail on what his role was primarily when liaising with executive decisions at an Activision level - given how fluid the definition of some gamedev titles actually are depending on scale
i'm not sure Jeff is a loss at all in terms of what the game is, i mean, here's a 4 year old quote from him:
“I think on the big spectrum of loot boxes, between ‘really good’ and ‘really evil,’ I’d like to think we’re more on that ‘really good’ side with what we’re trying to do,” says Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan.
i don't know him personally but that's the kind of message that tells me he understood who gave him a paycheck.
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
Either way I've soured on loot boxes in general even "good" one but I understand the psychology behind them probably means they ain't going nowhere.
the loot boxes themselves were only part of the philosophy though and really no different than a random reward popping up for "leveling" that other games do. The real problem is that there are definitely skins that are only available via money (the mercy pink skin which is great because it was for a great cause), but also the blizzcon rewards and the league stuff (that you can't get close to all of them even if you watch every game).
i know it's not going away but the implementation of it is just disturbing on a level. If a game is good, it deserves money. if i put time into it, it deserves money. If i give money, it shouldn't be "random" what i get. It's no better than a gacha game at that point. If i give money for loot i should know what i'm going to get for my money. It is gambling and i abhor it. We wouldn't pay money for a vehicle or food or anything else and be happy with a random result.
That i don't "have" to pay money to participate in the game makes it slightly less terrible but still not "good".
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
The only change from the experiment seems to be Sombra doesn't go in and out of stealth faster, and instead they increased her movement up 5% more than the experiment to a total movement speed boost of 65%
That Moira buff is going to fuck with more things than they think without a proper counter, with it she builds ults during the first fight now.
precisely because they dont affect gameplay
the problem with them is nobody cares about them so they make no money lul
i think one of the problems is it being an FPS
even getting the coolest skin there is, most you see of it is the weapon skin.