Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwatch]

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Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwatch]

Postby Z%rø » Fri Nov 07, 2014 9:21 pm




http://us.battle.net/overwatch/en/
So this is what all that re purposed Titan assets went into after they realized they no longer wanted to cannibalize their large market share.

I'm already signed up for the beta and I'm excited to see what Super Monday Night Combat can actually be with a development team that actually polishes and supports things
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Re: Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwat

Postby beatbandito » Fri Nov 07, 2014 9:33 pm

I don't think there's ever been a game that released with that many characters I was interested in playing.
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Re: Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwat

Postby Mongrel » Fri Nov 07, 2014 10:34 pm

It took a decade, but I guess the TF2 killer is finally here.

At this point TF2 is so stale that even I'm totally on board for this. Looks fantastic - here's hoping the gameplay measures up.
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Re: Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwat

Postby Blossom » Fri Nov 07, 2014 11:52 pm

psy: "What even is it?" "team fortress 2 with borderlands action skills and more vertical movement" "that sounds like the worst game imaginable"
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Re: Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwat

Postby Büge » Sat Nov 08, 2014 12:02 am

Could this be the WoW-killer people have been hoping for?
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Re: Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwat

Postby Mongrel » Sat Nov 08, 2014 1:23 am

A small point: A couple people I know are suspecting it won't be item based or feature class-customisation the way TF2 does. Instead it'll be like a MOBA and feature fixed abilities tied to characters, with a large number of characters. But then again, I don't really think TF2 would be hugely different if "Vanilla Demoman" and "Demoknight" were separate, fixed classes with different identities.

TA wrote:psy: "What even is it?" "team fortress 2 with borderlands action skills and more vertical movement" "that sounds like the worst game imaginable"

This is also possible!
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Re: Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwat

Postby beatbandito » Sun Nov 09, 2014 9:41 am

Remember, for long-range sharpshooting to lower your center of gravity for better stability and increased accuracy.

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her ass grows when the mask drops
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Re: Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwat

Postby Mongrel » Sun Nov 09, 2014 7:35 pm



It was inevitable.
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OVERWATCH: Blizzard does TF2

Postby Newbie » Sun May 01, 2016 12:04 pm

First, the issue of timeliness: Overwatch open beta starts May 2nd. That's tomorrow. You had to preorder the game to get in, but it looks as though that's still in effect for today—although you may not get access until May 4th.

Second, the issue of why you should care: while this iteration of the topic may only be 2 pages long, there was a time that the TF2 topic was the single longest thread on these forums. We played a lot of TF2. Many of us are still playing TF2!* And if there's one thing Blizzard does well, it's take existing game concepts polish them into extremely accessible and fun experiences that still offer a very high skill ceiling, so I would expect their take on a TF2-style game to be fun and rewarding, and my amateur experiences during the stress test last month seemed to corroborate that expectation. But don't just take my word for it; a self-proclaimed TF2 veteran wrote a brief essay on the subject, the gist of which is that Overwatch is indeed more accessible, the skill ceiling is still high, and yet despite being very similar games, they're still doing subtly different things, and the competition can only do good things for both.



* Topic creator doesn't really play games so much as get excited about them before they're released, only to move on shortly afterward
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Re: OVERWATCH: Blizzard does TF2

Postby Newbie » Sun May 01, 2016 12:07 pm

Almost forgot: I'm in the PC beta, and I have an extra beta key for somebody to use. Let me know if you want it.
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Re: OVERWATCH: Blizzard does TF2

Postby Mongrel » Sun May 01, 2016 12:34 pm

As a TF2-related side note, I haven't played in a couple months. Apparently I wasn't missing much because over that time period there's been an epidemic of cheating due to a popular hack that had tons of options, was VAC-undetectable, and was very widely used. Well, Valve got their mitts on the source code and now it's not so VAC-undetectable, which has apparently led to the biggest mass VAC-ban in TF2's history.

Seems like a good time to play a few games.

As for Overwatch, I'd be willing to bet I'll pick it up eventually, but not before it's a good deal cheaper. Even the no-frills version is currently still $40 USD/$50 CAD.

EDIT: What does a beta PC key get you? That's beta participation only and not the full game, right?

EDIT2: Weird that the system requirements are not on the Blizzard sales page. Oh well, it's nice to see my computer can play this fine since that's been pretty hit or miss on new games these days.
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Re: OVERWATCH: Blizzard does TF2

Postby beatbandito » Sun May 01, 2016 1:01 pm

So is this actually tf2 or is it super monday night combat?
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Re: OVERWATCH: Blizzard does TF2

Postby Mongrel » Sun May 01, 2016 1:02 pm

From what I can tell from reviews, it seems to be TF2 with a slightly lower skill ceiling and a bunch of user-friendly UI/interface upgrades.
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Re: OVERWATCH: Blizzard does TF2

Postby Smiler » Sun May 01, 2016 1:58 pm

I was playing it a little bit in the last beta, but I couldn't really decide if I wanted to preorder it or not. I might pick it up if a lot of other people get it, but for now I might focus on upgrading my computer out of the AMD ghetto i've been stuck in for the past 5 years. Overwatch kind of ran bad when I was trying it.

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Re: OVERWATCH: Blizzard does TF2

Postby Newbie » Sun May 01, 2016 11:03 pm

Looks like early access purchases have not been extended, after all.

beatbandito wrote:So is this actually tf2 or is it super monday night combat?


SMNC was apparently MOBA-esque? If so, this is decidedly more TF2. There's a training mode where you have drones to shoot at, but every game mode that I tried only involved direct player versus player, using TF2-inspired objective maps like control points and payload.

If you've been following this game as poorly as I had been prior to getting into the stress test weekend, Overwatch has 21 playable heroes currently, and like TF2, there's nothing stopping you from having more than one per team or switching mid-battle. They're divided into four categories of Offense, Defense, Tanks, and Supports, although in practice some heroes blur or overlap the lines somewhat. They generally have a primary attack (sometimes including an alternate fire mode or alternate weapon), a special action, some kind of movement modifier, and an ultimate à la Medic's ubercharge.

OFFENSE ROLES:
-Genji is Raiden a cyborg ninja who either throws stars in rapid succession or in a horizontal arc, uses short-range iaijutsu-style sword lunges on a short cooldown for massive damage, can periodically deflect projectile attacks, and whose ultimate pulls out his katana for samurai chopping action. His speed, mobility, and wall-climbing action feels a lot like the Scout.

-Continuing the Metal Gear parallels, McCree is Revolver Ocelot played straight: a cowboy with a revolver whose ultimate lets you set up more one-shot kills the longer you stand facing the enemies. He also has a flashbang which momentarily staggers enemies and the ability to empty his revolver in a single salvo of bullets, or to reload by doing an evasive roll.

-The main face of the game so far (both its promotional materials and its butthurt gamebro controversy) is Tracer, the spritely British test-pilot who blinks around a lot and can briefly rewind time to undo damage and revert to an earlier position. She uses two pulse pistols in semi- or full-automatic firing, and her ultimate is a timed explosive that I've gotten really good at blowing myself up with.

-Soldier: 76 is the archetypal shooter character, featuring an automatic rifle, the ability to sprint, rocket attacks, and a healing field. His ultimate ability lets you face in the general direction of your enemies and let an aimbot worry about lining up your shots for you.

-For all the edgelords in the audience, Blizzard is introducing Reaper, who combines dual shotguns, a "wraith form" in which he is fast and intangible, a short-range teleport, the ability to regenerate by collecting drops from his kills, and an ultimate that is literally just spinning around and shooting anybody nearby. I only sound this dismissive because I could never do well while trying him during the stress test.

-Pharah is Blizzard's take on the Soldier: damage rockets, knockback rockets, and an ultimate that pours rockets everywhere she looks. Instead of doing rocket jumps, though, she uses jump jets to fly or hover for a little bit, because Pharah's rockets do no damage to herself. But don't let her armorlike suit fool you: she's a total glass cannon.

DEFENSE ROLES:
-Torbjörn is TF2's Engineer by way of a dwarf from Warcraft. He has the turret, he collects scrap, he shoots a pistol or hits things with a hammer. Instead of a dispenser or teleport, though, ol' Torbles builds armor packs for his teammates to pick up. His ultimate, "Molten Core", supercharges his damage and building ability, enabling his sentry to be upgraded to Max Level + 1 for the duration.

-Demoman is here adapted into Junkrat, an anarchic Aussie with a modified moveset. He's got bouncy grenades and a (single) sticky bomb that enables bomb-jumping, but he can also drop an oversized steel trap. Once he's caused enough mayhem, he can rev up his "RIP-tire", a motorized tire bomb that you can drive around or over obstacles in order to detonate in the perfect position. If he's killed, he drops live grenades! I took out Tracer so many times this way.

-In contrast, Mei is an inversion of the Pyro: she has a frost-thrower that can freeze enemies in place, or she can launch icycles to headshot frozen foes. She's got frost mages' Ice Block for temporary invulnerability and regeneration, or she can raise a temporary ice wall, elevating players in its area of effect and blocking bullets and enemies. Her ultimate is a blizzard drone, slowing and damaging enemies in the area.

-Widowmaker is a Sniper. If you've ever played a videogame, you've probably played a sniper, and Widowmaker plays basically the same as that—except you don't need to noscope headshot, since her gun works great as an automatic. She can plant a toxic mine to cover her flanks, and she's got a hookshot for better mobility. Her ultimate makes enemies visible through walls for everybody on your team.

-If you were more of a fan of the Huntsman, then Hanzo might be a better option. His arrows gain power the longer you aim. He's also got a "scatter arrow" if there's a hero or two hiding around a corner, or his "sonic arrow" can temporarily mark foes to track them through walls. His ultimate arrow launches dragons that pretty much annihilate anything along their path, and they go right through walls. He can climb a ways up vertical surfaces.

-Finally, Bastion is a robot with a gun who can transform into a stationary turret. He's got a self-repair mode, and his ultimate turns him into a tank. That bird on his shoulder looks harmless, but rumors say that if you ever accidentally hit it, he turns red and does 400% damage for the rest of the match.

TANK ROLES:
-Tanks are kind of like the Heavy, and Zarya embodies this by being the strong Russian lugging a giant gun. She uses projected shields on herself and allies to minimize incoming damage and power up her particle cannon, which either fires short-range beams or explosive charges. To facilitate this latter function, her ultimate is a gravity bomb that damages enemies and clumps them together.

-Winston is an alternate interpretation of that concept. As the gorilla scientist, he mixes high technology with brute strength: his Tesla Cannon is a short-range electrical weapon that barely needs to be aimed. His jump pack provides the ability to get into and out of fights quickly, and the landing damage contributes to that. He can drop a barrier similar to the shields introduced in Halo 3, although allies inside the bubble can fire out with impunity. His ultimate powers him up and gives massive health, but he can only melee and jump attack.

-Reinhardt carries a gigantic hammer and an even bigger energy shield. Every ten seconds he can do a charge attack that can ram enemies into walls for big damage, and if foes are keeping their distance, he can use his hammer to sling flaming projectiles. His ultimate is a powerful knockdown for enemies in front of him. I ran into a bug during the stress test that made his interface and abilities invisible, so he's the one hero I never tried myself, but I'm looking forward to changing that.

-In the spirit of WoW's abominations, Roadhog is a big gross butcher with a big hook, which he can use to grab distant enemies and pull them into melee range. (No single ability was the direct cause of my death as much as this one was during the stress test.) His scrap gun is effective at short or medium range; his ultimate cranks this up to provide continuous damage and knockback. He can take a puff of what I assume is nitrous oxide for healing.

-The last tank, D.Va, is a Korean eSports idol with a pink mech. Her primary fire fusion cannons are a nightmare in short range; she closes gaps rapidly and barrels through enemies with her boosters, which also permit a little bit of flight. Her large size attracts a lot of damage, and her weak point is pointed right at enemies she's facing, so she'll need to make the most of her defense matrix ability which turns off her weapons but lets the mech automatically shoot down incoming projectiles. If her mech DOES take critical damage, she ejects automatically, although her ultimate overcharges the mech reactor and turns it into a big explosion. She's real fragile on foot, but she can call down a replacement mech pretty quickly.

SUPPORT ROLES:
-Symmetra is classified as a support, but this is almost entirely due to her ultimate, which creates a teleporter exit. (The entrance is located in the spawn point; no idea how this interacts with multiple Symmetras on one team.) She can also give each of her allies a regenerating shield and place mini-turrets on surfaces (up to a total of six). Her primary weapon is a short-range homing beam that does increasing damage the longer it's connected. It also has an alt fire that launches a charged orb for high damage, which is best applied to enemies slowed by her turrets or other battlefield effects.

-More traditionally, Mercy is analogous to the Medic, since she has a healing beam that locks onto an ally as long as they stay in range and world geometry doesn't break line-of-sight. There's no overheal, but if your target is maxed, you can change the beam from healing to damage amplification. (Also like the Medic, she has a pistol for engagements when allies are not present, but this really isn't the situation you selected Mercy for.) Since getting to wounded allies is so critical, Mercy's special ability lets her swoop toward a targeted ally, and holding the jump button whenever she's airborne provides a slow glide to the earth. Rather than providing the invulnerability of an Ubercharge, Mercy's ultimate straight up resurrects dead allies in her vicinity, restoring them to full health.

-The robot—excuse me, omnic monk Zenyatta has the unfortunate distinction of being the first Overwatch hero to be nerfed into the ground, because his abilities were far too powerful: he could pick one friend and one foe to receive orbs; the ally would receive continuous healing, while the enemy would take additional damage from attacks. Together with the significant damage of his chargeable primary fire orbs, Blizzard added a requirement for indirect line of sight for both abilities, meaning that, with Zenyatta's unexceptional movement and low health, he couldn't provide much benefit without getting constantly destroyed himself. They recently upped his regen rate to compensate, but he still seems like he's going to be the hero with the steepest learning curve available.

-So instead, let's end with Lúcio, who is perhaps the most potent single hero currently available: he provides a continuous aura of either health regeneration or speed amplification to all allies in his immediate vicinity; his Amp It Up ability boosts either aura's output significantly. His weapon can launch either damaging projectiles or a short-range knockback, and his ultimate shields himself and all nearby allies from incoming damage. Finally, in order to keep up with charging Reinhardts and blinking Tracers, Lúcio moves pretty quickly on his 'blades, and he can wallride right over gaps like the Prince of Persia. He's great for getting to the point first, he keeps everybody healthy while hiding behind the tank, and he is always Target # 1 on the opposing team.

ANYWAY: It's a lot of fun, and I hope to play a fair bit tomorrow, but now I have to go to bed or my C-PAP machine will tell my insurance provider not to cover my expenses. ~LATER~!
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Re: OVERWATCH: Blizzard does TF2

Postby Wheels » Mon May 02, 2016 1:43 am

I've played this with Ziiro both times they did stress tests in the closed beta. I couldn't stop playing it either time with only 3 maps available. Hero balance and design is really good, but the game expects you to be picking your hero around your team and pick your hero for the situation, so pubbing could be nasty. However, unlike TF2, there is a ranked queue to have a box to force people to be a little more srsface.
It is *solid* and well worth your 40 bucks. If you're worried about playerbase, the LB boys at least are all on board and frankly it's a Blizzard game so everyone else will eventually.

Frankly, the only really bad thing about Overwatch is how quickly it's going to kill Battleborn in the cradle. Yes, I know Battleborn is a MOBA and Overwatch is a 90s FPS, but the general public (and apparently gaming media) sure won't.

My best performing heroes were Reaper, Genji, and Mercy. Though frankly, it's hard to really pick out a favorite. The moment to moment play, tatics, and feel seem completely different depending on the hero.
Newbie wrote:That bird on his shoulder looks harmless, but rumors say that if you ever accidentally hit it, he turns red and does 400% damage for the rest of the match.

The bird exists only in cutscenes and win poses. :P

Edit: Why aren't we using the thread with the MUCH BETTER name anyway viewtopic.php?f=15&t=384
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Re: Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwatch]

Postby Wheels » Mon May 02, 2016 3:37 am

Mongrel wrote:

It was inevitable.

Bumping the original thread on princible, but in relation to the previous video, in what world is Pharah a demoman instead of the Soldier? Kind of half assed.
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Re: OVERWATCH: Blizzard does TF2

Postby Newbie » Mon May 02, 2016 9:10 am

Defenestration wrote:Edit: Why aren't we using the thread with the MUCH BETTER name anyway viewtopic.php?f=15&t=384


Because when I searched for "Overwatch", the only thing that came up was the X-Com thread? Somebody do a merge!
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Re: Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwatch]

Postby beatbandito » Mon May 02, 2016 6:33 pm

Because I'm a loser (but also because this isn't the fps dota I expected) I went ahead and grabbed a copy shortly after Newbie started the thread.

It doesn't look like I have to do anything special for it to be activated by the fourth, but just want to make sure there aren't any tricks to get carried in to the beta quicker.
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Re: Blizzard Presents:Pixar's Monday Night Fortress [Overwatch]

Postby Newbie » Mon May 02, 2016 9:55 pm

I pm'ed my early access code to Mongrel because he'd asked about it and hadn't replied, but in the event that he wasn't actually using it, I'm PMing it to you now.
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