This thread is to discuss practice range, any ideas thrown out maybe added to the thread original post, and maybe if we bump it a lot with replys / likes Blizzard will notice. I am unaware if other threads like this exist.
Buffs for the practice range
I will update this if we get some good ideas.
Allow multiplayer in practice range / invite friends. Like the ability to just join practice range, then click invite friend and also the option to have the practice range map in custom games.
Better bots. Give similar bots in the shape of actual classes in the game. Also add some random movment that is similar. Ex; dashing genji.
Unique Map unlocks? Reward system for winning a certain amount of games or making plays on heroes.
Flying Bots.
Fast moving Bots.
High damage bots. Maybe have a bastion bot.
bots with armor, bots with shields
bots that are tanks.
Long distanced sniper bot
Shield held up bot
Possibly not reskins of normal overwatch roles, but unique designs to random bots that would actually be designed.
Fall-off distanced bots stacked at different ranges to help difference between fall-off damage show.
I always imagined a kind of goofy Blizzard style dummies stuffed with straw roughly the shape of heroes. Like a pharah looking scarecrow that flies back and forth on a guide wire mimicking some basic Pharah movement.
However, I think the bots in the practice range should fly. We have Pharah who’s hard to deal with, so some random bots that fly in random rotations would help people who are struggling.
Practice range buff was something I suggested by in beta but they were really busy working on other stuff. Honestly one change they could make pretty easy that would be really nice is make the bots heads smaller. Give them all bastions heads so i can think i am better than i really am when practicing my hitscan in that mode.
Have a carnival-esque type aim practicing, like picking off moving ducks or whatever. It would be nice if they had a really good AI to 1v1 to practice range shots too.
I think that a lot of other things are occupying the devs attention, mostly balance. Maps and new heroes are secondary sources of balance, so that takes a lot more priority than improving the practice range, which does its job even if a lot of changes could be made.
I just want bots that do a lot more damage so you can actually use Zarya in the practice range. I tried it once, and it took me like 4 minutes to get to maximum charge using the bots. It was so tedious. And then it only lasted 20 seconds before being moot.
you want to go more deep, add damage number to some bots with range markers so people know when the fall off for there weapons happens and by how much. Without having to go look it up and try and figure out the range. Add a bot doing more damage faster to help test shields and abilities like zarya bubble. A lot of different things can be done with the range if they wanted to.
Simply being able to bring in a teammate would be nice. Like early when I started playing Overwatch I wanted to practice the Pharah/Mercy combo but didn’t have much opportunity for it in real matches. At least not without lots of hate being thrown at me. I wasn’t that familiar with Custom matches at the time but having this capability in the Practice Range to test out other strategies would be nice.
I used to want buffs for the practice range, but now my aim is at the point where I feel unless I’m practicing on actual in-game hero hitboxes there’s no point. Now, the only purpose for practice range is a (very quick, subpar) warm-up.
That said, I’m all in favour of additions to the practice range, but the most important thing for me at this point is that it remain a “1-click to start” mode.
Personally, I would much rather the devs take any time that would be put into practice range features and put that into releasing bots for all the heroes, first, and smarter bot movement while they’re at it too.