Listen close in this video, even in a completely silent Petra corridor I have no idea a McCree is coming until he’s standing close enough to kill me. Then moments later, in the EXACT same spot, I’m able to hear a Widow’s footsteps clear as day and react to it easily, even though she’s further away:
I thought “the deadliest enemies have the loudest footsteps”? This weird sound issue happens with other characters too, if I’m playing Widow I can’t barely hear Mei walking around until she’s close enough to freeze me dead.
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if that hint was accurate reaper would be quiet af
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I heard him pretty clearly.
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Naw man, compare it to when the Widow shows up (after the second time I kill her) in the exact same spot. Her footsteps are so loud coming from the left that you can’t help but notice them, but McCree’s are comparatively pretty silent. The sounds ARE there, but they’re far too difficult to discern until it’s too late because they’re so quiet.
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I almost wonder if that hint is outdated or there’s a bug or something, it definitely doesn’t match what’s happening in the game. I mean a Widow at close range obviously isn’t nearly as much a threat as McCree is, yet her footsteps are WAY louder than his.
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a lot of things in this game are outdated that hint being one of them another example is cough shadowstep cough
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LOL yeah a bit too easy to get gimped out of Reaper’s teleport that’s for sure.
This sound issue here is similarly pretty annoying, I keep getting randomly killed out of nowhere with no counterplay whatsoever because I have no idea someone is literally standing right next to me about to kill me.
You know what, I have a theory about how this works and why this happens.
The volume of the footsteps are adjusted based on the collected stats of how often the hero you’re playing is killed by other heroes in comp. This is how they determine how “deadly” an enemy is to your currently played hero, and how their footsteps volume is adjusted. So in this case, because Widow is played a lot in higher level team modes and usually at safe range snipes out Hanzo’s all the time, her footstep volume relative to Hanzo players is made much louder, even though in close quarters combat she is far less deadly and hearing her footsteps would actually be a death sentence for her. Also, Hanzo is played very often and in a team context gets more kills on McCree’s more often than McCree’s kill him, so McCree’s footsteps are made very quiet, even though in close range situations where hearing his footsteps would be essential McCree is far deadlier to Hanzo.
This would also explain why Mei’s footsteps are so quiet for Widow: since in team modes Widow usually plays at range on high grounds that Mei can’t reach, her k/d ratio to Mei is probably very high, so Mei is considered a non-threat and given a very low volume, even though in close quarters Mei would be absolutely deadly to Widow and hearing Mei’s footsteps would be essential to a Widow’s survival.
If this is the case, Blizzard needs to completely reconsider the “footsteps volume system based on k/d statistics” method, because it doesn’t actually match how the game plays.
Unless the lower volume is intentional so it IS easier for these characters to get kills on you just as a matter of balancing, in which case, well that sucks. But I’d at least like to know how this is decided so I can adjust accordingly!
I heard there is a way to make their footsteps much louder, not sure if that would be cheating. Make them so loud you can hear sombras light footsteps while stealthed.
If there’s a way to do it that would be helpful, but I don’t want to risk that it’s cheating and be suspended/banned.
I would like to understand why the system is the way it is, how it works and how I’m supposed to adjust, or if it’s just some kind of bug or something.
Enemies are easily heard on my sound bar and subwoofer. Get a better system!!!
This has nothing to do with sound systems. I uploaded this directly from the PS4 to Youtube and have listened on different devices, Sennheiser headphones, my soundbar with subwoofer, the TV, my smartphone and laptop, etc. In each one at close range the sound of McCree’s footsteps are quiet while the sound of Widow’s footsteps are clear as day, even though McCree is far deadlier in CQC than Widow. This makes no sense and appears to be happening programmatically, not as a result of the sound system.
I mean, if Widow’s footsteps are already loud then McCree’s could be too, but something somewhere is deciding to instead make his foosteps quiet, and it’s not a sound system that’s doing that. It’s the game.
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The game could consider Widowmaker more dangerous than McCree if you think about. Widow at full charge with headshots do 300, and since she’s a sniper she has a pretty deadly range. McCree doesn’t have that kind of sheer damage output aside from flash and fan, and doesn’t have the same range as Widow
That’s exactly what I was thinking, that the “deadliness” and thus foosteps volume of the enemy isn’t determined by their deadliness at CQC, but rather their deadliness based on their overall performance elsewhere as a hero.
But that doesn’t make sense to me, footsteps volume should be adjusted according to how dangerous your opponent is in the context of the current situation. Right now Widow is one of the deadliest heroes in the game in most team based modes, but in close quarters she’s an easy pick for most heroes, and it’s in close quarters that you would hear her footsteps. Maybe in a team based mode where she has high offensive value it might help you to determine her positioning to take her out, in which case her loud footsteps could be considered “balanced”, but in a mode like Deathmatch it just makes her a sitting duck. She’s absolutely deadly at range, but you only hear her footsteps in close quarters where she’s not much of a threat.
If the volume is based on their overall threat level, it should instead be modified to be based on their threat level at close quarters, because that’s the only time you’d ever need to really hear an enemy’s footsteps, if they’re nearby and present a direct threat. Or just make all footsteps the same volume, or something, I don’t know. The way it is now doesn’t seem right.
What are you audio settings? I have all my settings turned up for enemy audio settings and turn mine and minor things like explosions down so i can focus on audio that pertains to the enemy since in comp the team should be speaking out loud and communicating and using pings.
I have the music and character voice settings turned down to 50% with the sound effects turned to max. As you can see in the match there aren’t any comms that could interfere with the sound.
But that shouldn’t matter, as you can hear in the clip how quiet McCree’s footsteps are and how loud Widow’s footsteps are. I can hear Widow’s footsteps clear as day and reacted to it immediately so sound settings have nothing to do with it, there is no reason that McCree’s shouldn’t be AS loud and hearable as hers was, in fact it should be MORE hearable since he’s more deadly in close quarters than she is.
There was probably someone closer to you than the McCree while he was approaching, either underneath you or outside the window/door. You can hear the audio priority flip to him shortly before he throws the flashbang.
Also, Widowmaker and Mercy simply have louder shoes than everyone else.
I dunno about sound priority, the flashbang sound is clear as day when it lands, but even then his footsteps are kinda quiet. And I certainly didn’t hear anyone else nearby, the corridor seemed pretty quiet and empty when he just popped out of nowhere. Do you mean that there’s something wrong with the sound priority system in the game that’s causing these situations?
As for Widow and Mercy, lol well they ARE wearing high heels 
, but from a balancing standpoint I would think all footsteps should either have the same respective volume or should be louder according to how deadly the enemy is when they’re close by. A McCree popping up right next to you unannounced is like a death sentence.
ok then ya point made. i do agree since in close quarters mcree/hog/reaper are probably the deadliest.
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If we go by the hint, characters like Reinhardt and Roadhog should have pretty heavy footsteps, but even with headsets, you can barely hear anything when it blends with every other sound in the game.
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