How Are You Supposed to Get Good at This Game?

General Discussion
1

Seriously, how? It seems like all the good players are retired professional Halo players or have played since Season 1. The game gives you no opportunity to improve.

Quick Play doesn’t work because it pairs you with people that are sometimes 1000+ difference in SR. No one takes it seriously either. You have a 75% chance to have over 4 DPS in a round of QP. And when you ask them to switch they say: “Bro chill, its just QP.” Why should I chill when I am trying to get better at the game and you are playing Hanzo and have 9% weapon accuracy?

Deathmatch doesn’t work because there are way to many people who pick cancerous no brain - no aim heroes. I can’t stand being in a Deathmatch and there is a Brigitte or Moira just killing everyone. And its not like they do the damage, they just steal other peoples kills. Deathmatch is also full of people that team. I get 2 - 4 v 1’d all the time. What am I supposed to do when I have 3 tracers all fighting me from different directions and I am playing Mecree or Widow?

Custom Games / Training Mode don’t work either because they are bots, and well, bots are stupid. (No offense Zenyata / Bastion / Orisa.) They don’t move and just look at you with their weak aimbots. Unless your playing with someone as dumb as them in your games don’t waste your time practicing on them.

**Not to mention the bots have wallhacks. I tested it out by going Sombra and going to a glitched OB spot and they still came to me.

And Competitive definitely doesn’t work. If you stink at a hero, and start playing Comp., you will not only be reported, but you will likely lose a lot of SR you might not get back. They say you will earn it back when you get good at a certain hero, but what if you never get good?

That’s all the major modes, and there still really isn’t a way to get good. So, how in the world can I get to diamond without a lucky win streak and good teams? And if you say watch some Youtube videos on how to get better / improve aim they are garbage. They all say the same thing and they don’t even help. So if you know a way to improve please let me know.

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BTC makes great guides. You could check it out

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It depends on your rank and what you are trying to get done.

At low ranks, just play what you want to play in comp. A good player, playing what they are good at matters more than team composition. But try to have a couple of supports though.

If you are around plat? Join a team and scrim! That will give you the best gains for the least amount of time.

SpeakEasy puts out challenges for different heroes, they are REALLY good for getting better.

So just comp… a lot. Like a WHOLE LOT.

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Right, so you want to go practice DPS in QP and when you tell the other DPSes to swap off they say no… I see the problem here…

I never got it when people said QP has a huge problem cause no one goes tank and healer but the people saying that only go DPS themselves lol.

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IMO you have got your finger exactly on the pulse of what actually makes games die, and that is elitist attitudes. I don’t actually think Overwatch is anywhere near that (yet) but it does seem to be the inexorable gravity of these types of games, that over time they become less and less accessible to new blood.

I would give this advice to the Overwatch neophyte:

2 weeks of pure QP on any hero of your choice. Stick with that hero hard.

Then start playing Mystery Heroes intermixed with your QP practice. Try one QP match, one Mystery Heroes match, back and forth. Mystery Heroes is the best way to get a sense of what the weaknesses of the heroes that you don’t plan to main (at least not yet) are.

If you’re practicing a DPS, you should practice more in FFA. If you’re practicing a Tank/Support, you should practice more in QP. Either way, figure out a way to mix Mystery Heroes into your routine. Use those lootboxes as a goal you can strive for.

Make a friend (or two) before you get into Ranked. I’d strongly advise you go into your Placements as a 2-stack (3 is OK maybe, but no more!!!)

Dip your toe into Ranked ASAP. But don’t try to run all your placements at once. Do one per day ideally, if you hit a loss DEFINITELY break off and go do some more practice and plan to come back tomorrow stronger.

I guess I could say more but I choose to stop typing now. GLHF.

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Have absolutely no life, no financial responsibilities, and the best computer and internet connection possible. Voila, yer gud.

The world doesn’t know you exist and you’ll never have a place in decent society but…bruh check my SR bruh. Bruh scope my sick stats bruh.

Bruh bruh bruh.

Also bruh.

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The main problem is the game’s overall level design and the way DPS heroes play vs all the others, even though tanks are essential to allow DPS players to shine being a tank sucks because most DPS would rather go Rambo and feel like they are carrying, tanks can deal damage but their playstyle is mostly babysitting, maybe that’s why D.Va can be popular in all ranks, her kit allows her to be more proactive compared to Rein, Orisa is another good example, she can drop the barrier and keep firing, Rein has to either put the barrier or attack.

Healers get the worst part, there is a reason Moira is played as DPS half the time and how Mercy despite being the best single target healer is the most boring healer to play, she is like Rein in healer form, if she wants to attack or defend herself she needs to stop healing, plus her other abilities rely on her teammates, being a healer makes you a primary target to boot so unless your team is good or you can take care of yourself you will spend most of the time getting out of spawn unable to even learn to play properly.

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I feel that the biggest issue is that Blizz keeps pushing into dps heroes having the biggest impact in a game while tanks/defense/support heroes are there to be killed by offense heroes.

Offense heroes, and specially mobile heroes, get all the tools to outplay the other classes, but there are very few counters to mobile offense heroes, bordering on non-existant. To the point that some people compare playing mobile offense heroes to being PvE games protagonists killing midly annoying AI enemies.

Effectively why no one wants a glorified bunch of sandbags. No one wants to be a Tracer’s main PvE enemy.

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9

I always get comfy with the mechanics of a hero in QP or Arcade. No, that won’t help your gamesense, but you do learn how to aim, position, make use of your combos, what duels you can take and which ones to avoid, etc. If you’re mechanically comfortable on a hero, there’s nothing left to do but take them into comp.

KarQ has good training videos on most of the heroes, and (with a grain of salt) Overwatch Central has some good interviews with pros as well. Watch a pro you like stream, and learn what it is they do. Seagull has helped me learn more than most, because he’s good at giving a play-by-play of what worked/didn’t work and why, or what he could have done differently in a given situation. He doesn’t just tilt and blame his team, so I gain a lot from listening to his analysis.

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There is a game that has done that and beyond, it was terrible the last time I played it and in fact made any other non-DPS hero nearly unplayable… it is Paladins.

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First of all, quick play does work. You’re definitely not going to get much value out of a single game, but playing many, many games does help how you play in the long run.

There are also people out there who are willing to try and work as a team. I remember one game in particular where I noticed everyone was in the team chat, so I took that as an opportunity to lead and coordinate pushes. There wasn’t any communication besides me speaking, but everyone played around me and we ended up winning the game after difficulties getting past a certain choke. It was a good learning experience for me - if people aren’t talking, see if they’ll listen and you can play lead. You’ll get plenty of value out of that.

Additionally, I’ve been in games where my team plays around with our composition to see what works and what doesn’t - it’s a rare sight, because yeah, a lot of people do have that “it’s just QP” mentality. However, it’s still unfair to the game mode to say that you can’t learn anything from it.

All I can say is play with friends. You’re more likely to run into people that give it their best shot in QP if you get paired with large groups, and playing with people you know will allow you to play with people that take it a bit more seriously, organize smart pushes, and win games. Use this as an opportunity to play as heroes you don’t have much experience with. Part of being good at this game is being able to flex - flexing in serious matches will help you big time, and you’d have nothing to lose as it isn’t competitive.

Also, watch people play heroes you’re interested in. My skill level with D.Va is all mostly due to watching creators on YouTube and Twitch and hearing what they have to say about certain aspects of a character’s kit or positioning. I’d recommend watching people across different ELOs - not just high or low. Get a general sense of how people play, in what situation, on what map, etc.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to lose. Don’t jump into competitive with a hero you don’t know how to play, but if you feel somewhat confident with someone, play competitive. Losing is a part of getting better. Try your best, work with the people you get paired up with (I recommend grouping up with at least a three-stack), and have fun.

“Getting gud” will come naturally as long as you’re open-minded to your own faults. Find the source of your mistakes, work on fixing them, and just have fun & enjoy the game.

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With the Sym rework aiming into making her some weird and gimmicky tank buster instead of a much needed mobile flanker counter it indeed seems like Blizz has no intentions of adding actual mobility counters that arent cancer OP CC bots like Brigitte.

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The only practice you get from QP is tank/healer practice.

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With the teleporter rework I can see her enabling more heroes with some vertical mobility, I have yet to see the reworked sentries though.

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Mmm I’m of a totally opposite mindset if I’m honest. If you can pick Mcree with 5 other dps, and start successfully dueling and flanking people, imagine how much your improved solo play will impact a comp game with a correct composition.

In other words, take advantage of bad comps, when I’m solo healing in QP i should go mercy or ana probably. Yet I like picking Zen, lets me practise maintaining heals, rotating orbs and dueling flankers. So that when I can zen in comp with 2 tanks and a mercy at my side… so much easier.

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I disagree, simply put. Every role is difficult to learn in QP, but not entirely impossible. Note how I said “many, many games” - I’ve been in games that were a complete, unorganized mess, but throughout all the games I’ve been in, I’ve also seen some effective team plays. You’re not going to get a cooperative team 100% of the time (which unfortunately, the same thing goes for comp in the lower ELOs), but that doesn’t mean you won’t get any.

I stand by my point - QP isn’t given enough credit as a method of learning the game.

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17

find aim and control settings you are comfortable with, find a character that suits you and learn how best to kill and escape.

try the low difficulty guys first then work up. reaper, soldier, torb, mei, bastion, doomfist (easy and difficult at times), road hog, brigitte, moira, pharah, junkrat, and symmetra are all decent places to start

you could also try games similar to Overwatch, if you can play Paladins just gine you can quickly learn this game.

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One of the things that has helped me to improve a lot is to spend the whole respawn time thinking about if there was any thing I could have done differently to not have died, and then visualizing myself making that play instead.

Dying is one of the worst things you can do in Overwatch, so avoiding it whenever possible is almost always the best thing to do.

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i just gave up the stress was getting to me my head still hurts i guess walls are tougher than they look at least than my head i play on console so there’s no chance for me but pc players might have an easier time

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Agreed. Putting down someone’s strategies to improve because they don’t work for you is a silly thing to do.

My two cents is that everyone learns differently, as well. There are some GREAT suggestions in this thread, so if something isn’t working for you it may be because you’ve not quite hit what learning experience is best for you!

For me, FFA Deathmatch was critical for learning the mechanics of the DPS heroes I now feel comfortable with. QP is great to get a foundation, but Comp certainly is less forgiving. If you’ve got a buddy who can help you out it’s ALWAYS better to play with friends. Improvement + more fun!