Playing Overwatch and watching streamers play the game for the first time has got me thinking what more could’ve of been done to make Overwatch a better experience.
I think 1 major change that would’ve shook up the game way more than 5v5 or removal of stuns/shields is removing ults.
Ults are insane in this game and I would argue one of if not the biggest factor of winning any game is ult economy.
Ults are not really countered by good gameplay, they are countered by other ults and if the enemy presses more Qs, you lose.
Instead I would replace ults with strong abilities on a 20-30 second CD. So basically every team fight both teams have them but the team that utilises their abilities better, wins.
Instead of relying on ult economy to win game.
I can see where you are coming from, but honestly, I feel abilities like resurrection or lamp are more valuable than their ultimates. I do not trust Blizzard to balance it.
I guess, it also shows just how wildly different ult power lvl is. Some ults can straight up result in team wipes fairly consistently.
Tanks like Rein and Zarya you are nearly always going to get good value out of their ults, on the otherhand you got D’va where you are lucky if you even get 1-kill.
Same applies for Supports and tanks.
I personally don’t think we need these ults that have a power lvl turned up to 11/10. A lot of ults already could nearly be just powerful abilities if toned down a little.
Imagine Bap’s ult was turned into an ability instead, but only boosted damage by 50% instead of 100% and only lasted 5 seconds instead of 10 seconds. Maybe on like a 25-30 second CD.
I think this is the power lvl I would want ults to be replaced with.
Ults exist to give every player those high moments. And they totally lived up to their intended purpose, because they feel so cool to use, especially for new players.
But the existence of ultimates does do huge damage to the hardcore audience.
Making Ultimates so strong means game winning plays end up looking the same and it becomes stale over time seeing the same play. There is skill in using an ultimate effectively, but that skill is nuance like timing, skill that’s fun to watch is the flashy kind of skill, and Ultimates sorta undermine the coolness of all non Ultimate players by being too flashy.
The over the top visual effects and sound is overwhelming, especially when overlapped, and makes it at times even for good players to keep track of everything going on.
Gaining ultimates through performance like damage or healing just encourages more snowbally games and reduces potential back and forth comebacks.
I think Ultimates are ONLY a bad thing, if you think Overwatch would be at it’s most successful and fun game as an esport. I do not, I think Overwatch’s heart is it’s casual community, and for casuals ults are perfect and a core tenet of the game.
You can’t really say that’s the case for all ults though. The issue is that all ults are different and while some do need another ult to counter (mainly Tank ults like Zarya or Sigma for example), some already are glorified abilities (think about Tracer’s bomb for example).
Most ults can be countered by either taking cover or using a CC (which has become harder in Ow2 but still) like Reaper’s ult, Soldier’s, Sojourn’s etc. Also, I’d argue that some abilities are much stronger than ults (mostly supports) : Suzu, Rez, Lamp, sleep & nade,etc
But even then I don’t see what’s so bad about ult economy and coordination, if anything it’s a good thing because it’s really one of the only thing that still needs teamwork in this game. Without ults it would literally just be a glorified death match.
At this point I don’t disagree. However that would never happen.
If anything I’d say remove ult charge for passively damaging / healing allies & enemies and give all ults their own timers relative to their power level. Ults like bap’s or valk can be fairly easy to charge up because they’re relatively low-impact, while ults like shatter or grav may take a bit longer. But I also think that may be too radical an idea.
Tbh ults are likely crucial for game tempo, play testers near universally find games more fun if they have distinct low and high points. In TF2, it was random crits and Ubers, in l4d2 it’s crechendo events, hordes and tanks. In OW it’s ults.
That said, I think ults in their current state definitely do a lot of harm as so many of them are uninteractive and diminish the value of skill. They could probably get them into a much better state if deaths reduced ult charge, and win button ults (grav, nanoblade, earthshatter, etc) were reworked.
Yes they are. Almost all of them are. You don’t need other ults. Things like barriers, deflect, matrix, immortality field, boops, stuns, and even movement abilities all counter ultimates.
You are right individually but I was more talking about the grand scheme of things. Most of the time it will be 1-2 or even 3 ults being used at a time. Yes, with good gameplay 1 could be blocked but overall most of the time the team that pressed more Q will win that team fight.
Which is why ult economy is such a big part of winning in Overwatch. You can’t rely on good gameplay to win fights, you MUST have your own ults up and ready to counter.