Is OW fundamentally flawed?

Competitive Discussion
1

Coming back to the forums here has me questioning the integrity of this game: Is this game flawed in some manner that cannot be fixed by patching?

This game, even after being out for 3 years, has issues that have not been resolved, too numerous to say here. I know some of these problems amount to “Get good lol”, but so many people seem to be suffering from the same issues and it’s extremely noticeable.

Complaints about Comp are unbelievable for a game this age. I feel these things should be polished out but they aren’t from what I can see… It’s the very definition of spinning wheels: Problems that are brought forward but never seemingly fixed or resolved fully in any way, resulting in a bizarre impasse in which casual players and hardcore/veteran players alike, are not happy.

I understand it’s impossible to satisfy everyone, but other games have struck chords with most players, satisfying them regardless of skill level. I don’t believe Overwatch has done this with its playerbase.

I also understand some people will probably disagree with this post, and have no complaints about the game and that’s also fine. Everyone sees things differently.

This is just my own perception and opinion of the game after having quit over a year ago.

7 Likes
2

New heroes come out and change the meta.

The other issues of comp is … you can’t change humans.

3

No, Blizzard just manages to mess it up consistently.

1 Like
4

Yes it is messed up.
The comp mode is a joke:

  • It has a 50% win chance build in, where the matchmaker fixes games.
  • It was original build for team/clan based/6 stacks only, later changed into solo Q (so you have all the problems individuals will create, trying to play together with 5 randoms, in a team based game). With a ranking system build for teams, not individual performance
  • Teams/6 stacks who play the game as intended are being punished, because of the FAIR system (being placed against teams with a lot higher group SR(individuals), or only other 6 stacks, since the system is programmed that a 6 stack playing together is not fair when matched against 6 solo queuers.

So yes, a great game destroyed by marketing to keep the casual players happy.
(you will see the same in hero design/balancing)
And then sold(OWL) as a competitive game, to also attract the competitive players.

Still the game is good. Just the comp mode is messed up. And should not taken to serious. If you want a real comp mode you have to create one yourself i am afraid.

5

They fixed comp by literally making it playable with role queue before it was just a mess and incredibly un-fun. Yeah it still has some stuff they’re ironing out but massive changes like this take time.

Yeah that 50% win rate coin flip inconsistent era of comp was pre-role queue. The matchmaker sucks rn in some tiers but it doesn’t ‘fix’ games, you just lost.

6

The problem is that blizzard wants everyone to be on the same page; Comp, QP, Arcade, Professional players, Bronze players, everyone.

It wasn’t good when the game started and it’s not good now. Tournaments have different rule sets for a reason.

7

You are complaining about 6 stacks facing 6 stacks …i just don’t even know what to say.

Do you just want a big green button on the screen that you can press every 5 seconds that say “VICTORY!”???

8

The game is a TEAM based shooter.
Should the game favor/hand hold people who not want to play in a team, or casual players, who just playing for fun?

If you want to climb in a TEAM based game in a competitive ladder, you should form a team/clan, and get better as a team/clan. (do scrimmages against other clans etc…)
So yes, people who have better team work, should climb.
And if they get matched against lots of solo players, it should be easy wins.
But the top ladder should be only players in clans… or even better remove the current individual ladder, and only add a ladder for clans.
And focus on content for clans, and help tools to create clans.
Like an in game looking for X message board.
And emblem, customize (colors) skins for clans.
Extra short (season) tournaments for different ranks with extra prizes (special skins for clans that they can customize). Top x% clans will promote to next rank while the lowest x% will drop. (x being determined how many clans stop existing -> max clan size is 15 players that need to be signed up before season, and cant change during seasons)

9

And this is a fair solution how?

Also don’t they only let duo stacks at the top of the ladder.

10

Part of the problem:
Since it would not be fair for the casual player who don’t want to be in a clan.
The only way, and even in lowest ranks the easiest way to climb is to not form 6 stacks. And this is in a team based game, build for teams, with even the ladder system created for team performance. Changed because the casual player wanted this. (is it even possible to create an individual performance based ranking in a team based game??? => if you loose because of your team you will have lesser individual stats, then when you play with good team mates) The ladder is still team performance based (for more then 95%).

Yes a clan x positions above your clan in the ladder will be harder to win against then a clan lower then you are.

In the current system: place 6 random players in a team around 2400 SR, and 6 random players with about 50 lesser SR in second team.(so 300 SR total difference) Who will risk all his money betting on the team with the 6 2400 SR? Especially if second team works better together, or has a better game sense(have a better setup).

11

They dont need teams for owl. They need individual players from time to time as replacements.
There is no reason to promote clan play. Especially when you already have hour long queue times at the top of the ladder. Queue times will literally be multiple hours long at the very top that way.

12

The flaw are non FPS-like tanks often with obstructing shields that pay price of great survivalability with gimped movement, dmg or having a huge easy to hit hitbox. This was an experiment for Blizzard, and community, looking at tank and dps queue vastly rejected it. As long as the game has huge disparity of gameplay style and need for said gameplay style the game will go nowhere.

13

You were complaining about 6 stacks being “punished” by having to face off against…6 stacks.

14

It can be fixed, but the sluggish development period on patches makes over tuned heroes feel devastating. Its not even just we deal with this for a month or 2 its typically 4 months before nerfs go live.

15

To only facing against other 6 stacks, or get a big group SR difference.
For new clans/teams this means the chance that you will fight against an equal opponent is very small. So most teams fall apart in no time, because they only getting hard opponents.

16

It certainly is a fundamentally flawed game design - wise…

And it all comes down to the fundamental concepts that it revolves around… Not just the new content added that often clashes with the game’s pre - existing design.

17

The fatal flaw, in my eyes, is this…

They gave 5 random people the power to ruin your rank.

Leaver? Too bad for YOU.

Thrower? Too bad for YOU.

YOUR rank goes down.

It’s up for debate on how the matchmaker works too, but… they DO try to create an “even match” every single game. So, i believe that makes it so good players receive Hard Mode, and bad players can just goof off and still win or lose the same SR. So…

You played, tried hard, always the last to die, always the one trying to tell people to group up?

TOO BAD FOR YOU. You lose the same as your literal thrower who’s emoting and jumping off the map.

To fix this, i think they need to give up on the idea that 6 random people will come together and play nice. 4 years later and it’s not happening. We need more power as INDIVIDUAL players. To be protected from the non stop barrage of throwers, smurfs, and players who are ranked too high. People are frustrated about their own rank, because you really feel helpless with these teams and forced “even matches”

I think much heavier PBSR gains and losses, based on your individual performance each game would help make it feel like your rank reflects your performance. If someone was throwing on your team, they’re messing up their OWN game and not yours (as much.) It would also make people think more about their own performance. The game as it is now, everyone’s pointing the finger at each other because, well, the game allows these people to ruin your SR.

It also makes it so playing the actual games feels pointless in the long term. Throw a bunch of games. Who cares. The system will then give you a bunch of easy matches to try and put you where IT thinks you belong.

It feels like we’re not playing Overwatch, but Overwatch is playing us.

3 Likes
18

The biggest flaw is not having hero bans per comp match

19

this game has too many playstyles to be really competitive imo

20

I somewhat agree with that. I’m not sure how that would go in the context of Overwatch, but Rainbow Six Siege is a team based game with unique operators and does that method.

At the start of every unranked and ranked game, teams are given 2 operators to ban. This helps extremely in what you want your team to do i.e If you want to roam ban Jackal, hard breaching ban Bandit/Kaid and so on.

This system is amazing quite honestly and prevents so much frustration while still making it very possible to win games.