"improving visceral feedback" for tanks and support: here are some ideas

General Discussion
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Hi,

theres a small part of Jeff’s interview for experimental mode that I’d like to put under the spotlight :

If you think about all the visceral feedback you get from a kill—we light up the kill feed, you get an elimination message, there’s a very satisfying sound—we don’t do quite the same level of diligence when it comes to things like how much damage did you block, or did you save somebody from dying by healing them at the right time. And that’s on us. That’s something that we need to fix over time.

That statement is absolutely true, and I believe it would be possible to improve the “visceral feedback” without actually touching the heroes’ kits and abilities. With OW2 coming, with major changes across UI, I also belive the time is right for such a task to be undertaken.

#Why is “visceral feedback” for DPS such a dopamine shot ?

Feedback for damage or kills is given in multiple ways : audio (notification sounds, voicelines, announcer…) and visual (killfeed, icons, on screen notifications).

I believe it’s the accumulation of those that makes a good DPS play such as a multikill ultimate so rewarding : you get the constant chirping of hitmarkers, red skulls and kill sounds, the announcer going “TRIPLE KILL”, then you’re told you’re on a 10 player killstreak, and even after that maybe that this was a team kill.

This kind of situation is absolutely absent for tanks and supports, with the exception of some fat ultimates like grav or shatter.

Here are a few ideas to remediate the situation ; implementing all of them would probably turn the game in a visual and sonor overload, but i believe cherrypicking a few would go a long way :

#voicelines

Right now, the tank ability that feels the best is probably eating an ult with D.Va. That is in part because it is shown in the killfeed, but also because it is advertised through personalised voicelines. This kinda thing also exists for Ana (sleeping some enemy ults).

Having the same kind of voicelines in more situations (when you shield a shatter, drop the beat or use trans on a genji blade or other ultimate), would be a way to improve feedback.

Allies will also sometimes compliment you on your aim/kills ; they could do the same for good support and tank play.

#Sound cues

Similarly, dealing damage gives you three sound cues to tell you you’re doing something right : hitmarkers, critical hitmarkers, elimination sound.

Something should be done to give the same kind of feedback when blocking damage (Zarya already has a very cool sound when damage gets negated by her bubbles, that could be replicated) or healing (for example, a sound similar to the kill notification when bringing back an ally from near death, which would make a clutch trans result in the same orgasmic repetition of sounds as a 5k death blossom).

#Use the announcer more

Right now, the only thing called out by the announcer are multikills. It could be used in a more proactive way to announce other important actions such as saving multiple teammates (“triple save !”).

#Use the killstreak notification for other facts

Similar to how you get notifications for 5, 10, etc. player killstreaks, you could get a small notification for the increasing amount of damage blocked, healing done, player ressed, discord assists… earned in a life.

#Visual feedback/medals

Supports/tanks could get their own version of the skull icon when you get a kill to reward their own actions in terms of blocking or healing.

Similar to many FPS (CoD, Titanfall, Battlefield, Halo) getting a small medal for cool moments or clutch plays (an ally saved from death, an ult negated, a good setup resulting in a multikill) would makes these much more rewarding, as opposed to now when the game simply doesn’t recognize them. It would also be a new stat to track, and could even be tied to cosmetic rewards (save an ally from lethal damage with a zarya bubble 200 times to earn this cool spray).

I understand that many players hate those and that’s why they are at the bottom of this list, but just as most of the ideas proposed here, they could be turned on or off in the options.

This may sound like support whining (i want the game to constantly tell me how good I am at Mercy !!) but I think it can be agreed that a reason DPS is so dominant in the playerbase is that they just feel better to play ; and as Jeff said, improving the “feel good” factor of these classes, while not being the magic solution, would probably be a first step towards fixing that issue.

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This makes me think of the satisfying sound effect that plays in Final Fantasy XIV when you heal a critically low party member. It’s not overly pronounced, so if you’re trying to focus it doesn’t distract you, but when you’re able to clue in, it’s this sound of “Oh, that was a good heal!” And I would LOVE Overwatch to have something like this, both for support and tank. I feel like it would make both classes feel more rewarding and would reward good play styles.

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I always wondered why there wasn’t a gold damage blocked.

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Because the holder of that medal had it overridden by objective time.

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I think D.Va eating ults is a great example of how tanking in particular is rarely directly rewarded to the player. A D.Va could constantly eat the enemy Zarya or Mei’s ult but she won’t get a special soundeffect or graphical feedback or written message on the screen for it, all she really gets is a tiny icon in the killfeed.

Meanwhile compare that to a Widowmaker geting a bunch of headshots, she not only gets audible feedback by the headshot noise but also a red skull for every kill.

And this may sound extremely minor but it does make a huge difference for our brains, it makes tanking overall feel a lot less rewarding than damaging for example

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We actually have this though…

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I agree. I think things like a “shut down” callout for killing someone on a killstreak, or “denied” when you stop an ult or save a life would be awesome feedback for those playing supports and tanks.

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I main support, and we don’t. I have never heard audio feedback specific to healing a critical ally. I have an icon over the character saying “hey, this person is critical” but not an audio feedback saying “hey, nice heal!”

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Really nice suggestions. I could imagine some of these being implemented for sure.

I’m also glad to see the devs are aware of this lack of positive feedback and are interested in fixing it over time. Hopefully we see some improvements sooner rather than later.

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I think we need more high mechanical skill tanks. Part of the fun in getting kills as a DPS is that you have to exercise so much skill to get them. It feels better to get a dynamite-headshot combo with Ashe than to jump on someone with Winston and just win because 500>200.

I get that tanks have the fun of winning games with good teamwork and controlling space but that’s a more subtle reward and you have to understand the game better to really know if you tanked well. So it’s harder to sell to new players and people without tanking experience. And I find tanking to be a pretty bad time if you lose and it wasn’t fairly even.

I think more tanks with smaller player models for evasion instead of just face tanking and more precise weapons would help.

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Go into practice range and heal a bot. It makes a sound and provides a bell ring when he’s full.

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Yeah, when he’s full. In Final Fantasy XIV, you get a distinct sound when you use a healing spell on a critical ally, whether they’re full or not. It’s like a confirmation that your healing hit before they died. Which is what I was referencing. Not a “you healed the health bar to full” sound. I’m well aware of that and I like that, too. It’s easier to intuitively swap targets or swap to damage boost if my attention isn’t glued to their health bar.

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Dva gets a voice line every time she eats an ult. “Denied” it’s not visual. But it feels good to hear it b

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honestly with OW2 already bringing so many changes to the UI and look of the game, it feels like the best moment to do it

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Not in-character voice-lines. Nobody will ever notice them.

Announcer voice-lines. Have her pipe up with things like “Savior!”, or “Shut down!” when you interrupt an enemy ultimate and/or save a teammate’s life. Also pop it into the kill-feed so that everyone knows who shut what down and who saved who’s life.

Healing… If you deliver more than 200 effective healing to a hero inside like 5 seconds and they take more damage, let the healer know they’re doing a good job. Have the announcer say something like, “Healer!”, then “Epic Healer!” if they keep it up.

Hell, have the announcer say “Topped off” if you heal someone for more than 150 health.

Heal multiple targets? That’s when s**t gets real.

“Life Saver!”
“Trauma Surgeon!”
“Hand of God!”
etc…

Tanking? If you have a barrier and you stop your shield health that would otherwise have gone on to deal damage to your teammates (through hitscan follow-through testing and continued projectile simulation) without dying, let the team know.

“Defender!”
“Rock Solid!”
“Brick Wall!”
“Savior!”
“Epic Savior!”
etc…

Do the same for taking damage as a tank, and then surviving inside of a reasonable window.

“Bullet Sponge!”
“Unstoppable!”
“Immortal!”
“Demigod!”

etc…

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While I wouldn’t want it to be a constant thing for everything that’s done, I would love more Athena lines in game! (And whoever that announcer for the Blizzcon Push Gamemode is, if they keep him.)

Would definitely enjoy it when someone does something very amazing for their role. Like when a tank blocks an ult from hitting a lot of allies or a healer manages to keep up an almost dead teammate, etc.

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Well, the problem is that she only says anything right now for DPS and kills. She announces streaks, multi-kills, and team kills. And that’s it (okay, and game-mode things).

Pick something that illustrates the fact that someone is doing their job, and focus on it.

Damage dealers gets notified when they do their jobs and kill multiple people.

Let supports know when they save multiple people. Maybe a notification for “topped off” is too much, but healing in excess of someone’s maximum health in a pre-determined amount of time? That should be rewarded with praise.

Tanks? Same thing but taking damage.

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Which is a fair way to look at it! I just worry that too many things would result in people getting annoyed that “Athena doesn’t shut up”.

I definitely would like the potential for Supports and Tanks to have the same feedback that Damage players do.

Heck, even give the possibility for more definitions of “Lifesaver” or “Shutdown”, which would allow for more off-the-wall Tank/Support PotGs plus additions to the on-fire rate. Lifesaver could easily be those moments where a Support quickly heals up a target who would have otherwise died. Or where a Tank (or rare Support) bodyblocks what would have been a killing blow. Roadhog using his Take a Breather to bodyblock and save an ally. Shutdown could entail an Ana sleeping someone mid-ult (if they don’t already), a Brigitte stunning but not necessarily killing. A Lucio/Brig booping an ulting hero away from their team and rendering their dangerous useless. D.Va/Sigma eating ults should count as a Shutdown if it doesn’t already. Reinhardt blocking a D.Va bomb, pinning an ulting DPS. Orisa Halting a dangerous ult away from the team so it doesn’t kill anyone.

There could even be Tank/Support specific play categories to offset the Damage-centered Sharpshooter (while they can still get it, it’s not really rewarding Tank/Support play but damage based play).

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Right so Sigma, Hammond, Winston, Zarya (without Rein) Are characters without mechanical skill?

DPS don’t have to worry about their hitboxes being the size of a truck ALONG with using that disadvantage to protect your team.

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What’s sad is that icon in the kill feed was just added last patch I believe.

It took blizzard years to add that in

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