I’ll respond to them to the best of my abilities, in the order you presented them in your post.
- I’m sure I’ve mentioned this specific bit somewhere on the forums; anyways, keyboards used for text chat are different than the keyboards that are used for advantage in conjunction with a mouse. Plus, I’ll use the report system on PS4 as an example here (though I’m sure you can say the same thing for XB1 as well). Say you need to report somebody for inactivity. When you’re in the window of the Report System that says to explain what happened, pressing X (or A on XB1) will open up the Console’s keyboard interface. You CAN then plug in a USB Keyboard to type that message out a lot faster. As an alternative as well for those who don’t have such, they can also buy a chatpad, which is a keyboard attachment for the controller, for $30 at most. From there, the same story applies as if you were using a USB Keyboard. The key is that it opens the Console’s Keyboard interface, which you’d use to type said message.
- Some issues are Sony/MS; I won’t deny you there. The bulk of this and why it’s a lot more on Blizzard though is because of the overwhelming amount of time that has passed. I will be frank though and say that the languages issue might not be what you think. Take note that I can play Console-watch on my NA PS4 in Japanese, an Asian language, without any issues at all. Besides which, 7th Generation Console Games were able to implement the ability to change the language in-game, even despite the ability to change System Language. I can understand where you’re coming from on this, don’t get me wrong. The problem is that it means that the amount of people that are going to be playing Console-watch with those more restrictive languages is going to be next to none. The last bit with this is that Sony and Microsoft both offer same day certification passes.
- The issue isn’t so much that; the issue on it is that they were restricting things, that were already on PC, that also worked just fine on PC, even if you were using a Controller. Given that I did this exact thing for testing purposes, I would know. Take the communication wheel for example. Before the bindings for it were implemented, we had literally no way to say things, such as “Attack/Defend the Objective!”, “Come to me for healing!”, etc., on Console. Why was this? It was because the communication wheel bindings were not implemented to Console. Literally all it was doing was unnecessarily restricting things further for Console. It may very well have been because of me that those Communication Wheel Bindings were implemented to the Consoles in the first place (read the italics within this link). The same thing though can be said for quite a few other controls. Examples include Voice Chat - Push to Talk, Toggle UI, and even one that isn’t implemented to Consoles right now, which is Hold to Crossfade for Lucio (which can be set via one of the switches for Lucio’s Controls specifically; and this one doesn’t even require a binding).
- I wouldn’t look to me specifically on this, because I very much can access the PTR on PC. Reasons though would include helping to test out things such as reworked heroes, new balance, and potentially even nail some other bugs. My personal opinion on this though would be instead just giving a PTR on Console. Why give some form of PTR to Console? Well, I kind of went in-depth on this in another thread. Both Sony and Microsoft have been very flexible with Blizzard, and Jeff has even admitted to this himself as well as the fact that this is something that can be done. Don’t forget as well that Sony and Microsoft both offer same-day certification passes. And the pros to a Console PTR would definitely outweigh the cons. Examples, it would help the Overwatch Team develop better connections with their Console Players, it would better help them get PTR Feedback from us on Console, and it would help them nail down any potential Console-specific bugs, among others. Sure you can argue that both Sony and Microsoft charge for patch updates. However, that’s only if certification fails multiple times.
All things said, I do definitely where some of your points come from. I also want to thank you for taking the time to read this thread, even if you don’t agree with some of these points. I likewise can understand that this thread can have some controversy; but taking the time to read this thread tells me that you do care, even if just to an extent. Not to mention, being able to discuss things without the disparaging of this thread is definitely something that I enjoy being able to answer.