you say that as though thats not an internal struggle amongst the community as well…
its not like the community over 5 years hasnt asked for changes that make the game more fps-y
i could easily make the argument that blizz is just trying to do what the community has asked them to do (many times)…which i believe is something the same community is always asking the devs to do as well…listen
I mean, the queues are defacto proof of that sentiment. More specifically role lock. Bending the entire game to support the playstyle tank mains wanted is the problem.
Halo isn’t a shooter apparently, and knifing in CS:GO isn’t a thing, because reasons…
Queue times are proof that tanking is bad, but I think there’s other things to consider.
1.) Could double shields and Rein Zarya keep popping up because tanks aren’t hardy enough? Both these comps have tanks that cover for each other and directly enable tanking; what would happen if we just buffed the tanking ability of the tanks?
2.) DPS queues could be long because the DPS heroes are fan favorite, because there’ a better selection, or because the DPS heroes are just the best heroes in the game.
3.) Role lock could be a bigger issue than any of the balance since, before, if a tank was too hardy you could just get more dps. Not that I think blizzard can or should remove role queue now, you know?
Overwatch IS a shooter. My issue is that calling it purely a shooter, like Halo in Cod sets the wrong expectations for the game. The same thing happens when you try to make OW more of a shooter, trying to entice traditional shooter players, and try to bend the game to be that shooter. Maybe its possible, but I don’t see how.
Also, you can just drop the melee weapons in those games if its not working out. What can Reinhardt do with a 1200 hp shield and a game that favors shooters? People want him to bob and weave thought cover, but I don’t think that’ll be viable at all. If the point is in one place, but Rein’s shield dies before he can close that gap, he’ll be perpetually feeding even if the supports are hard pocketing him.
Also, the supports will have to hard pocket the one “tank” instead of supporting the team.
Also, also, its very likely they’ll just never use Reinhardt in favor of Roadhog, a tank who can shoot and heal so that he doesn’t have to be hard pocketed 24/7.
The devs absolutely do not have to listen to the community. Are you familiar with The Culling? Its a game that was destroyed EXPLICITLY because the devs listened to the community too much. The player base straight up left because of each change they implemented that warped how the game was played; sound familiar? Each and every last video game company needs to know when to say “no” when it comes to developing their games.
damned if you do…damned if you dont
They could aim for a lesser circle of hell.
I feel like every game needs to find a balance to the two: developers should have an artistic vision for what they want the game to be on a conceptual level, but they should also take constructive criticism from their consumer base from time-to-time.
I’ve seen a piece of medium where the creators refuse to take any form of criticism, and their product has been slowly degrading over time.
Oh I’m sure it is!!
Wait what’s halo then
A “first person experience?”
A kart racing game. Spoiler alert, by the way.
It’s not that complicated
And to the extent that it’s needed
And I wouldn’t be surprised if
I think they were creating a game of its own kind and succeeded in doing so. A MOBA game that revolved around team play and coordination to succeed in common goals.
You can have a niche product that does very well if that audience remains engaged. Look at fortnite for example. That game fits a tight niche with not only being a third person shooter but also the building mechanic. They found something that clicked with a particular audience and made it work. OW was very popular at it’s release. So I don’t buy people who say it was bound to fail for being too niche. The game was very special for many people and for them the devs strayed away from that. I still think OW is great but can’t deny the game became stale for a lot of players.
Not sure about that.
While Activision succesfully did release a LOT of huge games.
With sometimes a great Return On Investements.
Blizzard is a pioneer, first on the market.
Great analysis of the playerbase.
Great games.
And great follow-up.
Their fanbase is strong + R&D seems wise @blizzard.
Wouldn’t mix these brands. Even if Activision owns bli².
BTW, it’s hard to compare OW with COD (teamplay, specialised roles, openness, comunity).
yup
But why would people want that? I don’t even think DPS players really want that at the end of the day.
Like if you want to play valorant or call of duty, go play those games.
I think OW did so well specifically because it wasn’t a standard FPS.
“People who fell in love with the game as it launched don’t matter. Copy Apex to bring in new players!”
Which as another poster said is a dumb way to go about things. You can’t compete with Apex because it already exists. Pursuing that at the expense of the people that originally made Overwatch a sensation is just not gonna work.
Moreover do you think the OW devs can make a better shooter than apex or valorant or anything else you care to think of? I doubt it. The game gets by on mechanics that aren’t how the guns feel. They should have focused on what makes Overwatch special and unique, but they buried that lede in search of an astroturfed eSports scene.
Every single thing about overwatch has been mismanaged. They were dipping their toe into the live service thing and just gave up.
compete with COD? you realise that Activision = Blizzard right? LOL why would they want to compete with their own game?
All techs works the same, not only gaming.
Expand, simplify and repeat/evolve.
Some game companies are ONLY living through their timely fanbase.
Others are contributing to the industry, long term.
E.G : Warcraft (1994).
We still hope that Bli² autonomy will remain the same.
Even within the Activision group.
More like people who don’t go for kills, and prefer to dutifully provide heals and damage blocking, are a really small proportion of the playerbase.
And acting like they make up a large fraction of the playerbase, isn’t accurate.
And to the extent they exist, a lot of the non-aggressive PVP players are headed towards PVE.
Almost by definition, the way you increase your playerbase, is by pulling them away from other existing games.
Turning this game into a generic shooter is a really bad idea. It’s such a saturated market.
I love CoD, but as a support player in OW, the last thing I want is this game to become closer to CoD.
It’s a dishonest exaggeration to act like less defensive abilities in this game instantly makes it into CS:GO, and makes it less ability oriented than Apex Legends.