Positioning basic's 101 (A Learning guide)

Here I would like to teach you about positioning in OW, and how you can rethink your decision making.
This would mostly apply to hybrid and payload missions, control missions tend to be counter pick reliant.

First lets address the types of positions:

Backline
This position is behind the bulk of your team always checking for flankers and picking off exposed targets.
Long ranged DPS heroes should be positioned here to pick off enemies out of position, this is also to be aware of flankers.
Long ranged support would also synergise well with DPS as short ranged support can’t always check behind them to support the DPS.
So if your a long ranged support you should be with the long range DPS in the backline so you can support each other.

Midline
This position is where you would support the tank/front line in pushing forward or holding a position.
This position is ideal for mid ranged DPS to pressure the enemy front line to fall back.
Short ranged supports should also be here to support the front line and mid line.

Frontline
This position is mainly for the tanks to take space and sustain the Midline.

Flankline
This position is for high mobility heroes, The goal of flanking is to take out the enemies Backline.
The goal of flanking as a DPS is to get to the enemy backline without being seen and take out the long ranged DPS and/or support.
All though I said without being seen, Dive tanks take a more direct approach. . >.>

High Ground
High ground is majorly important, the reason being is that it provides cover and allows the user to see more of what is infront of them.
This splits high ground into two uses, Defensive and Offensive.

Positional counters (DPS)

Flankline can counter Backline.
Backline can counter Midline.
Midline can counter Flankline.
Once you defeat a positional section of the enemy you have a high chance to defeat the enemy Frontline.

Defensive High Ground

Take a look at this picture:
https://i.imgur.com/i0FTJcp.png

The green rectangle is you using high ground and the red rectangle is the enemy, do you see how the sight lines from the red rectangle is only able to see the top half of the green rectangle?
This shows how much of the enemies fire will hit you, being on the high ground and moving a few meters back from the edge of the high ground can cover your hit box providing cover.

Offensive High Ground
Offensive high ground is standing right near the edge of the high ground allowing you to have a wider visual of the terrain below you to fire at your enemies.

Cause and effect:

Understanding why things happen
When players do not play as a team they forget to do things that helps their team.
Say for instance your Midline and Frontline make progress and push forward past a static enemy barrier, in a ideal world your Midline DPS need to destroy that barrier before they progress.
But if left alone you are seperating your Backline from the team and block additional DPS and Healing, which is why the team may crumble apart as they push.
To overcome this you can change the long range heroes for mid range heroes or short range Support. (making the best of a bad situation)

Another instance
Is not making any progress at all while tanking, this is a sign you have too many Backline hero’s which dont put much pressure on the enemy front line.
To overcome this as a tank you could trade in a tank who can deal dmg while using a shield. (again making the best of a bad situation)

Another instance
Is when Shields are broken way too fast, this requires the work of flanker hero’s who can focus the enemy Backline to eliminate the enemy. (again making the best of a bad situation)

This about wraps up positioning, if I missed anything or there is something I can add let me know! :smiley:

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good post. its a shame the people who really need to see this wont.

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Not unless you make a 6 stack :wink:

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have you thought of doing youtube vids? i think it would reach more people. you seem to have a nice clear explanation style. i think most other people waffle on way too much. jayne made a career out of turning basic concepts into pretentious waffle, maybe a bit harsh, he was ok.

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Definitely a refreshing post. Like stated in the title, it’s not the end all guide but it is a really good one to get a general concept of how the game should flow given even matchups of the current double shield play.

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Ehhhh IDK.
There is two main issues with that:

  1. Problem is that there is no guarantee that it would reach more people, even if I did share it with others it may seem like I am trying to advertise a Youtube channel.

  2. It would require a lot of setup, i dont have video recording equipment and I dont have a face for YT if im totally honest. xD

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i think you could make the vids with just text and diagram or game footage and voiceover. people do like guide vids as long as they have quality content, its not spam if it offers genuine value. you could post it to the ow reddit, lots of community vids get posted there.

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Fair enough, ill give it a go.

BTW what do you think of this guide?

good! ow def needs better educated players to make the game better. and people want to learn.
talk of ow being dead/dying is greatly exaggerated, its not going away anywhere soon.
the good thing is with lots of youtubers giving up/burning out on ow it puts you in a good position to fill the gap and fill the demand.

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You don’t really need a face for it. Yeah if/whenever I stream/cast I prefer to have a facecam but several people get by perfectly fine with just the game or what they want to show onscreen.

Editing and advertising are the hard parts for me personally.

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its not advertising if you are offering people some decent value. if i like ow and you tell me about something ow based you put effort into creating, why wouldn’t i be interested in knowing about it. its only spammy advertising if its low effort and zero value.

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Better word for it would just be promotion/outreach I guess. There’s a difference between creating something of value and just sitting and waiting for people to find it and putting it somewhere where people who may want to see it can find it.

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janye has a fulltime job now so there is a huge gap in the market for anyone who can talk silver and bronze players through basic concepts in a gentle and sage like manner.

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True though with anything like that, unless you get someone with the reach like Jayne (I always though it was spelled that way?) , getting almost any kind of reach/following will take a bit.

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well he just came out of nowhere and blew up. think from posting in ow comp reddit. i dont think it takes much if you are putting out great value content.

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https://i.imgflip.com/49tfp2.jpg

/s

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Yes and no kinda. I don’t think it’s ever really a matter of “will someone/anyone want to watch the content” but more of “will the people that want to watch it be able to find it and can you find them”

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i remember seeing one of his early streams with barley any viewers and it was just the same as when he had big viewer numbers. if you are doing good stuff and sharing it where you can a little can turn into alot pretty quick.

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I’m not saying they won’t get a following eventually if they put out good stuff. I’m saying depending on how good outreach is it can take some time.

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