So.. how to improve, as a noob?

General Discussion
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Hi there,

Alright basically, I’m pretty bad at Overwatch. Also apologies in advance for the slight wall of text!

I’ve no experience at all with first person shooters, the last I played was Quake III Arena around eighteen years ago. I was pretty good at that then! Buuut that was a long time ago.

So fast forward to today and I can say I’m a pretty decent gamer in general. I’m pretty good at mobas - I’ve got all the achievements on the Dark Souls games - I’d say I’m ok. But for the life of me, I suck at Overwatch.

I’d really like to improve though! The thing is, with the other sort of games I play, I can read guides to understand the game better and then improve my game. With Dark Souls for example, I found parrying tough, so I watched a bunch of videos and read a bunch of guides on parrying - then went into the game, practised with what I’d learnt a bit, and now I’m good with it.

With Overwatch it’s just not the same though, my aim seems just as bad as when I started. I (think) I know the basics in theory - but putting them into practice seems nigh on impossible. My damage in games is frankly just embarrassing. If I try a tank character I seem to just die (a lot). And when I’m a healer I do marginally better… but honestly, not by much.

So after all that my question really is, how do you improve? Is it really just a matter of practice, practice, practice, more so than other ‘non-shooter’ games? Are there any general tips you can give that you might not find when you just google ‘Overwatch tips’?

The damage characters do appeal to me most, I guess I’m just that sort of player - so I really, really would like to improve. But I’m just getting so frustrated being this bad!

Any help or information would be much appreciated!

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I have been playing for about 9 months, it is my first pc game & second fps after Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare on XBox360.
It took me a few weeks to like kb+m, a few months to feel comfortable with a few heroes and only recently have I felt like I can start to be decent in comp.
I give this advice all the time but play mystery heroes, each hero in this game is almost like its own mini game and some will suit you more than others. Which ones look appealing may not be the ones you get value from.
Second, adjust your settings now. I waited too long to do this and wasted alot of time.
Check out this guide, it’s awesome, and look for the author on these forums, he is open to help with most anything and very knowledgeable about the game.

Next, this forum is a great place for tips and tricks, just ask people who main a hero. (you will get some “git gud” replies, but there will be diamonds mixed in.)

Welcome, glhf!

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in a few simple words? Practice, and learn from your mistakes

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Thanks for the info! My computer is good and my Overwatch runs really smoothly, so I don’t think I need to fiddle around with the graphics etc. - although I’m reading over the control settings now and that seems pretty useful!

I’ve got to say I don’t like mystery heroes simply because there are a few heroes I really don’t like at all… having said that though, I do try and play a lot of different heroes generally. I definitely try and fill in gaps in the roster and virtually never instapick anyone.

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The upside of mystery heroes are a couple.
1.) 90% of the time no one is on their main, it takes some pressure off.
2.) Even if you hate the hero you roll (I groan alot) you get to see how they work (and how to counter them.)
3.)Heroes you do like, but aren’t confident with will pop up and you have to go for it.
This is the only reason I can be passable as reinhardt or winston if I need to flex in qp.
4.) You never have to apologize for being the 5th DPS ha ha.

edit, tl;dr you get a good foundation so you can begin to specialize. Somehow, I realized my favorite role is tanking, I assumed I would never be good at it until I was forced to do it.

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Ok admittedly those are all really good points, I will give it a go next time it comes up for sure then!

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It really just comes down to playing the game more… There are a lot of maps to memorize, and heroes… pick one or two heroes you like and get good with them. Once you figure out how to be effective with them, learn a new one. Etc, etc.

If you are having issues aiming, it’s likely due to your sensitivity being too high. You just have to figure out what works for you.

edit: learn each characters counters – and switch accordingly. There are some spreadsheets online that show which characters are strong and weak vs others. Also ones that show which maps are the best for certain characters. These help a lot for a new player, because you don’t intuitively know that your hard counter is on the enemy team.

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try playing with the same group a lot.

main tanking and main healing are the most cerebral roles, (and most demanding) so play those and youll understand the tactical dynamics faster.

watch the pros play the game, and try to understand why they’re doing what they’re doing. watch Jayne’s youtube reviews of pro games.

mechanics is just practice, not that hard but comes with time.

a good base of heroes to start with are Reinhardt, DVA, hanzo, lucio, moira. covers a lot of bases. once you figure out what role you like best, learn all of the heroes in that role.

it’s more important to stay alive and keep your team alive than to get a kill. before doing anything, make sure you’re aware of where your teammates are and where the enemy heroes are at all times. dont get tunnel vision. if someone on your team is in a 1 v 1, help them win instead of going into a 1 v 1 of your own. objective doesnt matter. controlling the map and winning team fights matters.

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That is all really useful information there Leto, thank you.

I hadn’t really considered watching pro games, I mean, I’ve seen a few on the League and things, but the players are just so above my level (obviously) that I find it a bit bewildering. Although I’m definitely gonna check out the reviews you mentioned.

as to the ‘‘mechanics is just practice, not that hard but comes with time.’’ - I suppose I do understand that, it’s just frustrating to me feeling like I can’t hit like, a stationary Roadhog at melee range. Guess I really do just have to practice more!

Your last paragraph was helpful too, I will try and actively think about that stuff next game and see what happens.

@Primalbeast (how do you quote on these forums? I’m used to the Hearthstone forums with the little ‘quote’ button, but I can’t see it here?) - Do you know where those spreadsheets might be? I’d love to take a glance at them, sounds pretty interesting!

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Get really good with one hero and also have at least two others you are decent with (preferably from a different role[s]).

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Just click reply and then the quotation markers. Then highlight what you want to quote above and click the button. It takes some getting used to if you are used to other forums.

I lost my lvl 3 trust on these forums from being absent for a few months, but I would recomment googling “list of counters overwatch” or some such, and you should find what you need. Good luck!

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ooooh! Hah, thank you! I’ll have a look around now, I’m sure I’ll find them somewhere =) thanks again!

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Mechanics: spend a LOT of time on it. I’ve put about 40-50 hours into DM practicing nothing but raw Pharah aim. Same with my Mccree. When I started I would miss 5 out of 6 shots on bots. Stuck with it.
Gamesense: rewatch your own gameplay. If Overwatch were slow enough we could all be GM. You’ll know instictively if you’re doing badly when you watch your games, and any mistakes you find MUST be monitored and improved on. Don’t just find a mistake; correct it.

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Since her release I have been using Ashe lots in the practice level place (can’t remember what it’s called, the place with the little robots). Just because Ashe is so dang cool and I’d love to be better with her. Before then I’d only really ‘practiced’ in proper games - but I figured there’s probably a practice level for a reason.

Maybe I really need to drill down and just practice a lot more than I am.

The issue with the gamesense thing I have is that, hmm, I feel I’m just not good enough at this sort of game to really understand what mistakes I’m making.

For example, say I’m dying a lot, so I think ‘ok, I better hang back more’ - so then I hang back more, don’t die, and then end up contributing virtually nothing.

That’s a bit of an extreme example, but honestly my thought process isn’t a lot more nuanced than that when it comes to this game. Having said that, I have never watched one of my own replays before, so I will give it a shot and see if it does indeed help!

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Keep in mind things change in time. Sounds like we’re around the same age. Back around that time (18 years ago) my skills with shooting in fps was fantastic. I’d make twitch shots grabbing people behind me in an instant, snap between multiple targets in a fraction of a second (CS) dropping them all… As for 18 years later, that’s definitely not the case. Now I struggle to hit a mercy when she didn’t even know I was there, and gravitate to shooting tanks because they’re bigger :frowning: .

Going on-line and looking up videos for putting together a training drill routine might help. Basically spending 10-15 minutes a day in the training area going through it helps build your skills. The problem with trying to get better by just playing game after game is that it’s all sporadic, there’s a difference between multiple intervals lasting 3 seconds than spending 3 minutes of practicing. Basically it would allow you to build on your skills faster.

Hope that helps.

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WHAT A GAME. THAT IS AMAZING THAT YOU PLAY THAT.

Anyway, I don’t really have any tips to improve, just practice.

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Time, more time, and more time… The more you play the more your brain will become an fps machine. Focus on one role to begin with.

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Exactly! God I remember those days so well, I felt like actually nothing could stop me in Quake. How far I’ve fallen now :frowning:

As I said earlier I have been using the training area lots since Ashe has been released, it’s difficult though because it’s really hard to tell if you’re actually improving or not… it’s not like there’s a ‘check mark’ like another game might have like a hard boss or something. I guess that’s just the nature of the game though!

I think I really will try and use this training area more, a few minutes a day to just sit down and practice can’t be a bad thing at all.

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Take my example. I can’t aim at all with Ashe. If I wanna play her in comp I’ll have to grind, especially since her flanker matchup means you have to hit shots.
If you can’t find your mistakes, submit a vod for review. There’s a reddit for it, Jayne on Twitch is good, or you could even post it on the forums. Now you likely don’t want a Gold pleb like me reviewing it so make a post in Comp discussion.

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If you need help mechanically then play lots of deathmatch.