I switched from PS4 to PC (M&K) recently and I was pretty surprised to discover that aim assist is disabled for console players when they are group with friends on PC, and by extension that Overwatch does not have controller aim assist on PC.
I have read several other posts about this topic and I see responses from Blizzard essentially saying that aim assist for controllers would be unfair. However, I find this difficult to accept.
I haven’t seen any reference to evidence for this claim that has been made by Blizzard. Was this determined based on internal testing? I think that this should really be investigated more. Perhaps a community poll can be done, or an experimental period where aim assist is enabled for a few weeks and data can be collected about the performance of controller players. I hypothesize that without aim assist controller performance on hitscans and precision projectile heroes is pretty poor and that the impact of enabling it will make the performance more balanced across heroes.
Some other arguments for enabling aim assist are as follows:
Aim assist for controllers (on PC and console) is well known and accepted on many other FPS games, some of which are arguably more aim-intensive than Overwatch, (e.g. Call of Duty, Apex Legends), even in competitive (ranked) and professional modes.
In addition, if we also consider the physiology of aiming in video games, we humans have fewer and smaller muscles to control our thumb than our entire hand so naturally it is more difficult to develop an equivalent level of motor control. This has also been my personal experience on PS4 vs PC.
Finally, disabling aim assist has a negative impact on the fun factor for console players who want to play with friends on PC. When I first played with PS4 friends on my PC, the shift in difficulty for them was noticeable even before we realized the aim assist was disabled (“omg, why can’t I hit any of my shots!?”). Now they have a very hard time playing aim intensive characters that they might normally have fun playing which is a bummer for me and them.
its such a shame that aim assist is disabled. whenever i try to play with pc friends, i feel like i have to play rein or something if i want to have decent impact.
The ow aim assist on console is extremely strong, I used to play console so I know that, and if the devs were to nerf it they’d get the same response that console fortnite responded to their aim assist nerf.
I would rather they kept the cross play strictly to consoles. That first month or so of crossplay was unplayable, the team with the least amount of console players won.
Perhaps the reason console teammates seemed to be a disadvantage is because of the aim assist. Especially at the beginning because it would be a pretty sudden change for the average controller player.
I would argue that PC controller players should also have aim assist btw so it would still be “PC rules” technically haha
except it is so far from an even playing field because aiming with a joystick is way harder than with a mouse, which is why aim assist compensates. However if there is no aim assist, pc players have a massive advantage
Copy/paste of my thoughts on this from the other thread that seems to be losing traction in favor of this one:
As a PC player that has played other games with crossplay that allow console players to retain aim-assist in crossplay lobbies: No! No no no no no. Absolutely not.
The correct solution to this type of problem is to do the following:
allow kb/m on console natively (i.e. without needing a Xim)
split players into different lobbies based on input type: kb/m players with other kb/m players regardless of platform; controller players with controller players regardless of platform
controller players grouped with kb/m players get pulled into the kb/m lobbies
enable aim assist only for controller players in controller-only lobbies
disable or substantially nerf aim assist for controller players who are in kb/m lobbies
The platform on which people play a game isn’t important if the inputs are the same. Standardize the inputs, and group players with like capabilities. Consoles are basically just PCs with specialized OSes these days, and can easily handle any generic usb kb/m. Devs just need to stop assuming that console = first-time controller user and allow players to play on the same footing no matter where they play the game.
I mean fellow pc players insist that aim assist gives an advantage when, as a pc player, it’s literally not an advantage at all. It literally puts them only slightly below us still. M&K is always gonna be better than controller with or without OW aim assist. All it does is ensure it’s not a stomp lol
I hypothesize that this is a you problem as well and you may pick up a mouse and a keyboard to use on your PC version of Overwatch like the rest of us.
That’s awesome. Why don’t you go and play those?
That sounds like another you problem. You could have your thumb genetically modified or use mouse and keyboard like everyone else.
That might actually be true. The solution would be to shove crossplay into custom games (WHERE IT BELONGS) and get it out of the “base game”. From the second it was introduced I HATED crossplay being SHOVED into the PC player pool with no choice for PC players to DISABLE having to play with console gamers.
You want to play with your PC friends / console friends? Awesome, I am all for it. Just do not FORCE ME to play with them/you!
Once again that sounds like a you problem when you guys do not like the product and could go back to the product you like (console version) at any given time.
These aren’t just “me problems” though. Other people on PC and console are of the same opinion.
Sorry crossplay bothers you so much, you raised a pretty good point though . I don’t see why PC players shouldn’t be able to opt out of it if they don’t want to play with consoles. That’s a bit of a shame because of the resentment it obviously creates.
The easiest solution is to just not queue up into PC lobbies, crossplay shouldnt even exist there. If given a choice, the overwhelming majority would opt out.
What makes you so against aim assist in crossplay? Do you feel like you struggle to compete against controller players? (serious question).
Split lobbies is an interesting idea. I’m not a fan of it myself, but that could be a solution that makes the majority of people happy.
I really think that Blizzard’s next step should be collecting data about this, whether it’s raw opinions or gameplay statistics. As someone who has used both, I personally don’t think aim assist is an unfair advantage against M&K, but I could be incorrect, or the impact might be different at higher skill levels than mine. However there’s no way to know for certain until there’s numbers behind it.
I was able to test a controller on the PC version of the game during the Overwatch 2 pvp beta 1. Unbeknownst to PC elitists, well, more so, mouse & keyboard elitists, the PC version does have controller support. There are plenty of PC games with controller support, actually.
What I found was very interesting: the PC & console versions are very different from each other. Which is why they’re separated from 1 another & the aim assist is turned off for console players when they’re with PC players.
I play on the PS5 (PS4 version) but, I’m pretty sure that it’ll be the same regardless of the console. The console version is a lot more stiff. You’ll need a higher sensitivity, both horizontal & vertical, to keep up with & play fast heroes. The PC version is a lot more looser. You’ll need a lower sensitivity to actually hit your shots. It’s exactly the same using a controller, although your sensitivity doesn’t need to be as high as the console versions.
For reference, on PS5 my setting are:
100 sens horizontal & vertical
70 sens aim assist ease in
70 sens aim ease in
100 sens aim smoothing
aim technique: exponential ramp
100 sens aim assist strength & window
For PC:
50 sens horizontal & vertical
100 sens aim smoothing
70 sens aim ease in
aim technique: exponential ramp
The only thing I’ve changed between the 2 versions was the horizontal & vertical sensitivity. Everything else is the same, even without aim assist. This proves that the PC version has a much higher sensitivity compared to the console versions & vice versa.
Also a PC player who used to be a console player and this take is the correct one.
Disco and few others around here are very anti-aim assist for controllers. There’s really no reasoning with them as they stubbornly stick to their incorrect view on the issue. Not sure why, it’s really not that big an issue. I’m not at all concerned about it because I know my mouse will still be better than their aim assist, but there’s just no talking sense into them.
The reason for the stiff/slow on console is the aim assist at work, which is the topic at hand. The way aim assist works in console is it slows down your reticle movement so that you can line up your shots more easily. It does come with the downside of affecting your turn speed. Quick 180s on console are difficult.
Because there is no aim assist on PC, the controller feels less stiff and why the sensitivity needs to be turned way down in order for you to be able to actually aim somewhat accurately. But again, lower sensitivity drastically affects your ability to turn and track quickly.
Aiming on console sucks. It’s easy for PC players to finesse the tiniest granular movements and the widest swings on a big old desktop mousepad, but expecting folks on console to accurately perform the same range of motion using a tiny stick smaller than the area of their thumb is silly.
I agree aim assist is necessary for console players to even approach an even playing field with PC. But probably Blizzard doesn’t want to deal with false reports for what people mistake as aimbots or something, when it’s just console players using aim assist.
. I don’t see why PC players shouldn’t be able to opt out of it if they don’t want to play with consoles. That’s a bit of a shame because of the resentment it obviously creates.