Is it just me, or have the sounds in OW2 like footsteps, gunshots abilities etc have gotten a step back since OW1?
I have 7.1 headphones, and I absolutely loved them in OW1, the sound design was so flawless. I could play Mercy so well, because I always knew where everyone was of the enemy team. I could hear footsteps above me or behind me, and could pinpoint the exact direction they were at. Whenever I got shot, I knew the exact direction it came from and so on.
Now in OW2, I don’t even know I’m getting shot at. I die which all fine and well, but then I see it’s a body shot. And I wonder how they get a one shot off a body shot. Then I look at the kill cam and see I took 2-3 additional shots I wasn’t aware of at all. Often I don’t even hear footsteps anymore, like last game a freaking Roadhog snuck on me and he wasn’t crouching. It’s getting a bit frustrating to have these deaths now because I relied so much on sound in OW1. And now it feels like I’m half blind in OW2, especially since my eyes can’t always keep up with all the fast movements, I rely on my hearing almost more.
Anyone else have been having these issues? I keep wondering if it’s some other ingame problem I’m having, but my settings seem to be fine from what I understand. It’s not like it doesn’t work at all, but half the time at critical moments the game just seems to decide not to function properly with sound.
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It’s weird because for some people, they swear up and down that it’s an upgrade and way better than OW1. But for others, myself included, it feels like a downgrade. I have way more trouble distinguishing the directionality of incoming damage, footsteps, ultimates sometimes don’t play sound at all, both friendly and enemy. It’s really bad.
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It’s better in some aspects but it needs some work. The sounds themselves are a lot better but the volume levels need a lot of tweaking. Many characters with fast or powerful weapons drown out the audio of everything else around them and it’s really tiring to listen to. The reverb is way too strong sometimes and it muddies the mix a lot. The system they added that dynamically changes the sounds of certain weapons depending on their environment changes them far too much. The most obvious example is cassidy’s revolver sounding like someone’s kicking a trashcan in an alleyway when he’s in an enclosed space.
Some sounds don’t play, but it’s also hard to tell if they aren’t playing because sometimes they’re just really quiet in relation to everything else, but it’s hard tell if they’re just really quiet because it seems like it’s intentional sometimes! 
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Myself, as a person whom worked in the voicing room of a Pipe organ Shop and tuned Diapasons, Mixtures, large reeds, and various strings. As well as shaving reeds for those unique “Regales” and spent time switching Shallots out on trumpets, and working with Haskell’d pipes, as well as bearding pipes (Harmonic bridges) . To get those perfect pitches on a Pipe organ… to match used ranks together with new Ranks of pipes. …
YES, the new game audio is OUTRIGHT AWFUL.
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It’s trash and worse like everything else in 2.
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Sound has been broken for a long long time. That pharah with a jet pack silence. Your Mercy landing from using GA? Deafening…
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I like the new sound effects.
Weapon fire sounds good. Hearing footsteps of the enemy team is broken
I feel like directions aren’t even very solid in ow2 for sound.
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Things have definitely gotten quieter in OW2. Ive seen it all, from widowmaker shots barely making any sound, to enemy ult sounds not syncing properly.
Didnt happen in OW1
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On console the audio has been broken for a long time. Ult voicelines often don’t play so i don’t know the enemy is ulting until I’m killed by it.
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In two different matches today I was lookin for an enemy because I heard footsteps and didn’t want them to get the drop on me.
But there was no enemy they were apparently my footsteps.
How my footsteps were very slightly delayed and coming from above the Village Shambali point when I’m capping it is truly a mystery, but they only stopped when I did and the only enemies on field were their Rein I could see, Moira behind Rein and their not 76 DPS with the Moira, their Mercy and 76 were respawning. None anywhere near where I was hearing footsteps.
They weren’t my team’s either.
1st of all, 7.1 is not for competitive games, telling you this as 7.1 user and competitive player that do not use 7.1 in all of the games.
2nd of all, the sounds are greatly improved, but it is still the issue when sometimes you won’t be able to hear the footsteps behind you from cree/reapper/hog, but you woud hear widow or mercy heels across the map. So that stood unchanged.
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Hmm i play on console idk if i noticed that in overwatch 1. Maybe i dont remember, but i wouldnt be surprised there are a lot of issues on console
Baptistes IF still messes with aim assist a ton
I’m more concerned with visual clutter than sounds. I mostly play with music, or audiobooks.
That is a handicap in this game as sound plays a big part in it. I can locate a lot of enemies simply by hearing their footsteps and it has allowed me to prevent big ults or stop flankers.
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I only use volume, if I’m losing a dual consistently. My above average game sense is usually enough for it to not be a problem.
Ow1 - sound was better, lighting was better (no orange light), there was 1 more tank, less toxic gameplay, loot boxes whith cool stuff, a way better matchmaker e.t.c.
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I would say it’s just you. The sound design is way better.
All of the redone sound effects for kits feel worse to me besides a few specific examples
All the new gun sounds try to be too realistic and CoD-like
Everything is at the high or low spectrum, too crunchy and shrill
OW1 soundscape was so much more unique and balanced.