The casualification of Overwatch

General Discussion
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FYI, this is not a complaint or whine post, it’s a discussion, a look back on how things were. This is not a discussion regarding casual players, rather the casualification of the game and mechanics.

I don’t see this talked about EVER, even though this is what personally gradually took the fun out of the game.

I’ve always found it so fun to master a hero, a map and knowing or being able to do little things others don’t know about. So what am I talking about?

  • Map tech, map spots
  • Hero tech, ability tech & general practice.

1. Rein
Rein used to not be able to cancel his charge, is this change better? Yes.
But it was extremely rewarding to go in custom games and practice the rein charge, finding specific spots where you’d need to start your charge so you could get someone off the map. (volsyaka first point attack, for example)

On hanamura, you could also charge through the window on top right high ground on attack second point, to bypass the tiny choke.

2. Tracer
Blinks used to not increase your height artificially. You’d have to look for specific spots to stand on, and blink from to make it to specific high ground. This is what differentiated a good tracer from a bad one, often times.

3. DVa
Matrix used to be on cooldown, not a toggle. Again, toggle is better- but it was much more rewarding and required much more thinking and awareness.

Because of map geometry changes (invisible walls), you can’t really do bomb spots anymore either, where they slide off a wall, etc.

4. Brig
Blabla, brig used to be OP, I know. That’s not what we’re talking about.
They changed the entire mechanic of her shield bash that now you get a slightly bigger “boost” when bashing forward/backwards, but you also can’t use it on map geometry anymore to boost up to specific spots (like the cog on junkertown), and there were MANY more like that.

5. Mercy
Well, super jump.

6. Mei
You used to be able to wall on a teleporter/lamp to disable them, now? Not really.
Walls on roofs with TP? Nope.

I’m not going to list every single thing they changed, this post would be long.
And yes, obviously there have also been very good changes. Like symm not having an auto aim beam, you’re free to mention those, amongst the things that did make things more casual.

I just think it’s a shame, these things were extremely fun to learn and SO rewarding when you could do them and pull them off.

Maps have a ton of invisible walls, blocks and ledges where you can’t stand on, even extremely simple spots.

People used to do map callouts, I’ve NEVER heard anyone refer to a specific/room area on any map as anything when calling out in OW2.

Hitboxes of characters have gotten SO much bigger.
Hitboxes of abilities have gotten SO much bigger.

Remember when sleep dart, arrows and mercy pistol had the biggest hitboxes?
Well, now Sombra’s virus is more than twice the size of those.

THEY EVEN FIXED THE ULT IN SPAWN BUG (the one in the ships). I can’t fault them for that, but damnit.

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Do not get me wrong, OG Reinhardt charge was the definition of high risk… Um, I am not sure the reward was particularly high. I could NEVER play this hero without the charge cancel. I admit it. That being said, I also feel the cancel largely increases the skill gap of the hero by lowering its floor and raising its ceiling. You can still do everything you used to be able to do, you just have more options. Removing a troll ability is not necessarily making them game more casual. Especially with the changing circumstances. It’s a modernization that needed to happen.

Otherwise I more or less agree with you and I still understand what you are getting at with the core premise here. Just felt like sharing my two cents with you, Dad.

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Another one I remembered:

Reaper

  1. He used to have to gather soul orbs where people died, meaning it was a risk to get the self heal, now he has insane self heal and there’s practically no risk involved.
  2. He used to not be able to cancel wraith, also making it risky. Now you can easily get away from anything and everything.
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same with deflect. i used to time my widow shots to when it ends. now he just cancels it.

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yess I remember that now, that was satisfying on both ends.

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Yes, they Casualified the game. I think OWL falling over was the last nail in the “Overwatch is a high end competitive esport” days.

But it lead to them actually having an increasing playerbase for once, which is good, and balancing the game for the players on the ladder, you know, the ones actually playing in a big way, and paying for all of this mess.

And that is ok, games do that.

I think it is for the best.

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Sure, it’s for the best, although I believe t’s more so their manipulative sales tactics has got them the revenue more so than the balance changes in the game.

I still can’t help but miss when I could practice things, tech and spots. Long gone.

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I don’t think you are wrong there :slight_smile:

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Doomfist used to be a rollout monster and I would try to learn all of these crazy spots and get cheesy kills. Nowadays, I just play him, like, without all of that. He still has a few tricks, but it is not the same.

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Definitely healthier for the game the way he is now, but finding those spots and getting good at them WAS FUN.

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The weapon which of course, was more casual.

OW has actualy ALWAYS been a very casual game.

Also, I miss that auto aim gun. That thing was really fun to play with.

I miss shield generator too. They kind of ruined sym by making her less casual actually, lol.

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I think that OW was always a casual game, but they tried to force to be a competitive game.

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Shield gen was fun to have, but also tough on 2CP maps. I remember having to save pulse for shield gen they hid behind a wall in a room somewhere, lol. Good times.

I also miss teleport ult though, that was fun.

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What? Yes you can still do that

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Overwatch has always been a casual game. Nobody was talking about Overwatch becoming the hot new serious serious game for serious people back in 2016, except maybe the FPS equivalent of hardscore Super Smash Bros. players. Videos were stuff like this, highlighting all the goofy crap that goes on.

Uh, don’t click if you’re at work, it has naughty words that will make your boss blush and your co-workers faint.

Stuff like soul orbs and collecting scrap weren’t dumped because of filthy casuals. They were dumped for one or two reasons:

  1. Game balance, which casuals don’t care about except when it benefits them. It’s hard to balance stuff like orbs and scrap.
  2. The sentiment that goofy mechanics don’t belong in a serious e-sport.

If anything, going for fun over skill and competitive integrity is a return to Overwatch’s roots.

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Try shield bashing up the cog and give me a replay code.

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2G4MTT there you go. I haven’t really had much need to do it so it’s not like I have it practice to succeed every time but you totally can still shield bash cog to get high ground.

Same with any other shield bash position afaik they’ve never changed how it works

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Ok, that’s totally my bad, and you’re right. Cog still works.

But I can guarantee you brig bash was changed. I was a 4400SR brig and found a ton of spots on Anubis.

First point defense, there were spiky pillars on the bridge, you could bash bounce on those to make it to the platform against the wall (high ground).,

On point, by the mini on right side, there were these little flaps against the wall, with the right angle bashing against that, you could bash onto high ground (where people held).

You could bash at a specific angle on the statues where people held, to the right side, and even bash all the way up to the little windows up top.

On defense second point, the high ground where widow would sit, you could bash at the slant to go from low ground to high ground there.

You could NOT go from one high ground to the other on Anubis defense first point (mega, to widow spot). But when they changed brig bash (giving her more distance) you could, but that also fixed all those spots and made them literally impossible to do.

On volskaya last point defense, there were little things hanging against the wall, jumping and bashing against that, could get you to high ground there.

I could go on, but after the change none of these spots worked anymore. I guess the cog is still the exception.

Edit: Another one I remembered is on junkertown, the gas tanks, you could bash on them to get to high ground. Can’t do that anymore either.

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No because the interaction became, never use charge aside from spawn or from a flank.

You always could elevate height with multiple dashes

Im neutral on this

This was a balance (numbers) change like you said, not a design change. So it really doesn’t have anything to do with acsualificaiton

idgaf about this character

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Sorry I dont see it.

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Mei had a LOT of interesting interactions with Wall / Iceblock which have been removed to make her kit more streamlined.

OP is absolutely right that Mei has been simplified over the years, and that a lot of her more interesting tactics in team play have been removed.