(Opinons obv)
I think current Valorant is more fun moment to moment, more visually appealing, has better skins (if u care about that sort of thing), community is generally less toxic (somehow), the devs actually know what balance is, and has a still thriving esports scene.
I cant even look at Overwatch’s icon without feeling slight disgust anymore. Every match ive played in the last few months is a toxic cesspool of who can abuse the meta better. It feels like individual impact to a match (even after the swap to 5v5) is low, and trying to fight nature. Tank bad? Game lost. Support bad? Game lost. DPS bad? Game lost.
Playing Val feels like youre actually shaping the game with your smokes or flashes, each pick can be the game changer and turn the tides instead of OW’s “heres an endless flood of enemies to stall in the last 20 seconds of the map have fun lol” gameplay. The game is about to close and suddenly all the opponents have become Tracer, Lucio, Wrecking Ball, Genji, and Moira all magically timing their stalls so it feels neverending.
I think a lot of my distain for modern overwatch comes down to Counterpick culture. Obv onetricking is bad in both games, but often it feels like you have to keep swapping to make a difference. Enemy tank goes Winston? Well time to go reaper because god knows nobody else is gonna grow up and help.
Valorant doesnt have counterpicks, once you select an agent thats that. You get to play them the whole match, and its less about “X ability counters Y” and more “I think X strategy will work since 1 2 and 3 play a certain way”
Its a lot more engaging to strategize more than rock paper scissors on the hero select menu.
Another thing is that One Shots, while still a thing, dont feel like a problem because everyone has the ability to one shot. Instead of having to play a specific agent, you just have to be able to aim.
whereas in overwatch, it doesnt matter if you are the #1 winston player to ever exist you will always be taser monkey, and yeah you can use abilities to speed up the process, but you will never have the TTK of a good widow or a hanzo.
Overwatch as an Esport is on its deathbed and everyone thinks itll be fully gone within 2 years, but Val is still thriving and engaging. The last 2 years ive watched of OWL was “monkey jumps at other monkey’s team, and whichever lucio uses beat last wins” and its sooooooo boring.
Valorant, due to its CSGO type gameplay, has clutch 1v5’s, risky plays, unique and amazing lineups, and casters that seem to genuinley enjoy being there. Valorant match stadiums feel alive and vibrant, where as Overwatches looks like they only showed up for trailers.
Im not here to try and yell at anyone to play Val instead of overwatch, if you still like OW2, good for you, and keep playing. But I just noticed the moment I picked up Valorant again after a 2 year break, I had literally no desire to go back to OW2, or any other hero shooter for that matter, and thought it was interesting. And if Val sounds even slightly engaging, give it a try, all it costs is some time.
