Aaron said one of the main reasons for 5v5 was reducing visual clutter.
They they proceeded to add heroes with most visual clutter in the game - Ramattra and Mauga.
Honestly, I am not even gonna talk about balance here, instead, I just want to talk about few solutions that aren’t even that hard to think about.
Ramattra’s ult - His ult causes a ton of visual clutter, it’s actually very annoying. I understand that they are supposed to feel powerful but it’s too much. I think that toning down the glow above his head, less effects, basically just coloring the aura around him. I know it’s supposed to be reverse of Zenyatta’s ult, but the “tether” around it is very distracting with all its effects. Maybe simplifying it would help - mostly just adding a red circle around him, players will already know they get damaged if they are inside. No need for the “tether” animations like when healed by Mercy.
For Ramattra, it’s not AS bad, since it’s basically just one BIG shield, and it has the usual visual of a shield, but due to its massive size, I think it would be better to slightly increase the opacity of his barrier, and add a big red circle on the ground around the bottom border of it.
They could certainly tone down particle effects, and Maui’s ult doesn’t need the chains. It’s a delicate balance though, because the visuals need to make sense for what’s happening and need to convey important information.
do you play with low graphic settings? it makes a huge difference
I do, but it’s a double edged sword. A person shouldn’t be penalized for wanting better graphics, and likewise console players don’t really get any say.
sure, but a sacrifice of either FPS or graphical quality must be made at some point in your decision tree.
Lifeweaver just passing by, I guess. Bro is growing forests in my games.
I usually just open my eyes and see almost everything, not sure why others find it so hard
This game needs sliders badly.
Just imagine a ‘low FX’ option where status effects are reduced to on-screen icons…
Standing in Torb ult, or set on fire by Ashe? 
Discorded? 
Getting healed? 
Getting Damage boosted/nano’d? 
You get the gist (only so much I can do with the emoji options XD.)
The problem is rarely one effect in isolation, but getting a stack of effects all at once from both sides. Sometimes you just cannot tell what is going on.
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Not just those but all the OW2 heroes are vfx fest.
It literally has 0 effect on the effects.
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It does need the chains though, they serve a purpose. It is to bind you to his cage so you can’t walk out, so having the visuals for that is a must IMO especially since you can hang off the ledge if he uses it on high ground. So it would just appear that you’re floating mid-air to your team and the enemy team.
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Yeah, but you only need to learn that once. Afterwards, they’re just clutter. You can replace that with bumping against the barrier like a confused goldfish.
It’s funny because they’ll say stuff like this, then do stuff like the OG junkerqueen knife effects. I remember getting pummeled by Brig and JQ in the beta and literally not being able to see/hear what was happening on my screen. Just 2 characters!
OW1 would only really get to that point after Moira was released…
This was months after they made the comment about toning down visual clutter. Nothing they say matters.
I don’t understand why they can’t just be consistent.
Can we talk first about the huuuuge elephant in the room before talking child’s play ?
I mean those twin Dragons block any view.
I mean they are slow and if you see them coming at you in time, you can dodge them, but you still have a humongus as fast as a snail that prevents to see anything of the action on the screen.
Some versions of the dragons are “better”, like the bony one, but still, it blocks the view at a point that you are forced to have some kind of infravision ability to see what’s going on inside or on the other side because it thickness. And because it is so slooooooooooow and long, it takes forever to have a good view.
In a game that became too mobile for what it was first intended to, that became a big problem
IMO the best way to reduse visual clutter is to make maps bigger.
Take the atlantis test map a few months ago. It had wide open areas, compared to many maps.
As such it felt more open/less cluttered.
Most maps have small/confind areas, choke points, ects.
As such all it takes is 2-4 people to make that area feel tight/cluttered, you dont even need all the players.
Granted remaking maps isnt easy, but its better then adding/removing players.
IMO
Still, it serves a visual purpose that is tied to the ultimate. Not having these, as a base setting, is not intuitive for players and can be a straight up hinderance to your gameplay decision making.
If you have a reduced graphics setting to help, I still think they should be visible in a way. Just make them straight lines. Like I said before his ultimate is a bind and players need to see that at all times to make decisions, especially as a tank or support. Imagine having no visuals on chains and Mauga ults slightly above high ground and one of your teammates happens to fall to low ground? You would think they are safe or not in need of immediate attention. This is bad for readability if you straight up remove the visuals.
It would be a different story if the binding effect didn’t have a longer effect once out of the cage AoE, but it does.
I’m all for reduced graphics for readability, but this isn’t it. It’s like removing Mercy beam, you need to see it, it is a fundamental thing to the game.
heck no. We already have flashpoint.
Not to mention it is not really a map issue when it all happens in your face.
Individually, yes some heroes have a lot of visual clutter built in
But now picture 2 of them together…or perhaps you don’t need to if you play OQ
Don’t forget: The upcoming mythic weapons which adds even more visual clutter.
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Flash point still is “small”
When I say maps should be bigger, im not talking about the overall size of the map, but not have it be so compact.
Examples, on geberalter, at the second point, the cart moves through a small space, all the boxes, catwalks, walls, ect all make that space very compact. All it takes is 2-3 ults for that area to become craped.
Or take controll point maps like Illious lighthouse, that point takes place in a fairly small room, as such when team fights happen in there it can become very chaotic/cramped.
So when I say “bigger” i mean more open, take nubani as a example, the streets there are fairly wide, and since there is no ceiling it opens it up more, or junker towns 1st point. Another example is bussans meka base. That point has large open areas, much more room compared to many other maps.
Now obviously Its not perfect as large open areas benifit heroes like widow, but I think widening the maps would help
Even if so that doesn’t change anything when you are in the middle of the melee, which is where you are going to be unless you are playing sniper.