Tuesday, January 16th 2024
Overwatch 2 Improvements Aim to Reduce Dependence on Teamwork
Hello everyone… and happy 2024!!! We're at the start of the new year, I thought it would be a great idea to talk about our view of 2024. This Director's Take will be one part of a series where we frame up the year according to a set of values we're using to develop the game. These values translate into goals and specific additions and changes to the game. There's a lot of different things coming up this year that I want to share, so think of this as the first in a series of topics to cover.
One of the biggest values of the team is to improve Overwatch's individual and team focused gameplay to meet the needs of our core audience. When I look at the future of Overwatch, a year or two out, I don't see the exact same game that we're playing now, but with a few more heroes and maps added to it. The game should always evolve with new systems and features that serve our players. Some of these features could live just outside of a match, such as a map voting system.
Some of these could be larger systems that define the way players interact with the game, such as our Competitive System. And some of these changes could be within a match itself - modifications to the moment-to-moment gameplay. This last part is what I'd like to talk about today. Additional Director's Takes will look at the other parts of the game that I mentioned, such as our Competitive System, hero balance, and economy. I'd also like to take some time to talk about future events and limited-time game modes, as well as larger systems that have the possibility of coming to the game.
So, let's get into Overwatch gameplay. Starting with the obvious, Overwatch is a team-based, hero-based, multiplayer competitive shooter. Heroes, maps and game modes are all designed to require teams to work together in order to successfully win a match. When a team works together - each player using their hero to their fullest potential while relying on each other to execute a strategy - the game feels magical. There's really no other FPS like it. However, when this isn't happening and players are all working on their own, the game is far from magical and can become frustrating. The reliance on teammates can simultaneously be one of the best and worst attributes of our game.
We want to improve this. We want to improve this by looking at the game through the lens of teamwork, and make it easier for players to be part of the team while also lessening some of the pain when it's not happening. In fact, a lot of our goals for improving the core game stem from looking at Overwatch as a whole, improving the parts of the game that are working and finding fixes for the parts that negatively affect the experience.
We've already implemented some features to align with this. The Ping system and the newer Spawn Together system both encourage team play. For those who don't know, the Spawn Together system adjusts individual players' respawn times so they respawn with teammates more often. This system will get a tuning pass in Season 9 to make the effect more prominent. But we're talking about other features that will make it easier for players to work together as a team. Party Frames is one of these - these are the on-screen player health indicators that we use for our PvE events. Other possible features such as backfill improvements, changes to our scoreboard, and ways to mitigate spawn camping also align with this. To show the extent of our discussions, even an ally-only mini-map feature was discussed. Some of these systems are under discussion and some are in development. I don't think a mini-map has a high likelihood of shipping, but I do think that Party Frames are likely.
It's our hope that staying closer to your teammates and having more information on what they're doing will help encourage team play, but what happens when your team is not working well together? We' definitely want to make this a little less frustrating. We've talked about the new Competitive system coming to Season 9, but there's a massive set of gameplay and balance changes coming to that season, as well. Many of those changes are aimed at reducing damage spikes in combat. I won't get into all of it here (we're working on a standalone post to be published closer to the start of that season), but for the sake of the current discussion, I'd like to talk about one aspect of it. In Season 9, both Tank and Damage heroes will get a modified, tuned-down version of the Support self-healing passive. This should give non-Support players more options in terms of sustaining themselves. It should also take some of the pressure off Support players to keep everyone alive since individual players now have more control of their own health pool. In Overwatch, there is a constant tug of war between the power of a team and the power of an individual hero or player. A change like this shifts that balance a bit. This is something that we are constantly evaluating. We still want Overwatch to be defined by team strategy and mechanics, but we feel this can be pulled back a bit now and possibly more in the future.
We're also actively looking for new ways of improving the core gameplay experience. This weekend, we launched our first event, where we modified the rules in our Quick Play queues. This first iteration is called Quicker Play, and it changes many of the Quick Play mode's rules to make matches… Quicker. Payloads and Capture times are faster, respawn times are quicker, and matches are shorter. This particular experiment is designed to look at how these changes affect player psychology. For instance, if a player spends less time waiting to respawn, will getting eliminated by an opponent be less frustrating? If matches are shorter, will each loss have the same sting that it currently does? There are also other out-of-game benefits that could come from this event, such as quicker matchmaking and quicker challenge completion. Based on the reception to these changes, the team might use the feedback toward improving the game. That's what these Quickplay: Hacked events are designed to do - quicken the feedback loop and allow for swifter implementation of improvements into the game. In fact, we have one more coming later in Season 8. You can learn more about Quickplay: Hacked here.
That's it for this week. We'll be back in a few more to talk about additional ways we're looking at improving Overwatch over the course of 2024. Thanks for reading (and watching!), and we'll see you in-game!
Sources:
Blizzard News, Rock Paper Shotgun
One of the biggest values of the team is to improve Overwatch's individual and team focused gameplay to meet the needs of our core audience. When I look at the future of Overwatch, a year or two out, I don't see the exact same game that we're playing now, but with a few more heroes and maps added to it. The game should always evolve with new systems and features that serve our players. Some of these features could live just outside of a match, such as a map voting system.
So, let's get into Overwatch gameplay. Starting with the obvious, Overwatch is a team-based, hero-based, multiplayer competitive shooter. Heroes, maps and game modes are all designed to require teams to work together in order to successfully win a match. When a team works together - each player using their hero to their fullest potential while relying on each other to execute a strategy - the game feels magical. There's really no other FPS like it. However, when this isn't happening and players are all working on their own, the game is far from magical and can become frustrating. The reliance on teammates can simultaneously be one of the best and worst attributes of our game.
We want to improve this. We want to improve this by looking at the game through the lens of teamwork, and make it easier for players to be part of the team while also lessening some of the pain when it's not happening. In fact, a lot of our goals for improving the core game stem from looking at Overwatch as a whole, improving the parts of the game that are working and finding fixes for the parts that negatively affect the experience.
We've already implemented some features to align with this. The Ping system and the newer Spawn Together system both encourage team play. For those who don't know, the Spawn Together system adjusts individual players' respawn times so they respawn with teammates more often. This system will get a tuning pass in Season 9 to make the effect more prominent. But we're talking about other features that will make it easier for players to work together as a team. Party Frames is one of these - these are the on-screen player health indicators that we use for our PvE events. Other possible features such as backfill improvements, changes to our scoreboard, and ways to mitigate spawn camping also align with this. To show the extent of our discussions, even an ally-only mini-map feature was discussed. Some of these systems are under discussion and some are in development. I don't think a mini-map has a high likelihood of shipping, but I do think that Party Frames are likely.
It's our hope that staying closer to your teammates and having more information on what they're doing will help encourage team play, but what happens when your team is not working well together? We' definitely want to make this a little less frustrating. We've talked about the new Competitive system coming to Season 9, but there's a massive set of gameplay and balance changes coming to that season, as well. Many of those changes are aimed at reducing damage spikes in combat. I won't get into all of it here (we're working on a standalone post to be published closer to the start of that season), but for the sake of the current discussion, I'd like to talk about one aspect of it. In Season 9, both Tank and Damage heroes will get a modified, tuned-down version of the Support self-healing passive. This should give non-Support players more options in terms of sustaining themselves. It should also take some of the pressure off Support players to keep everyone alive since individual players now have more control of their own health pool. In Overwatch, there is a constant tug of war between the power of a team and the power of an individual hero or player. A change like this shifts that balance a bit. This is something that we are constantly evaluating. We still want Overwatch to be defined by team strategy and mechanics, but we feel this can be pulled back a bit now and possibly more in the future.
That's it for this week. We'll be back in a few more to talk about additional ways we're looking at improving Overwatch over the course of 2024. Thanks for reading (and watching!), and we'll see you in-game!
24 Comments on Overwatch 2 Improvements Aim to Reduce Dependence on Teamwork
The original pitch of Overwatch was that it was heavily dependent on team play and game sense over raw mechanical skill.
I quite enjoyed that aspect, even if your aim wasn't on point, as long as you managed your resources, looked out for your team you provided value.
Overwatch 2 isn't even overwatch anymore, it's just a poorly balanced TDM FPS. There may still be objectives in overwatch but the game is now heavily kill focused.Unfortunately now none of that matters. They changed it so most heroes can cancel their abilities so there's no requirement to think about when to use things. In addition most heroes now have a get out of jail free card and by extension it's nearly impossible punish people for being out of position. Effectively there is no positioning in OW2, it's just TDM at this point. Really not that different from COD, teams are mostly superficial and these upcoming changes will only further solidify that.
A game that was founded as all about teamwork is now no more. Please oh please someone file class actions against these jerks. OW was a great game that should have never been turned into this mess. They stole everyone's money who bought OW1.
I don't know how much effect if any Microsoft's purchase will have. IMO, Microsoft just wanted to buy Bethesda and I don't think Blizzard's major hits have ever been the console-first content that Microsoft are remotely interested in.
The worst part is Diablo 4 has grossed more than 1 billion in revenue so most likely Activision Blizzard did not learn it's lesson because a lot of people can't see an obvious cashgrab when it's one of their favorite franchises.
Diablo 2 + Lord of Destruction : 400h~
Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos + Frozen Throne : 150h~
Diablo 3 : 120h~
World of Warcraft + Burning Crusade + Wrath of the Lich King + (many privates server later like Nostalrius/Warmane etc) : 350~380 days /played
Starcraft + Brood War : 60h~
Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty + Heart of the Swarm + Legacy of the Void : 120h~
Diablo 2 Resurrected : 100h~
Hearthstone : 130h~
But it was all at their release. The only recent i played was the remaster of D2. They nailed it.
Mcree, S76, Tracer, Zarya could all more or less 1v11 games. I peaked GM Season 3.
Edit: The problem is more or less "role lock"too.
Game was better when you could 2/2/2 comps and randomly switch off DPS/Tanks to counter a specific combos. Anyone with half a brain in masters+ elo knew what to do.
And teams without any talent whatsoever. They just throw shit at the wall hoping something sticks. There is no vision, no direction, only responsive tweaking based on a business plan with a trickle-pace release schedule that is met with a skeleton crew. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the teams share people between the games too.
Disgusting. And then you have to imagine there are whole entire Blizz forums full of naive suckers still thinking Blizzard is putting in any real effort. Mind blowing.Well honestly, why you would play Overwatch through Steam eludes me entirely. Shared friends lists? Hardly necessary.No you're not, Blizzard just turned from one of the best developers of the century into the worst one in the last 1,5 decade.
Similar things occurred with EA, Ubisoft.
Money and power corrupts, that's the gist. When products go mainstream, they erode into samey, boring, uninspired best practice exercises.Microsoft also releases Flight Simulator and another variety of games probably even wider than what EA puts out.
I totally see them reinvigorate Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo. The potential is still there. The legacy is written. Tossing that out would be like burning several billions worth of franchise. The amount of lore and backstory there is for these worlds is staggering. Its easy to write new stories on them, and far more gripping than 'yet another fantasy world with waifu-inspired art' or the umpteenth high fantasy spinoff. Its all been done ten times over, expanding on what we already know is easily the better play, also commercially.
Microsoft is also not a console-first company either, even if they do invest in Xbox a lot, they still view it as a brand that is device agnostic. Blizzard is originally a PC-first developer and it shows in their franchises too. Diablo successfully made the switch to a consolified version, but Warcraft and Starcraft do not.
but seeing news like this
"Aim to Reduce Dependence on Teamwork"
Reducing the Teamwork in a Team based game is a very bad look...
Rewind all the way back to Quake and while duels are still the most popular way to do it the game is a "team game" but it always leaned heavily into personal skill first vs team skill as a second, even remote at times. It was sort of accepted.
The problem with Overwatch is that it attempted Street Fighter the FPS and then face planted.
And what the heck is even “Street Fighter the FPS”? This is one random analogy if I ever heard one.
I understand, that playing against coherent unstopable team feels frustrating in any game. Especially when own team is a bunch of loose solo idiots. But at least it brings a respect for an organised work, even if it's opposite team.
Sometimes there's a wish to play solo. But in that case, It's better to play SP game, rather than enter public match and show, how one disrespect others. And interesting game, gives fun, and cooperation in such game brings a lot more joy by itself.
Not that I've ever played OW, or am interested in it. But this is a problem, stuff like this, made by such big companies, usually end up as a disastrous trend in the industry. Especially, when it comes to such mostrous nearly monopoly corporation, that is MS, where Blizzard is just a subsidiary.
"Overwatch 2" is just another mobile game for gambling addicted masochists. Parents really should look more closely what thievish trash their kids are playing & where they spend their cash on.
I'm still bitter over that. :laugh::roll:
I dislike Epic very much.
The guy (Kaplan) got burned out and that was when Keller kicked in.
Since then, direction/director, looks like a board's puppet which only goal is add all available monetization strategies. In-game shop, dual confusing currencies, vrouches, tiered battlepasses, fake starter packs, the menus, etc. Tell the e-sports department if financial didnt take over the game direction... In exchange of selling their soul for their dream job (and maybe some stocks ready to raise due to MS acquisition), they can keep "developing" other aspects of the game. Of course "streamers" get exited on every change*, what will they do? L2P another game were they are top500? Don't think so. More puppets to soften the message.
You can see how this guy has been burning out since day one of taking the project.
*of course they are the ones in charge to educate unprofessional game players (X_D) about why changes are how they are and how affect top tier game players. As long as streamers crowd is cool you have hordes of acolytes to mute any opposing opinion in any forum.
As any other "competitive" game btw.