Overwatch 2 Is Out Now! (But Not Really - Servers)

[J4MES OX4D 10,037]

But good luck trying to play it

You Can't Play Overwatch 2 Right Now Because It's Under Attack [Update]

KOTAKU.COM

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Blizzard president Mike Ybarra says the external attack on Overwatch 2 servers is continuing on day 2

 

The release has been extremely flat. Kinda just feels like Blizzard have released an expansion pack or started up on the old game again rather than being a fresh sequel. I think most people have moved on and Blizzard as a whole only have themselves to blame after taking their eyes off the ball for years and thinking the brand would just remain consistently successful. 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

I'm tempted to give it a go.  The price is right.  😏

[GazzaGarratt 11,056]

Briefly tried to login last night after footy - takes forever and you can get told the servers are down. Funnily enough as I wasn't doing much I let it re-search and 20 mins later it popped up. Didn't try it by then but its clear to see server issues are an absolute nightmare. They have had an astronomical number try to play this since launch and no surprise since they went F2P.

 

Hopeful to get more of us on it to try it over the next few days and we get some impression threads out there.

[Greboth 2,721]

I didn't read this until late last night but I got on for an hour or so last night.  There was a queue to get in but that only took a couple of minutes then the game played fine.  The new push the robot is good but not fully sure how it works as seems sometimes you're escorting a robot but other times, defending it from the enemies escorting it.  But it's mostly it's the same as OW1 with a few changes to some of the hero's.

 

The biggest changes I've noticed so far is Bastion - turning in to a turret is now an ability so you can only be a mini gun for a short while but you can also move as a turret.  He also can't heal any more and has a noob tube and his ultimate is a 3 shot stationary artillery strike rather than his super canon thing of OW1.  Zarya has a useful change too as she now has 2 bubbles so could be a lot more useful tank.

[tronic44 3,642]

Haven't had a chance to play yet but heard from a friend that the new 5v5 makes it extremely hard, once one of your team dies then it's basically a squad wipe.

 

Will download it later and try and hop on for some games at some point.

[J4MES OX4D 10,037]

2 hours ago, tronic44 said:

Haven't had a chance to play yet but heard from a friend that the new 5v5 makes it extremely hard, once one of your team dies then it's basically a squad wipe.

Definitely seems to be a huge talking point but hopefully it's a case of adapting rather than a conceptual misstep. It's amazing how in these MP games, removing or adding players can have a huge difference on how they play. No wonder BF2042 was a colossal cock up when they thought they could just make the maps twice as big and double the lobby size! 

 

Seems that developers think 5v5 is more tactical but I don't think this is the case. 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

I was almost near the end of my queue... and they took the servers offline.  FFS!  I wanna see what all the fuss is about.

[Riff Machine 2,105]

UPDATE:  I actually connected... and it asked for my phone number, which involved me having to restart the game, which put me right at the end of the line again.

 

FUCK BLIZZARD!!!!!!!!!

[J4MES OX4D 10,037]

9 hours ago, Riff Machine said:

UPDATE:  I actually connected... and it asked for my phone number, which involved me having to restart the game, which put me right at the end of the line again.

 

FUCK BLIZZARD!!!!!!!!!

https://www.ign.com/articles/overwatch-2-phone-sms-protect-scrapped

[tronic44 3,642]

I jumped on yesterday for a couple of games during the day and got into a lobby straight away. We won and I ended up getting play of the game with Ana, I was fortunate to have a team of people who just wrecked. 
 

Ended up just jumping into some casual games or what ever it’s called, didn’t try any new characters yet as wanted to use my old favourites and get my aim back in.

 

Is this cross play by any chance?

[Riff Machine 2,105]

It does, as well as cross-save progression.

[techno 3,511]

 

 

 

 

Seems all in the garden isn't rosy 

[Greboth 2,721]

Am I the only that just doesn’t care?

 

I am honestly struggling to understand why people are getting so wound up over the price of cosmetic items.  If you don’t like the price, here’s a novel idea, don’t buy any skins.  Do people really care that much about what their character looks like?  I’m here to play a game, not look in the mirror.  If that game comes for free then I’m all for it and am happy to enjoy the game even if I’m in default skins because it’s exactly the same game as people who do spend money on it.

[phil bottle 9,767]

7 minutes ago, Greboth said:

Am I the only that just doesn’t care?

 

I am honestly struggling to understand why people are getting so wound up over the price of cosmetic items.  If you don’t like the price, here’s a novel idea, don’t buy any skins.  Do people really care that much about what their character looks like?  I’m here to play a game, not look in the mirror.  If that game comes for free then I’m all for it and am happy to enjoy the game even if I’m in default skins because it’s exactly the same game as people who do spend money on it.

 

Yep, totally agree. Couldn't give two fucks about cosmetics, has zero bearing on the game and that's fine by me 😁

[Riff Machine 2,105]

1 hour ago, phil bottle said:

 

Yep, totally agree. Couldn't give two fucks about cosmetics, has zero bearing on the game and that's fine by me 😁

Dead on.  As long as the MTs are cosmetic, I don't give a flying fuck.  

[J4MES OX4D 10,037]

14 hours ago, techno said:

 

 

 

 

Seems all in the garden isn't rosy 

Seems like they really killed the progression system in Overwatch 2 - this was the best part of the original game where not only did you play and enjoy the game, you had lots to work towards without spending a penny.  Games these days are all just divided into seasons and purchasable battle passes for maximum profit. At least in COD there's still (just) enough meat in the game for standard owners but F2P users in OW2 may as well not even bother with what's on offer. Literally killed the very thing that oozed retention. 

 

Basic deathmatch with nothing much to play for does not wash these days and Halo Infinite proved if you have absolutely nothing more to offer outside the shooting in terms of progression and awards, you will lose 95% of your playerbase within 1 year and destroy you brand once and for all. 

 

I don't even Blizzard have done it to entice premium owners - it's just pure laziness on their part and a lack of forward planning. It will come to bite and this game will probably lose half its players come the end of he month. 

[Greboth 2,721]

8 minutes ago, J4MES OX4D said:

but F2P users in OW2 may as well not even bother with what's on offer

 

What?!  There's a whole game for free on offer but let's focus on the fact there's no "progression" to collect useless cosmetic items.  I find it even funnier given the "progression" in OW1 was non-existent too (compared to games such as CoD, for example).

[J4MES OX4D 10,037]

1 hour ago, Greboth said:

 

What?!  There's a whole game for free on offer but let's focus on the fact there's no "progression" to collect useless cosmetic items.  I find it even funnier given the "progression" in OW1 was non-existent too (compared to games such as CoD, for example).

Whether people like it or not, engagement features such as unlocks and challenges that equate to progression and gives rewards is what delivers retention and keeps games sustainable. Every deathmatch shooter that has failed to deliver this aspect in the last 10 years has been literally dead within a year. This isn’t 2012 where levelling is merely enough to satisfy longevity through core gameplay. If Fortnite didn’t offer it’s range of awards then it would be as dead as every other Battle Royale right now.
 

Even Overwatch 2 premium owners are being shafted for content under the guise of the game being free which is a stark comparison to what the original offered throughout its entire duration. Games that fumble their monetisation model right off the bat also usually fail pitifully within the first 12 months. Just because something is free doesn’t make it a gesture to the gamers either - as always there is a far greater income model in place and it’s always at the true expense of gameplay or progression elements.

 

I couldn’t give a toss about skins but a game needs to have elements that maintain interest especially in heavily saturated brands. COD games for the past 9 years have almost exclusively been on life support come January so there has to be more to games than just the gameplay itself as Halo Infinite has demonstrated.

[techno 3,511]

4 hours ago, J4MES OX4D said:

Whether people like it or not, engagement features such as unlocks and challenges that equate to progression and gives rewards is what delivers retention and keeps games sustainable. Every deathmatch shooter that has failed to deliver this aspect in the last 10 years has been literally dead within a year. This isn’t 2012 where levelling is merely enough to satisfy longevity through core gameplay. If Fortnite didn’t offer it’s range of awards then it would be as dead as every other Battle Royale right now.
 

Even Overwatch 2 premium owners are being shafted for content under the guise of the game being free which is a stark comparison to what the original offered throughout its entire duration. Games that fumble their monetisation model right off the bat also usually fail pitifully within the first 12 months. Just because something is free doesn’t make it a gesture to the gamers either - as always there is a far greater income model in place and it’s always at the true expense of gameplay or progression elements.

 

I couldn’t give a toss about skins but a game needs to have elements that maintain interest especially in heavily saturated brands. COD games for the past 9 years have almost exclusively been on life support come January so there has to be more to games than just the gameplay itself as Halo Infinite has demonstrated.

Nero is always banging on about progression and giving players something to work towards. It's one of the reasons cold war got called boring. Imagine gran tourismo without a way to earn cars in-game even if it was free would people defend that? It's one of the reasons people want the old prestige system back in cod. It's also one reason people hate sbmm because they get nothing for participating or doing well. 

One thing is certain these days companies know they can get away with this type of shit because enough people will still throw money at the screen.

[Greboth 2,721]

6 minutes ago, techno said:

Imagine gran tourismo without a way to earn cars in-game even if it was free would people defend that?

 

That's not a fair comparison, it's more akin to Gran Turismo without being able to change your paint job.  In which case, yes I would still buy and defend it.  I can say this definitively because most PC racing sims have all the cars unlocked, a few liveries which you can't add to or get more, and no progression because there's no credits or whatever to earn like Gran Turismo as there's no need to buy cars.  The "progression" is simply your stats screen of how many races you've entered, how many pole positions, fastest laps, wins etc.

 

For the record, I'm not defending the business practice itself just arguing against there being no value to the game because you can't unlock some shitty cosmetic skins, emotes or stickers that you'll never use anyway.  Put it this way, when you go to the cinema do you go to enjoy the film or do you go just because they give you a sticker after the film? I going to assume they don't give you a sticker for attending the cinema but, if they did, would it really make it a better experience?

[crispymorgan 1,056]

Skins are shit.  The only people that enjoy them are the people looking at you.  Nothing changes in the game.  As far as I'm concerned, make everything free to play and let the kids pay for my games, and I'll keep the stock skins.

[J4MES OX4D 10,037]

1 hour ago, Greboth said:

For the record, I'm not defending the business practice itself just arguing against there being no value to the game because you can't unlock some shitty cosmetic skins, emotes or stickers that you'll never use anyway.

People that play Fortnite, Apex, Warzone and Overwatch would strongly disagree - these games have lifetime revenues of over £25bn and collectively they get probably close to 50m players each day still. Those games offer strong retention aspects, are constantly developed and are continuously giving people something to work towards. It's also better than players buying lootboxes or skins direct. Battle passes divided into seasons further gives people reason to continue or return and new stuff to work towards.

 

Compare those highly successful games with Battlefield 2042 and Halo Inifnite which are both monumental brands with games that are absolutely dead and in crisis mode less than a year after releasing. These games offered no progression or things to keep people engaged with. It isn't 2009 still - many users these days especially younger gamers want more than to just rattle off 20 matches in a session and gain 7 levels like we all used to be happy with when COD was in its prime and deathmatch wasn't saturated.  

 

Overwatch when paid struck a great balance between gameplay and rewards which were an insanely popular progression factor but in the sequel, it may take months just to unlock one thing or cost £179 to complete the set which could've been earned for free when the game was paid. As Diablo Immortal proved, a game being free does not benefit the gamer - it just gives the illusion of generosity to hook people and then get a bigger ATV payoff on committed players who are future-paywalled. 

 

I'd rather have levels, unlocks and challenges plus more to focus on rather than just going from one disbanded lobby to another with sweatfest matchmaking. The more content the better and its a win for everybody. Epic know what they are doing 12 months in advance but companies like DICE, Blizzard and 343 just wing it and fall at the first hurdle.