I Admit Defeat; I can't deal with Overwatch anymore

[someonehairy-ish]

Honestly, after hundreds of matches of DOTA 2 spent slowly crawling out of the cancerous low MMR pit, I really can't be bothered to do the same thing in another game. Overwatch looks like it could potentially be fun (with friends) but it just isn't worth it.

If the game had a free for all mode or something else where you could have fun solo and didn't have to escort a payload around all day, I might play it.

 

[Battenberg]

ever notice how almost always the characters that can dominate through pure mechanical skill - McCree, Genji and Widow for example - get nerfed consistently but those who rely on abilities/are easy to use don't get touched or even buffed - IE: S76, Roadhog etc.?

Nope. Genji and McCree got nerfed aaaages ago because they were both a legitimate problem to the meta (McCree's fan the hammer was particularly bad letting him effectively one shot tanks) and Widow's only received buffs for the last few months. S76 doesn't rely on abilities any more than McCree, and hog's been nerfed repeatedly recently. The game's not without its flaws but character balance isn't one of them, very few games have a team as dedicated to balance so far from launch (who even do full reworks of character to help them see play). I also don't understand your complaints about abilities. There's maybe 3 I see as an actual problem at most out of 70+ and even those haven't ruined the game completely.

I agree it's a LOT less fun to play on your own though if you play competitive. Matches feel like a total coin flip a lot of the time because of the ranking system simply doesn't work for anyone but the very top players. I sidestep that problem by mainly playing quickplay, works for me.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Solo queue'er here. Most of the problems that come with Overwatch's matchmaking are endemic to any team-based game. I nearly always end up playing support/healers in these games because nobody else will a good 90% of the time (or when they do it's solely to get kills as a "Battle Medic").

Simply put, many players don't give a shit about the team. They'd rather do their own thing and let the job of carrying the team fall on someone else (which begs the question why they're playing a team-based game in the first place instead of the avalanche of "lone wolf" shooters out there, but what can you do). In my experience, the people who ***** the most about healing tend to be the ones who insta-lock classes with the most "selfish" play styles. The lack of self-awareness from these players can be staggering.

At least Overwatch doesn't allow players to switch teams mid-match. Blatantly stacked teams were a frequent issue I had when I still played TF2. Steamrolls are never fun; it's infuriating for the losing side and boring for the winning one. If people are too insecure to take losses with their wins then they have no business playing games like these. You just gotta roll with the punches as best you can (or take a break and let off some steam if it's becoming more frustrating than fun).

In short, it's not the game's fault, it's the players.

Also, FUCK Gengi mains. I just wanted to get that off my chest after getting shanked by those weaboo fuckers one too many times lately.

EDIT: I should probably mention that I haven't touched competitive, nor do I have a particular urge to do so. I don't want the extra stress of trying to "rank up" or some shit like that. I just want to play the game without it turning into a pissing contest over who has the largest numbers.

 

[WindKnight]

Also, FUCK Gengi mains. I just wanted to get that off my chest after getting shanked by those weaboo fuckers one too many times lately.

I kind of have the opposite problem - if anyone on my team picks Genji, Widowmaker, Hanzo or McCree, they do NOT have the skills to make them shine, to the point i reflexively wince any time I see one or more picked.

(remembers the no-limits game[footnote]I only play arcade for the bonus lootboxes[/footnote] where the enemy Widowmaker got a triple kill POTG from headshotting all three of our widowmakers within seconds of the game starting)

 

[IceForce]

Eh, I'll agree on some things and disagree on others.

Map design is actually pretty good, mostly. Plenty of high ground and flanking routes, on most of the maps at least. It's really only Eichenwalde and Hanamura that are a bit too chokey for my liking, (although to give Blizzard credit, they've made another hole in the choke on Eichenwalde, so hopefully that should alleviate some of the problems there). Anubis choke has no flanking routes either, but it has a LOT of cover once you actually step through the choke (to either the left or the right), so it's not quite so bad.

Defenders have a spawn advantage at the end of the map, yes, but that's balanced out by the fact that the attackers have spawn advantage at the beginning of the map.

As for hero balance, I'll admit there have been a few issues here. Ana is the most egregious example, but there are others. Mostly just cases where there's an overlap in function between two heroes, one hero almost always outshines the other. Like Roadhog being a better Reaper, Ana being better than Mercy, Soldier being better than McCree, etc.
With the exception of Ana (and possible Soldier), any overbuffs tend to be quickly reverted (eg: D.Va, Bastion, etc.)

Matchmaking is really bad, and frequently just throws matches together (though it isn't as bad as Heroes, thankfully). The number of 6 randoms vs. 4+2's, 3+3's or even outright 6 stacks happens far too frequently for what is apparently such a popular game.

Whenever you solo queue and you get put against large premades like that, it's important to remember that those premades have likely been waiting for a game for 5 or maybe even 10 minutes. The matchmaker always tries to put large premades against one another, but if it can't find any within the same skill level, within the same region, and at that specific time, then it gives up after about 5 or 10 minutes and just puts them with whoever it can.

That said though, I will agree the matchmaker can be pretty horrendous. Complete curbstomps are really common, and actual genuinely close matches are pretty rare, which seems to indicate that the matchmaker screwed up and didn't put two balanced and evenly-matched teams against each other.

Incompetent and inept teammates are something the game can't do much about, unfortunately. Anecdotally, my Mercy experiences have been pretty bad. Whenever someone on my team goes Mercy, they almost always seem to be useless, tunnel-visioning on one teammate and not healing me when I'm stood right next to them, and rezzing us INTO enemy ults, etc. And if I take Mercy myself, no one else on my team seems to be able to hit or kill anything, and I find enemies die quicker if I just use Mercy's pistol.
Buuut this is all anecdotal, and probably a result of me playing at an incredibly low elo.

 

[Paragon Fury]

I may have worded a few parts of my OP a bit too strongly (particularly the part about it being one of the worst experiences ever), but I stand behind the general sentiment still and I should've been bit gentler (as I don't want the game to fail, nor do I think it's a truly BAD game) in a couple parts.

I think though something that needs to be said is that the biggest problem with Overwatch is the actual game part of the game is what is problematic.

You find a concept that a lot of high-level/professional fighting game players and MOBA players, as well as some FPS players talk about. It goes by a lot of names, but the basic concept is this:

To truly evaluate a game's merit as a competitive endeavor, strip away all the graphics, the flash, the story, every thing not related to the actual mechanics and physical playing and winning/losing of the game. Reduce the game purely to actions, reactions, consequences and numbers - this is the "soul" of the game. What the game truly is when it doesn't have it's makeup on.

Do these things, these numbers and actions have meaningful interactions? Do they work well together? Do they work sensibly together, with repeatable and logical outcomes? Do they have an understandable flow and method? Can they be effectively manipulated and controlled?

If so, then you're probably looking at a game with a good core.

This is Overwatch's problem; it's "soul" is...clunky is the word I want to use? If Overwatch were a car, it would have the hottest body and a ton of the newest features; but the engine would have a weird tick and clunk noise. It would have a handling problem. The actual functionality of it being a *motor vehicle* wouldn't match the polish on the body and interior. It's individual pieces don't mesh well together all the time (some would argue even most of the time).

Compare this to another big game that keeps getting bigger; Rainbow Six Siege. Despite the fact that Siege has had numerous bugs, lag issues and even some balance issues, the game keeps growing and getting more popular. Even at it's worst balance, when Blackbeard was an unkillable God and lag was bad, Siege remained and kept getting more popular because all of it's individual features and pieces worked so well together, worked in such harmony that the actual game part of the game was still great.

That's what I want from Overwatch; but it requires Blizzard to do things they're not used to and probably not comfortable doing (ironically, the same kinds of issues Riot Games used to have really bad).