Overwatch 2 - Releases October 4th - Make sure to confirm your OW1 accounts for merging before October 2nd!

[Ryannumber1gamer]

It’s confirmed, all owners of OW1 gets a free upgrade to the PvP portion of OW2. Meaning all players will be on the upgraded engine, with all heroes, maps and modes.

OW1 players are then given the option to pay and unlock the PvE and Story content.

Also confirmed is it will be releasing on all consoles - PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.

[Strickerx5]

Damn, I'd be lying if I said that cinematic trailer didn't bring a tear to my eye. Rein coming in and the score just did me in.

Honestly, I'm already pretty sold on this. I've been asking for story content since the summer of 2016 and you're telling me that it's the focus of this along with showing of my frog boi first go? It's like they were marketing this thing directly at me.

With that being said though, I have to say that the actual announcement of this was pretty... off to say the least. From what I've seen around the web, the idea of OW2 taking over the original OW and it being more of a PvE DLC update isn't really being understood by a lot of people. I guess Blizz really wanted to market this as a sequel with all the new characters, maps, and engine updates they're making.

Though, tbh there is a group of the fanbase that I'm still really confused with atm. There also seems to be a whole group of people who are legitimately mad at Blizz for taking this approach and not just making it all a new game and leaving the original OW behind completely. I know this whole "live service" thing is new and all but it still just really baffles me how people can't see the benefit in not splitting up the player-base for PvP, especially from a consumer standpoint. I guess people are just really stuck on that "2" and think that everything should be both separate and bigger? It's amazing how much the simple name of something can change people's reactions. Sort of reminds me a bit of Sonic 4 tbh.

[DabigRG]

Overwatch 2: Overwatch actually does something

Was Soljourn established previously, btw?

[Strickerx5]

28 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Overwatch 2: Overwatch actually does something

Was Soljourn established previously, btw?

She was on the coms during the Storm Rising PvE event. We've only heard her (and seen her portrait really) up until this point.

[DabigRG]

1 minute ago, Strickerx5 said:

She was on the coms during the Storm Rising PvE event. We've only heard her (and seen her portrait really) up until this point.

Okay. I thought she was new for a second until I realized that picture is supposed to be the old days.

What's her deal?

[Strickerx5]

Just now, DabigRG said:

Okay. I thought she was new for a second until I realized that picture is supposed to be the old days.

What's her deal?

Not sure. They haven't mentioned her much at all within the game and I don't believe any comic has really talked about her much either. All I know is that she seems to be one of the good guys.

[DabigRG]

22 minutes ago, Strickerx5 said:

Not sure. They haven't mentioned her much at all within the game and I don't believe any comic has really talked about her much either. All I know is that she seems to be one of the good guys.

Ah.

What's happenin with Baptiste and Gravityman, btw?

[Strickerx5]

3 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Ah.

What's happenin with Baptiste and Gravityman, btw?

No one knows what's going on with them and a lot of others for 2 yet.

Hell, even beyond their initial intro videos I don't think there's much to them yet.

[DabigRG]

1 minute ago, Strickerx5 said:

 

Hell, even beyond their initial intro videos I don't think there's much to them yet.

Yeah, that's actually what I meant--they and a few other characters seemed to be added, but ignoring the fact that I don't actually play or keep up loyally, not much seems to happen with them.

In fact, is this the first time Zenyatta has been involved with the story?

[Strickerx5]

First for him and Lucio.

[DabigRG]

On 11/4/2019 at 10:14 PM, Strickerx5 said:

First for him and Lucio.

Wow, this game's story/lore sure likes to not actually do much.

[Leebo4]

This should be a no brainier as the overwatch game has a huge story and lore that shouldn’t be confident to jsut the shorts, the free comics and what will be two online multiplayer games which can’t accurately move the story forward the way it should.

 

why not make movies based in the universe? My idea is that they should start with a cgi movie starring tracer since she is the most popular character and perhaps show her last adventure before she got the message from Winston that they are reassembling overwatch.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

We've finally gotten a small update on the game - the development team is currently attempting to get cross-play up and running for OW2. Probably means that the PC, PS4, and Xbox players can play with each other at the very least, although personally I'm not sure how it'd affect Switch players, given they'd be running at 30fps against people at 60 and above.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

The person who leaked Overwatch 2 last year has said that the release date of Overwatch 2 is being revealed during Blizzcon 2020, and there will be a beta in February 2021.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Oof. This is not good news whatsoever. Overwatch's content has gotten even sparser due to them confirming no heroes/maps would be dropped following Echo - barring a new FFA map some devs made using pre-existing Hanamura assets, and now OW2 is another year out at least. 

[Wraith]

This would have surprised me up until a few weeks back, when we learned from a leaker Overwatch 2's development wasn't going well and it wasn't gong to have the presence at Blizzcon that people have been expecting. This, along with the VV merger and Genji's VA admitting that they hadn't started recording for it indicated to me things had gone south and it was a ways off. They might have even scrapped it and started over. 

I doubt Blizzard holds to that promise of not updating OW1 for a whole other year. The game has already been stagnating. They're probably going to have to cut their losses and release something no matter what. Pros and content creators have been quitting left and right. Playerbase is stagnating and online discussion is hitting a lull. I finally hung up my pulse pistols last month and I was already the last person in my friend group interested. The game can't keep going like this. 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

At this rate, Overwatch 2 is going to become the Big Foot of videogames.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

• New Maps - India, Rome, New York, Toronto (Bigger in scope).
• Currently trying to change to Tanks to make them more brawly (Rein can cancel charges now and launch two firestrikes) - they empathise it might not stick and it's being tested right now.
• Weapon Systems got reworks to feel more immersive 
• New method of recording sounds to feel more immersive (They travelled to actual locations and shot off guns and recorded sounds to reflect it)
• New camera shake for immersion
• Various info on Soujorn - uses a railgun rifle, and can jump like Bap
• We got footage of old maps remade in OW2's engine (King's Row, Hanamura, Route 66)
• They're considering removing 2CP and replacing it with something else in OW2 so it feels like a proper evolutionary move
• Hero Missions is a co-op PvE experience with light story elements and making hundreds of hero missions to ensure they don't feel repetitive by making different hero mission types with different enemy types, and can take place on all multiplayer maps, with areas exclusive to the maps.
• King's Row has a new area in the Hero Mission.
• Weather changes during maps and day to night cycles are now present in the game, certain maps can start off normal and have sandstorms suddenly blow through them.
• Hero Mission types: Gather and Return (Gather canisters over the map and secure them), Wall of Death, Scavenger Hunt, Kill Quest - more to come
• PvE Skill Trees are now in the game - called the Talent System. 
• Rein has three skill trees - Crusader, Juggernaut, and Guardian. Guardian has a skill that gives armour equal to 50% of your max health, and deals 50% more damage for 6 seconds when your shield breaks. Juggernaut has another one where he gains armour for 3%, 6%, and 10% of Rein's max health.
• Example of Soldier's builds has one where he can repel enemies with his healing canister, and move it along with himself, healing others who're near him. Nicknamed the snow-plow build.
• Mercy can launch off energy blasts towards enemies
• Junkrat can dual-weld grenade launchers
• Mercy can use her old rez again instantly, far away, and through walls
• Completely new enemy types in PvE from Null Sector - work done to expand their units, and add new moves to the units to make Null Sector more interesting. 
• New enemy called the Breacher - marches towards objective, transforms into a bomb to blast objectives.
• Flying drones who drop bombs
• Puller - a witch like character with a regal appearance that uses a tractor beam to drag you in, before stabbing you with her hair
• Null Sector enemies won't die immediately, but will drop to the ground and crawl towards you.
• Robot that launches off rockets towards you
• New efforts to make hitting robots super impactful
• If you shoot null sector robots, they can be knocked back and sent flying into other enemies.
• Redesigns are revealed:
• Soldier's redesign is revealed - he's got a beard now and looks visibly older.
• McCree's redesign is revealed - he has a longer beard, a more technical cape, and some more cyber parts while retaining the cowboy look.
• Pharah's redesign is fairly minimal - keeping the armoured look but changing her colour scheme back to the original colour scheme of Overwatch (Blue and White). Her visor was also updated to allow her to emote better.
• Reaper's redesign features a more technological and armoured cloak. His mask is now completely silver.
• Widowmaker has a armoured design that looks a bit more cyberpunkish, including more technological enhancements and armour, while still retaining the femme fatale theme they were going for, her hair is now braided too, looking more like a scorpion's tail.
• Story details - we're going to learn who's behind the second Omnic Uprising, how much it's spread across the world.
• Every story mission has cinematic outros and intros.
• All available heroes get dialogue in missions.
• NPCs are in missions
• There's events that encourages players to interact with each other and the environment (Zombies-esque easter eggs?)
• Focus on where the heroes are in this point of their lives, dealing with not having been heroes in so long, and how they're technically not allowed to be heroes right now.
• Story's gone through constant versions
• Each story mission has a custom map made for it, and the maps are gigantic.
• Each city has a written history behind it.
• Torb's workshop is finally shown.
• Toronto has a constant snowstorm that builds up as your progress through the mission
• Different dialogue depending on which heroes you place on which mission (For example - having Mercy and Genji together in the second mission of the game will unlock unique dialogue between them about their relationship).
• Their goal is for Overwatch 2 to be the worthy successor to Overwatch 1.

[Wraith]

Jeff Kaplan is leaving Blizzard.

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/news/23665015/

 

He will be replaced by Aaron Keller

[Ryannumber1gamer]

4 minutes ago, Wraith said:

Jeff Kaplan is leaving Blizzard.

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/news/23665015/

 

That uh...that doesn't bode well.

I mean his replacement is at least someone who's been with the team for a long time, but given Jeff was the one who had to fight tooth and nail to get OW2 as a free upgrade for all OW1 players, it's worrying that he's leaving, especially mid-development.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

2 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

That uh...that doesn't bode well.

I mean his replacement is at least someone who's been with the team for a long time, but given Jeff was the one who had to fight tooth and nail to get OW2 as a free upgrade for all OW1 players, it's worrying that he's leaving, especially mid-development.

Could be a sign that they're planning to walk back on such a promise.

[JezMM]

Jeff seems like a cool guy on the development side, assuming he's as nice as he comes across, I wish him well on whatever he does next. I'm still mixed on whether I'll bother to play OW2 considering I haven't played OW1 for months now (I used to really enjoy it to the point it was wasting too much of my time tbh, it's a very moreish game I admit) and the whole... Activision Blizzard frequently being a garbage company thing.

With that in mind, the biggest loss here will be the lack of cosy Christmas Eve Yule Log stream.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

9 minutes ago, JezMM said:

I'm still mixed on whether I'll bother to play OW2 considering I haven't played OW1 for months now (I used to really enjoy it to the point it was wasting too much of my time tbh, it's a very moreish game I admit) and the whole... Activision Blizzard frequently being a garbage company thing.

With that in mind, the biggest loss here will be the Christmas Eve Yule Log stream.

I'm still probably going to play OW2 because I'm a sucker for PvE, and that's primarily what I want from the game.

That said, the way they decided to handle things has been horrendous. I played a lot of Overwatch and must have at least 1000 hours put into it from launch, and I've been playing it less and less, only really hopping on for events (primarily the challenge event skins). The game's just been lacking in content, and it's harmed it as a result, especially since they refuse to add anything more to OW1, due to saving it for OW2.

I feel like they should've been planning some meaningful changes to happen, and that still needs to happen with OW2 receiving a delay. If it's going to take upwards of a year, if not even longer to get OW2 onto PS4, Xbox One, PC, and so on, then get a PS5 and Xbox Series X port into development for OW1, give us some haptics, some adaptive trigger support, etc. Series X and Series S recently got a update for 4K/60fps or 120fps/1440p, and yet PS5 is still rocking the same blurry 1080p graphics at 60fps. Put out Sojurn already, we know she's finished. God, even this year's Archive event only had three new challenge modes compared to last year's six.

There's been zero meaningful content added to Overwatch in forever. Even this year's Archives skins aren't even the usual lore-based ones we get that gives us something relating to the characters, they're just crappy historical skins that could've just been thrown into an Anniversary event. 

I don't really think it's hard to argue that Overwatch 1 has just continually been getting worse and worse since they decided to focus on OW2. The only major changes it gets anymore is balance changes. With no new heroes or maps, almost no new content for events, and no gameplay improvements to issues that's plagued the game for awhile, it's just become a tedious mess to play. The most interesting thing they've done in ages was the April Fools event where they put out a ton of ridiculous and broken changes, like making Mei a tank, letting Sigma and Zenyatta fly, and such.

[Wraith]

I'm still going to play the game, though primarily for multiplayer as single player GAAS just isn't my thing.


For all the rightful shit the game gets, the balance changes over the last year or so have actually left me feeling pretty satisfied, bar a few outliers like Baptise's lamp. That, and the last event actually being fun enough for me to bother playing it more than once is pairing well with the stuff they showed off at blizzcon to make me optimistic that they'll finally hit the ground running with a solid, balanced shooter come launch. The PvP stuff is kind of just a bonus for me, but at least it seems substantial.

I...haven't minded the lack of new heroes/maps as much as I thought I would either. It was hard to get excited for them because they were of extremely mixed quality and always threw the game balance out of wack. Some of the new additions legitimately ruined the game for months at a time IMO, and that's not an issue to take lightly. Taking some time to focus on refinement has been good for the game and I'm hoping to hear they've rethought their approach to designing Heroes/Maps in the interim.

Basically, I'm willing to wait, but I'm an outlier. I still think they should reconsider their plan and release something between now and Overwatch 2. The population numbers have dwindled pretty harshly, at least on my end, and what's a multiplayer game without a base? I don't think Overwatch 1 continuing to stay quiet is actually going to hurt Overwatch 2's launch any(I think it'll actually go over a lot better if the gaming public just kind of forgets about Overwatch 1 so they can be pleasantly surprised whenever they return), but the game would be more fun in the meantime if they did something to keep players sticking around. The main thing stopping me from turning it on much nowadays is the queue times, and that's due to an inactive playerbase.

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I frankly want better game balancing. Ever since they got rid of the skill level requirements, match-making has been a complete and total shitshow in every aspect. As a gold border player with so many hours on the game, I absolutely should not be getting matched with people who are under level 50. Not to mention that team balancing is often quite often than not - a complete shambles. I've had tons upon tons of matches where there were silver to platinum border players all all matched into the enemy team, while my team has all bronze border players.

They decided to get rid of the skill-based matchmaking to get faster queue times, but idk man. When the matches have degraded so utterly horrendously in quality as a result, it's not particularly good.