So how are your games going lately? [megathread]

[Endus]

That roadhog buff is pretty close to what I expected. A little stronger, actually.

I think it's fine. People complaining want Roadhog to go back to being a one-shot wonder for some reason, and by dropping his damage somewhat, he's no longer great at 1v1ing everything when hook's off CD. He can usually get a kill, but it's not guaranteed. That's fine. This buff means he's a HELL of a lot more resilient, and his Take a Breather isn't free ult charge for the enemy (both because 50% reduction in damage is less ult charge directly, AND he can run away and dodge), so he'll be more capable at roaming (in a tank perspective, on Defense, covering side alleys and the like). The hook remains just as effective as always for dunking people into pits, which I think is overlooked. It has some major advantages over things like boops; the person drops EXACTLY where you want them, and they get zero horizontal mobility (important if it's Hanzo/Lucio, since you can drop them far enough out they can't grab the wall). It also works on dashing D.vas, if you time it right; boop just bounces off. The bonus with D.va is, since she's already used boost, it's on CD, so it's a guaranteed kill.

Look at hook more as battlefield control and utility and not a one-shot tool, and these changes look pretty darned good.

[Jessicka]

That roadhog buff is pretty close to what I expected. A little stronger, actually.

I think it's fine. People complaining want Roadhog to go back to being a one-shot wonder for some reason, and by dropping his damage somewhat, he's no longer great at 1v1ing everything when hook's off CD. He can usually get a kill, but it's not guaranteed. That's fine. This buff means he's a HELL of a lot more resilient, and his Take a Breather isn't free ult charge for the enemy (both because 50% reduction in damage is less ult charge directly, AND he can run away and dodge), so he'll be more capable at roaming (in a tank perspective, on Defense, covering side alleys and the like). The hook remains just as effective as always for dunking people into pits, which I think is overlooked. It has some major advantages over things like boops; the person drops EXACTLY where you want them, and they get zero horizontal mobility (important if it's Hanzo/Lucio, since you can drop them far enough out they can't grab the wall). It also works on dashing D.vas, if you time it right; boop just bounces off. The bonus with D.va is, since she's already used boost, it's on CD, so it's a guaranteed kill.

Look at hook more as battlefield control and utility and not a one-shot tool, and these changes look pretty darned good.

As annoying as Hog was to fight, I really miss him having my back from flankers; I always appreciated having a good one around so I'll be glad to see him back amongst the picks even though I never play him. Actually had a couple in tonight's matches, and everyone instantly knows now to help with the hooked target so he was still effective, it might as well have been one-shotting since half the time they'd be dead before 'Hog took the shot himself. This change should help him be pretty solid as an anti-flanker, which is what the game really needs right now.

[Freighter]

Say it all you want, but you see that last reason? That's actually probably the most common reason; and for sure most of those reasons can happen as much to the other team as my own, but there are clearly a small number which do effect me more and those are the most noticeable and most annoying.

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Geoff just posted this: https://us.battle.net/forums/en/over...8316091#post-4

We're actually testing this exact thing right now internally. Currently we have been play testing Roadhog with -50% damage taken while using Take a Breather, and also allowing him to move at full speed while inhaling. These two changes combined certainly make him significantly more difficult to kill, while also allowing Roadhog players to be much more aggressive when trying to find a hook target, knowing they can survive a lot more easily.

We plan on throwing this up on the PTR asap (along with some other hero changes) so you guys can play with it as well. Its possible its actually too strong right now but we'll have time to iterate on it.

Wonder what other heroes are up for changes. Hope they don't bow to the D.Va DM whining, it's only escalated in complaints since they got Roadhog nerfed. We're seeing more Sombra too, and she just shuts down D.Va like nothing else.

Hoping Widow gets some long overdue buffs, and they re-buff Ana's damage. Maybe some buffs for Bastion too.

I hope they will break pharah + mercy. She's just too damned strong together with mercy, they need to reduce healing received while in the air or some shit, because it's impossible to kill her unless she's an idiot if they're playing with a mercy too.

Hope for changes to scatter arrow too because it's such a bullshit ability at the moment.

[DeadmanWalking]

I hope they will break pharah + mercy. She's just too damned strong together with mercy, they need to reduce healing received while in the air or some shit, because it's impossible to kill her unless she's an idiot if they're playing with a mercy too.

Hope for changes to scatter arrow too because it's such a bullshit ability at the moment.

If mercy is in the air playing butt sniffer on Pharah she ain't on the ground healing her team. Use that to your advantage. If you have a Pharah counter then counter mercy first. Problem is most people don't try to kill either or they shoot the target getting the healing. All anyone has to do is fire where Pharah was and you will hit Mercy since she follows the same path.

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Not if programmed for him. If designed right, an aimbot that tracks movement works just as well for Hanzo as anyone else. One could even design a button release mechanic, where the player holds left mouse, and when something moves into the "favor the shooter" and projectile area, it automatically acts as the mouse was let go and fires the arrow for him. There's also the automatic aim, with just a little "lead" put into it, and while it tracks a person, it's still on the player to make sure they use the correct pullback time. This design would even be tricky to spot as they could purposely miss some of their shots to not give it away.
Now, I'm not saying people are cheating with him, and I'm not saying these types of cheats have been made, but with people being as tech savvy as they are these days, it's not hard to imagine these types of cheats and aim assists being used.

Go find a Hanzo aimbot and I will believe you, until then it doesn't exist except in the imagination of people who just can't handle losing. The pullback mechanic and drop off of the arrow at various ranges would make it very hard to code and frankly there are easier characters who are far deadlier with an aimbot than Hanzo like Widow, McCree and Soldier.

The problem with crying wolf every time someone is highly accurate is that wolf criers always jump to the conclusion that cheating happened with no evidence. Hell my 14 year old daughter gets reported on Widow for aimbots because she is just that good and I maintain her computer which I showed her how to build by hand at age 11. There's no aimbot on that computer, but omg she accurate so CHEATER!

[Eapoe]

If mercy is in the air playing butt sniffer on Pharah she ain't on the ground healing her team. Use that to your advantage. If you have a Pharah counter then counter mercy first. Problem is most people don't try to kill either or they shoot the target getting the healing. All anyone has to do is fire where Pharah was and you will hit Mercy since she follows the same path.

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Go find a Hanzo aimbot and I will believe you, until then it doesn't exist except in the imagination of people who just can't handle losing. The pullback mechanic and drop off of the arrow at various ranges would make it very hard to code and frankly there are easier characters who are far deadlier with an aimbot than Hanzo like Widow, McCree and Soldier.

The problem with crying wolf every time someone is highly accurate is that wolf criers always jump to the conclusion that cheating happened with no evidence. Hell my 14 year old daughter gets reported on Widow for aimbots because she is just that good and I maintain her computer which I showed her how to build by hand at age 11. There's no aimbot on that computer, but omg she accurate so CHEATER!

Good Pharmercy combos don't follow the same path, at all. A good Mercy player can actually hover above Pharah, below her, to the side, it's just that she is much smoother and easier to track than Pharah, who can juke while in the air. There's also plenty of maps that I can control my glide enough that I am barely visible to the enemy team, relying on Pharah to take them out.
I don't think it would be difficult to code at all. As a matter of fact, a very simple code would be just relying on the arrow being at full strength all the time and it fires when it detects someone at the right range. Again though, as I've stated, I don't know if these even exist, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. As well as the fact I've never cheated in a game like this (infinite money in The Sims is different), I wouldn't even know where to look to get aimbots or hacks.
There's also a difference between your daughter being very accurate and a different player snapshooting every kill. I've met accurate snipers, in this game and others, and I've only seen 1 that I felt was a blatant cheater on a sniper character. I've met others that I've had suspicions on, and yes, sometimes it's on a Hanzo.

So, just an update, I googled OW cheats and found a page with numerous scripts for trigger bots and "aim snapping" based on the outline of the enemy. Easily employed by any character, even Hanzo.
Again, I do not cheat nor do I endorse cheating at all, and I won't be putting the name of the site I found.

[Mattrik]

If you want to try a 1-healer (me) 1-tank 4-DPS comp, fine.

I see so many attempts at 1-1-4 and it basically never works. Both tank and healer are too easy to eliminate with minimal focus fire and either being absent is too strong an advantage for the enemy team. I can't influence this decision because I'm already the tank in this scenario (or if we were looking like 2-0-4 I'm the heals).

Even if I can mow down Winston with D.Va because he's not that great a player, going 2v1 against their tanks will not work out. 2 tank 1 heals only works if the healer is both a strong healer pick and a good player, and 1 tank 2 heals only works if the tank isn't counterpicked and one or both healers are primarily on them.

Otherwise you'll lose unless someone is doing an amazing job carrying your team, if you have 4 dps who think that it's a good idea to run 4 dps at most of 2 them (and probably 0-1 of them) are likely to be competent in the role.

[DeadmanWalking]

I don't think it would be difficult to code at all. As a matter of fact, a very simple code would be just relying on the arrow being at full strength all the time and it fires when it detects someone at the right range. Again though, as I've stated, I don't know if these even exist, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. As well as the fact I've never cheated in a game like this (infinite money in The Sims is different), I wouldn't even know where to look to get aimbots or hacks.
There's also a difference between your daughter being very accurate and a different player snapshooting every kill. I've met accurate snipers, in this game and others, and I've only seen 1 that I felt was a blatant cheater on a sniper character. I've met others that I've had suspicions on, and yes, sometimes it's on a Hanzo.

So, just an update, I googled OW cheats and found a page with numerous scripts for trigger bots and "aim snapping" based on the outline of the enemy. Easily employed by any character, even Hanzo.
Again, I do not cheat nor do I endorse cheating at all, and I won't be putting the name of the site I found.

Again, you think but you do not know and no, it isn't easy to use an aim snapping aim bot on Hanzo because Hanzo has a delayed pullback and a drop off. Even beyond aimbots the original forum crying was that the Hanzo was 'too accurate' to which they don't know how accurate the Hanzo was since you can't tell when he misses, you only know when he hits and everytime you get hit it feels like it is always hitting because people are shitty at looking beyond their own noses. There is no evidence the Hanzo was cheating, no wonky kill feed, no hit percentage screen shot. Just "Waaah I got hit a lot so it must be cheating!" because human beings always jump to conclusions that if they are awesome they have skill but if someone else is awesome it is obviously cheating unless that guy is carrying your team then he helped you carry your team.

Its ridiculous to go on forums and jump to the conclusion that cheating is going on when you have no evidence beyond the conclusions people jump to to not have to accept that someone out there might just be better than them at a video game.

[Freighter]

If mercy is in the air playing butt sniffer on Pharah she ain't on the ground healing her team. Use that to your advantage. If you have a Pharah counter then counter mercy first. Problem is most people don't try to kill either or they shoot the target getting the healing. All anyone has to do is fire where Pharah was and you will hit Mercy since she follows the same path.

Hahaha, no.

[Zyky]

Alternatively, you were overranked last season, and placements dropped you back down closer to where you should be.

It isn't automatically an injustice. Also, your wins/medals in placements really don't matter nearly as much as you think.

Considering I've been diamond or master every season and first season I was 73, I highly doubt that I've been "overranked" every season. It's just an obnoxious system that needs a heavy rework.

[Eapoe]

Again, you think but you do not know and no, it isn't easy to use an aim snapping aim bot on Hanzo because Hanzo has a delayed pullback and a drop off. Even beyond aimbots the original forum crying was that the Hanzo was 'too accurate' to which they don't know how accurate the Hanzo was since you can't tell when he misses, you only know when he hits and everytime you get hit it feels like it is always hitting because people are shitty at looking beyond their own noses. There is no evidence the Hanzo was cheating, no wonky kill feed, no hit percentage screen shot. Just "Waaah I got hit a lot so it must be cheating!" because human beings always jump to conclusions that if they are awesome they have skill but if someone else is awesome it is obviously cheating unless that guy is carrying your team then he helped you carry your team.

Its ridiculous to go on forums and jump to the conclusion that cheating is going on when you have no evidence beyond the conclusions people jump to to not have to accept that someone out there might just be better than them at a video game.

Technically, you can very much tell when he hits you, especially when you suspect them of something and start keeping track of it. As I've stated before, Hanzo is very hard to tell if he isn't cheating or just that good, and it's usually just when it's completely blatant that you can tell. Most people that would cheat would know to take their shots to not give it away.
Also, as I've stated, using Google, it was not hard at all to find snapshot/aimbot/triggerbot scripts. A simple modification to a triggerbot is all a Hanzo needs as the player holds the left mouse button, and when something is in the projectile range of a hit, it acts as the button is let go, firing the arrow off.
It is ridiculous to jump to the conclusion that someone is cheating; however, if you have the idea they are, either thru killcams or seeing accuracy rates, there's nothing wrong with reporting them, letting Blizzard do their job and investigate the claims, and deciding if there is 2nd or 3rd party software being ran to allow cheating.
It's also just as ridiculous as assuming people saying someone is cheating are just wrong and salty for being outclassed. I'm sure some games I've even gotten reported for cheating simply because the stars aligned and I've had an amazing game and pulled off some crazy shit.
Again, if a person suspects someone of it, report it, let Blizz investigate, and move on. Maybe blow off some steam if you need to.

[DeadmanWalking]

Technically, you can very much tell when he hits you, especially when you suspect them of something and start keeping track of it. As I've stated before, Hanzo is very hard to tell if he isn't cheating or just that good, and it's usually just when it's completely blatant that you can tell. Most people that would cheat would know to take their shots to not give it away.
Also, as I've stated, using Google, it was not hard at all to find snapshot/aimbot/triggerbot scripts. A simple modification to a triggerbot is all a Hanzo needs as the player holds the left mouse button, and when something is in the projectile range of a hit, it acts as the button is let go, firing the arrow off.
It is ridiculous to jump to the conclusion that someone is cheating; however, if you have the idea they are, either thru killcams or seeing accuracy rates, there's nothing wrong with reporting them, letting Blizzard do their job and investigate the claims, and deciding if there is 2nd or 3rd party software being ran to allow cheating.
It's also just as ridiculous as assuming people saying someone is cheating are just wrong and salty for being outclassed. I'm sure some games I've even gotten reported for cheating simply because the stars aligned and I've had an amazing game and pulled off some crazy shit.
Again, if a person suspects someone of it, report it, let Blizz investigate, and move on. Maybe blow off some steam if you need to.

Again, there was no mention of wonky kill feeds or accuracy screen shots, just that they hit a lot and again, you can't tell when a hanzo misses since his arrows are silent and nobody can see it coming. How often do you see arrows in the wall and say, "Well the Hanzo must be firing here!" You don't. Are they there? Yes, but nobody pays attention to that shit. And let's not forget he fires trees, so it isn't surprising that he hits you.

There was no proof what so ever, just the typical complaint that someone was very accurate (as far as they were concerned because they don't know how much the Hanzo actually missed since you can't tell due to silence and untrackable shots) as the only proof they had.

I had a Hanzo using scatter arrow to one shot my Reaper and every time I ran back from spawn I got scattered. Was he hacking the game to get a scatter arrow every second? No, he was just saving that for me because he wanted to eliminate the threat of Reaper from tearing up his tanks. He was skilled enough to know how to remove one threat from the equation while using his normal attacks on everyone else. I didn't like the results but that didn't mean he was cheating. Is scatter arrow cheap shit? Yes it is, but that doesn't mean Hanzo is cheating just because he could use it on me every time I ran back from spawn.

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In other news Toxic Banhammer incoming http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/07/...ments-incoming

[A-sayo]

a notification system that will alert you when a player you’ve reported is actioned

Now that would be a very nice feature reward.

[Jessicka]

I remain sceptical about the reporting system. I expect it'll just be abused by people who don't like people playing certain heroes, and just turn into a negative reinforcement to stop people playing them. It's definitely not going to do anything where the team gangs up on the scapegoat, where it's one word against 5; and it's of limited use for cases of racism, sexism, homophobia etc. where it's only 1 report from the victim.

I know I get reported a lot, so fuck knows, we'll see what happens.

[ati87]

Now that would be a very nice feature reward.

or just a players you recently played but was caught playing on a bot.

[Eapoe]

I remain sceptical about the reporting system. I expect it'll just be abused by people who don't like people playing certain heroes, and just turn into a negative reinforcement to stop people playing them. It's definitely not going to do anything where the team gangs up on the scapegoat, where it's one word against 5; and it's of limited use for cases of racism, sexism, homophobia etc. where it's only 1 report from the victim.

I know I get reported a lot, so fuck knows, we'll see what happens.

The reporting system can't be abused as much as you think. I'm sure Blizz gets tired of all the baseless reports, but it's not a trail where eveidence is presented and becomes a 5v1 case. All that happens is the people report the player, and Blizz investigates. In the case of cheating, they check to see if 3rd party software is running during the game and see what it is. In toxic behavior/throwing/etc, they check the game you were reported on. If the chat is filled with racist slurs and/or trash talking others, it's pretty clear evidence. Throwing is slightly different, but for example, when I reported someone for throwing once, I specifically stated they ran out of the spawn room and constantly jumped over the edge to their death. Pretty easy to check the game log and see multiple deaths in quick succession of someone dead to falling.
Other examples are harder to pinpoint, I would think, but in the end, reporting is actually hard to abuse.

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I remain sceptical about the reporting system. I expect it'll just be abused by people who don't like people playing certain heroes, and just turn into a negative reinforcement to stop people playing them. It's definitely not going to do anything where the team gangs up on the scapegoat, where it's one word against 5; and it's of limited use for cases of racism, sexism, homophobia etc. where it's only 1 report from the victim.

I know I get reported a lot, so fuck knows, we'll see what happens.

The reporting system can't be abused as much as you think. I'm sure Blizz gets tired of all the baseless reports, but it's not a trail where eveidence is presented and becomes a 5v1 case. All that happens is the people report the player, and Blizz investigates. In the case of cheating, they check to see if 3rd party software is running during the game and see what it is. In toxic behavior/throwing/etc, they check the game you were reported on. If the chat is filled with racist slurs and/or trash talking others, it's pretty clear evidence. Throwing is slightly different, but for example, when I reported someone for throwing once, I specifically stated they ran out of the spawn room and constantly jumped over the edge to their death. Pretty easy to check the game log and see multiple deaths in quick succession of someone dead to falling.
Other examples are harder to pinpoint, I would think, but in the end, reporting is actually hard to abuse.

[Endus]

I remain sceptical about the reporting system. I expect it'll just be abused by people who don't like people playing certain heroes, and just turn into a negative reinforcement to stop people playing them. It's definitely not going to do anything where the team gangs up on the scapegoat, where it's one word against 5; and it's of limited use for cases of racism, sexism, homophobia etc. where it's only 1 report from the victim.

I know I get reported a lot, so fuck knows, we'll see what happens.

They've also stated they'll take action against users who abuse the report system.

So if you report people constantly for "playing Widowmaker", you'll probably get a timeout for it.

And you seem to be acting like they have just the report to work with. I'm comfortably sure that they have logs as well. What I imagine they do is that logs are kept for a short time and then purged, unless a report is generated, in which case the logs are saved until the report is handled. Those logs at least include chat text (because they've been holding logs of that stuff since the early days of WoW and such), and I assume they'll include a replay of the match, the same system used to build PotG images (which are built up from server data, not video files caught of actual gameplay). If a team of 5 report the solo player for lulz, and they do that a lot, they'll probably all get actioned themselves once their reports are reviewed.

It isn't an automated system where you get X reports and you're auto-banned. It may flag for a priority review if a ton of reports pop up for a certain player, but they're still reviewed by a human being.

[Eapoe]

Also, why is calling someone a Mercy main an insult now?

[Jessicka]

The reporting system can't be abused as much as you think. I'm sure Blizz gets tired of all the baseless reports, but it's not a trail where eveidence is presented and becomes a 5v1 case. All that happens is the people report the player, and Blizz investigates. In the case of cheating, they check to see if 3rd party software is running during the game and see what it is. In toxic behavior/throwing/etc, they check the game you were reported on. If the chat is filled with racist slurs and/or trash talking others, it's pretty clear evidence. Throwing is slightly different, but for example, when I reported someone for throwing once, I specifically stated they ran out of the spawn room and constantly jumped over the edge to their death. Pretty easy to check the game log and see multiple deaths in quick succession of someone dead to falling.
Other examples are harder to pinpoint, I would think, but in the end, reporting is actually hard to abuse.

There are those who will abuse it to an extreme, I'd think they'd get filtered out; they're probably the same who would report for the hero pick. That takes time to sort out though, in the mean time I will feel vulnerable to those malicious reports.

Basically I have 2 choices when I pick those heroes and someone questions it.
1, I can keep quiet, but that's only going to reaffirm to someone that I'm throwing.
2, I can explain the decision, like 'countering X', but if they're already opposed to it, that won't be often a rational discourse and it risks leading on to a prolonged argument that's just distracting for everyone; then we lose anyway and I get blamed.

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They've also stated they'll take action against users who abuse the report system.

So if you report people constantly for "playing Widowmaker", you'll probably get a timeout for it.

And you seem to be acting like they have just the report to work with. I'm comfortably sure that they have logs as well. What I imagine they do is that logs are kept for a short time and then purged, unless a report is generated, in which case the logs are saved until the report is handled. Those logs at least include chat text (because they've been holding logs of that stuff since the early days of WoW and such), and I assume they'll include a replay of the match, the same system used to build PotG images (which are built up from server data, not video files caught of actual gameplay). If a team of 5 report the solo player for lulz, and they do that a lot, they'll probably all get actioned themselves once their reports are reviewed.

It isn't an automated system where you get X reports and you're auto-banned. It may flag for a priority review if a ton of reports pop up for a certain player, but they're still reviewed by a human being.

You think they'd type in "Playing Widowmaker" as their reason? They know that's not a reason, they'd do some mental gymnastics and come up with some spurious reason, or just make some shit up entirely that would be difficult to verify whether logs exist or not.

For the level of reports they receive, I send probably half a dozen a week myself; there has to be some level of automation to it, there just aren't enough people on the payroll to sort through it manually.

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Also, why is calling someone a Mercy main an insult now?

There's a spurious rumour that Mercy's gain more SR than they should, and lose less than they should on a loss which makes it "easy" to climb with her, and a lot of allegations that certain players have "abused" this to climb. Now, the fact I see a lot of Mercy mains who are still kicking around lower leagues, as well as my own experience with Mercy, suggests that there's probably not a lot of truth in it, but who cares about that?

[Eapoe]

There are those who will abuse it to an extreme, I'd think they'd get filtered out; they're probably the same who would report for the hero pick. That takes time to sort out though, in the mean time I will feel vulnerable to those malicious reports.

Basically I have 2 choices when I pick those heroes and someone questions it.
1, I can keep quiet, but that's only going to reaffirm to someone that I'm throwing.
2, I can explain the decision, like 'countering X', but if they're already opposed to it, that won't be often a rational discourse and it risks leading on to a prolonged argument that's just distracting for everyone; then we lose anyway and I get blamed.

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You think they'd type in "Playing Widowmaker" as their reason? They know that's not a reason, they'd do some mental gymnastics and come up with some spurious reason, or just make some shit up entirely that would be difficult to verify whether logs exist or not.

For the level of reports they receive, I send probably half a dozen a week myself; there has to be some level of automation to it, there just aren't enough people on the payroll to sort through it manually.

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There's a spurious rumour that Mercy's gain more SR than they should, and lose less than they should on a loss which makes it "easy" to climb with her, and a lot of allegations that certain players have "abused" this to climb. Now, the fact I see a lot of Mercy mains who are still kicking around lower leagues, as well as my own experience with Mercy, suggests that there's probably not a lot of truth in it, but who cares about that?

Well, you have 2 more choices, (1) ignore it and keep playing, or (2) answer with something smart ass and keep playing.
Them reporting you will only have an effect on your game if you are in fact cheating/throwing/being toxic.
As far as the Mercy thing, I do feel that is partially true. I pick her for some maps, and I've gained 52 SR on a win where the previous game playing Winston with gold damage/elims/objective kills and very few deaths I've gained 15. The Mercy game I only had about 7k healing, 3 elims, 7 deaths, and unknown kill assists. On a game I lost with Mercy I only lost about 10-15 points and lose around 15-25 on other healers. Obviously, there's factors I don't know about, such as the kill assists potentially giving more points than I know of, and it acting like you participate in every kill, where as on Winston I might dive bomb in, get 1-2 kills, but don't get credit on the other 2-4 other than damage done. Who knows? I don't pick her all the time so I don't really pay attention, just something I noticed earlier today.

[Fluffyfluff]

they should have an ingame menu during the game that shows everyone who has top kills damage healing done assists etc so everyone can see what everyone else is doing that might help