So how are your games going lately? [megathread]

[Jester Joe]

Do people play comp without sounds or how can I get assblasted by a Pharah from behind when I play mercy while the rest of the team is "holding the choke" behind a Reinhardt shield, blissfully oblivious as to what is going on behind them every 3rd game or so?

The same way they let a Hanzo sit in the same spot all game long in KotH, and repeatedly pick off the healers.

I was stupid for thinking our Winston would kill him I guess.

[Eapoe]

If they pushed out a patch tomorrow that removed snipers it would have zero effect on the game beyond, probably, less toxicity.

Which other role can you say that about? Which other role is almost universally disliked? Which other role requires you to be twice as good as the people you're playing with just to play on par with them?

Like I said, play whatever you want in QP. As long as you are actually trying to win then good on you. I've played Hanzo and Widowmaker in QP and had fun.

Just don't use QP as a metric for determining what people want.

Not true as people would just gripe about the next perceived hero/role that has an effect that "doesn't help" in the game.

[Tharkkun]

My spouse will play listening to a stream or music on the other screen sometimes and I have no idea how that doesn't make him crazy. So much of my situational awareness in Overwatch relies on auditory queues. I think I would be even worse than I already am without sound.

It depends. I listen to loud music sometimes also and it keeps the adrenaline up. Outside of the few ults where audible is the only tell tale sign it's not too bad. I don't completely disable game sounds though.

[ThatsOurEric]

Not true as people would just gripe about the next perceived hero/role that has an effect that "doesn't help" in the game.

There are only two roles that atm, are not faring amazingly.

Snipers (although not a separate role, they are considered one via the game's discretion),
and Defense heroes.

The problem with snipers has been perfectly said by Xerus. If you're playing a sniper, you
need to be twice as good as an average player. An average player can for the most part,
get kills or at least hit their target most of the time. Because a Sniper is meant to be
stationary and kept away from the fire fight, they need to have even greater aim, due to
the fact that their targets are constantly moving (for the most part).

The other problem is that snipers are at their best when they are getting headshots (which
crit and insta kill anyone under 300 health). Body shots aren't as strong, and the damage
is out-healed or avoided. Its not as consistent as medium/close range combat. There's no
sustained damage.

Yes, Widow can counter Pharah. But Winston & D.V.A. can kill her easily, and if they push,
Widow can no longer hold or defend a point once the enemy is there. Not without making
herself extremely vulnerable. Sure, Hanzo can do crazy damage, but he can also get
merk'd pretty hard by anyone who can dodge an arrow or two.

The problem with Defense heroes is that they all require specific compositions, and even
more coordination in order to be effective. The other problem is that most dps heroes
EASILY counter them, compared to the other way around. This is why some of them work
better on offense (like Junkrat and Symmetra, depending on the map) than defense.
Some are just countered too easily (Torbjorn, sadly) and some have a dps that counters
a large amount of them (Pharah alone counters at least 2 of them and 50/50's with three).

So yeah, if snipers were gone, don't think there'd be much of a problem. The majority of
combat is done from medium to close range anyway.

Some defense heroes could be turned offense with some tweaking. So in the end, you'd
be left with just three roles.

[Jester Joe]

Yes, Widow can counter Pharah. But Winston & D.V.A. can kill her easily, and if they push,
Widow can no longer hold or defend a point once the enemy is there. Not without making
herself extremely vulnerable. Sure, Hanzo can do crazy damage, but he can also get
merk'd pretty hard by anyone who can dodge an arrow or two.

Also worth mentioning, Pharah can also counter a Widow, it all comes down to who sees who first, which I would argue Pharah has the easier job doing since her launch is on a shorter CD than Widow's hook, so she can move around more easily than the Widow can (who also sacrifices her movement to snipe)

[xChurch]

Do people play comp without sounds or how can I get assblasted by a Pharah from behind when I play mercy while the rest of the team is "holding the choke" behind a Reinhardt shield, blissfully oblivious as to what is going on behind them every 3rd game or so?

I find people ignoring Pharah to be the worst. The sound her jets make is almost painfully obvious, And yet...

[Tziva]

It depends. I listen to loud music sometimes also and it keeps the adrenaline up. Outside of the few ults where audible is the only tell tale sign it's not too bad. I don't completely disable game sounds though.

I mean, footsteps are something difficult to hear and can be really useful to tell someone is coming up and who. Also a few folks have mentioned Pharah, that's another one where it is pretty easy to tell when she's hovering around getting ready to drop in with her ult because she's so loud. Reaper is the same way; if you hear him teleport above you somewhere and you know his ult is up you can be reasonably certain he's about to come in with that. Also Widow's scoped shot if you are facing a way where you can't see it will at least let you know she's aiming nearby and to get to cover.

Most ults and some long cooldown abilities themselves are telegraphed so you don't need the audio cues for those (although IMO they help) but it's the general game awareness and knowing an ult may be coming soon that I find so helpful.

[Jessicka]

Hyperbole doesn't prove anything.

QP is where you go to play something you don't normally, or to take a break from comp for a bit, so by definition is not a valid source to determine what the average player wants.

At the end of the day no one wants snipers on either team. You need to get over your obvious deep bias. Considering you rarely play Widow in comp even you realize there is no place for them, by action if not by words.

I play tanks in comp because a) I like tanking, b) I feel more in control when tanking, c) no one else fucking picks tanks, d) I can live a happier life without the abuse you get for picking her. Not because I don't think she's viable or perform poorly with her.

If two people do pick tanks and I'm left to DPS, I do pick Widow. I often switch to Widow even after picking a tank or support if I'm being countered, we're lacking DPS or if my DPS can't or won't deal with Pharah, Torb or Bastion - i.e. we're losing anyway and I think it'll help turn it around. So, while she's my second choice pick, there is created a massive disparity in competitive game time and win rate as a function of those things. I don't play much of other DPS heroes in comp, other than Pharah - for very similar reasons.

I never, ever complain about others picking Widow or Hanzo because I honestly have no objections to having them on my team; particularly as they're useful against the more annoying heroes like Torb, Bastion, Symmetra, or Pharah that shorter ranged 'meta' heroes often struggle with at this level.

- - - Updated - - -

I find people ignoring Pharah to be the worst. The sound her jets make is almost painfully obvious, And yet...

People complain they're not loud enough.

- - - Updated - - -

Also worth mentioning, Pharah can also counter a Widow, it all comes down to who sees who first, which I would argue Pharah has the easier job doing since her launch is on a shorter CD than Widow's hook, so she can move around more easily than the Widow can (who also sacrifices her movement to snipe)

Pharah is so loud, that unless she's managed to get right on top of Widow, she's not going to pose much of a threat; but at that point she's usually vulnerable to everyone else on the team. As Widow you can scratch around in cover listening out for her boosters and rocket strikes to figure out where she is in order to get the drop on her.

[Endus]

The biggest issue for a sniper is that this game is about holding specific points on a map, and snipers are terrible at that. So they have to be way better than other characters to compensate for that deficiency.

This isn't about needing to be a better player. It's a point you make to underscore what "pulling your weight" amounts to, as a sniper. Because you're not providing a body on the point/payload, you need to make up that difference. You've got a one-shot headshot and the safety of range to pull that off with.

A comparably-skilled Widowmaker is going to be getting clutch kills consistently, compared to the Soldier 76 who's on the point. If they aren't, then the Soldier player is better, or the comps don't suit the sniper and they should've swapped.

I made some strong arguments about relative performance markers, but that wasn't about player skill, really. It was about self-awareness by snipers when evaluating their own performance. Saying "but I'm silver elims" doesn't automatically mean you're pulling your weight.

[Tharkkun]

I mean, footsteps are something difficult to hear and can be really useful to tell someone is coming up and who. Also a few folks have mentioned Pharah, that's another one where it is pretty easy to tell when she's hovering around getting ready to drop in with her ult because she's so loud. Reaper is the same way; if you hear him teleport above you somewhere and you know his ult is up you can be reasonably certain he's about to come in with that. Also Widow's scoped shot if you are facing a way where you can't see it will at least let you know she's aiming nearby and to get to cover.

Most ults and some long cooldown abilities themselves are telegraphed so you don't need the audio cues for those (although IMO they help) but it's the general game awareness and knowing an ult may be coming soon that I find so helpful.

Oh I know what you're saying. But when all hell breaks loose I don't hear anything except jumbled noise. I can hear footsteps with my music playing as I've always been sensitive to that since my counterstrike days. But Pharah. Fuck her. She could land on my head and I probably wouldn't hear it.

[proralph]

Oh I know what you're saying. But when all hell breaks loose I don't hear anything except jumbled noise. I can hear footsteps with my music playing as I've always been sensitive to that since my counterstrike days. But Pharah. Fuck her. She could land on my head and I probably wouldn't hear it.

Since you've mentioned CS here, footsteps in CS and Overwatch are very different dude. Being a CS player, you'd second me on this, footsteps are one of the key thing of the game which leads you to success, even in a clash, you can hear the footsteps from your left and right.

But the case in Overwatch is different I believe, footsteps are useful but not that much. Blink and flying abilities actually waste that fun part of being alarmed that okay you'll be encountering someone soon, rather, all of a sudden there is a clash and boom bam bam, here you go!

[Drakpower]

I'm pretty hard of hearing but even I think everything is just loud enough, but I also have good headphones too. Sound are really important and very helpful. Though sometimes pointless as the Pharah floats in the air raining rockets on us as my teammates sit there with their fingers in their noses.

Had a terrible QP game last night: Myself and 3 friends, plus two randos just got crushed by a 6-man team (maybe 5 man plus one) that played all the Support characters, Torb, and I think a Pharah. We had a decent set up of tank, dps, and healer. The other team though, just crushed us.

[Deleted]

Dps mains are ruining so many competitive matches for me, this must be the first FPS game where the player base don't know how to aim at all.

[Woobels]

Dps mains are ruining so many competitive matches for me, this must be the first FPS game where the player base don't know how to aim at all.

What rank are you in and what role do you play?

[Deleted]

What rank are you in and what role do you play?

Plat on my main account only duo queue on it and Diamond on my second account, pretty much only play tank mainly roadhog/Zarya. Orisa is the only tank i don't play.

[Woobels]

Plat on my main account only duo queue on it and Diamond on my second account, pretty much only play tank mainly roadhog/Zarya. Orisa is the only tank i don't play.

People in Diamond tend to have decent mechanics but poor game sense from what I've seen, so I doubt every dps you run into has poor aim since they must have done something right to get to that level.

The biggest difference between Diamond and Master/GM is usually how well people play around picks, how they force objectives and teamplay.

It's harder to carry with Zarya/Roadhog now though imo so maybe that's why things feel a little tougher.

[Batar]

Playing rated at daytime might be the most cancer shit you can do.
So many Junkrat mains running around giving zero fucks about switching to Soldier etc when enemy team destroys us with phara...

(Yes,i triggers me a lot.)

[zito]

9 loses in a row hello

[proralph]

9 loses in a row hello

Why? 9 in a row is too much!

[zito]

Why? 9 in a row is too much!

that's what I want to know, I'm usually mercy and we just lose last minute because for whatever reason the team chokes. Roadhog literally walks in to 1 vs 6 for no reason or nobody wants to go soilder or mccree to deal with the pharah OR THE TEAM WONT GROUP UP AND IS LIKE HEAAAALLZZZ