Overwatch 2 Dev Chat - Creating Starwatch, PvE Updates & 2023 Roadmap

[Edge-]

Half of the previewed content is gone, not all of it.

I mean...it was more than "half" in terms of quantity. It was basically the meat and potatoes of the PvE gameplay, and we're left with basic PvE story missions with locked heroes that will largely play exactly the same as they do in PvP.

So it was "half" the PvE, but if we're being pedantic here in terms of, "Not all PvE was canceled" and such we should acknowledge that basically half of Overwatch 2 as a whole just got nuked from orbit. The half that was supposed to actually add something new beyond more maps and heroes and such. Story missions are nice and all but they're not gonna keep players coming back for more.

[TheRevenantHero]

I mean, there's not a huge amount of crossover they could have? A few that might be role specific that carry over all but I can't imagine a vast majority would be. It's still upwards of a 1000 even.



The Hero mode aspect of it is gone.

Claiming the PvE in general is gone isn't true. Half of the previewed content is gone, not all of it.

The pve is likely going to be brain dead quality of shit like Junkenstein's revenge. That's not what was promised.

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It's not like every one of those talents was going to be completely unique.

I don't buy it. It's a straw man. It's something else that they don't want to say.

If I had to guess, I'd guess they hired too many unqualified devs due to social pressures and now there is gross incompetence on their team.

That last sentence is some tinfoil hat level nonsense.

[Jester Joe]

I mean...it was more than "half" in terms of quantity. It was basically the meat and potatoes of the PvE gameplay, and we're left with basic PvE story missions with locked heroes that will largely play exactly the same as they do in PvP.

So it was "half" the PvE, but if we're being pedantic here in terms of, "Not all PvE was canceled" and such we should acknowledge that basically half of Overwatch 2 as a whole just got nuked from orbit. The half that was supposed to actually add something new beyond more maps and heroes and such. Story missions are nice and all but they're not gonna keep players coming back for more.

It depends on if they actually keep their word this time.

If they pump out some content every season or two, then that's definitely enough to hook people in.

The pve is likely going to be brain dead quality of shit like Junkenstein's revenge. That's not what was promised.

If it's OG Junkenstein, I will pitchfork riot along side everyone here.

If it's Bride of Junkenstein level? I'll grumble but it will still be enjoyable for a few runs at least.

[Edge-]

It depends on if they actually keep their word this time.

If they pump out some content every season or two, then that's definitely enough to hook people in.

got 'em, heh

But real, even if they can release a few missions a season (which seems like a lot with seasons every two months?) I don't think that's gonna get folks very excited to run those missions once or twice and then forget about them.

[Linkedblade]

Jesus what a joke. Were the devs just dicking around these past 5 years? The original took what like 2 years to make?

To be fair, the last three years have been a shit show for Blizzard. Covid. The restructuring for DEI. Botched returned to work hemorrhaging what developers/engineers they had. So, I'd say out of the 5 years, they probably had an actual 3 years worth of work hours put into it. And then what's left of the team is probably trying to do something similar to WoW, where they add a bunch of smaller bits of content that appear to be more frequent updates.

But it's a shame. It really seems like the game is on life support.

[Jastall]

Supposedly, the PvP team was working on both PvP and the Hero Mode at the same time. Whoever decided to not get two seperate teams needs to be fired immediately. Outside of the entire thing flopping.

I'll believe any tale when it comes to this game's management, up to and including that the project lead was actually a 5 years old that had most of their team make him bakeries and sweets to eat all day long. Makes about as much sense as any other explanation as to how years of work on OW2 resulted in less than a dozen new maps, shitty new monetization and 3 new heroes.

[Confucius]

Blizz' motto use to be "when it's ready" for the last years it's been "when it's cancelled"

[TheRevenantHero]

It depends on if they actually keep their word this time.

If they pump out some content every season or two, then that's definitely enough to hook people in.




If it's OG Junkenstein, I will pitchfork riot along side everyone here.

If it's Bride of Junkenstein level? I'll grumble but it will still be enjoyable for a few runs at least.

But it will get very old very fast. I honestly don't think pve was EVER coming out in the way they promised.

[qwerty123456]

The original took an entirely scrapped game to make.

The original was a small part of the scrapped game. Basically just assets. Overwatch 2 is 99% Overwatch 1. FINAL FANTASY XIV A realm Reborn is more different frin FINAL FANTASY XIV than Overwatch 1 & 2 and yet they still kept the same name.

[Zuben]

I don't know why people are so butthurt about the name. Would the shitty monetization feel better if there wasn't a '2' in there?

[Jester Joe]

But it will get very old very fast. I honestly don't think pve was EVER coming out in the way they promised.

No, I don't think so either honestly. I'll admit fully I enjoy the game more for the PvP, but the PvE they showed off at first was gamechanging. Alas, too gamechanging I guess, which in hindsight I shoulda known I guess.

[Mic_128]

I don't know why people are so butthurt about the name. Would the shitty monetization feel better if there wasn't a '2' in there?

No, but at least it'd be honest.

[Kaleredar]

As a guy who works in the industry, it just seems so, so... odd... that they could let such a major part that they've ostensibly been working on for going on 5 years basically just... vanish into thin air. That whatever their production schedule was was so unfocused that this could slip completely between the cracks to such an extent that they're canning it.

In less time than OW2 has been announced I've worked at a company that's expanded by a factor of 10, including artists, to meet a heightened and shifting production schedule. So as I said, this just baffles me that Blizzard, a company that's been making games for 30 years, can't figure out how to... make another game? Especially when all of the major pieces (the game engine, the characters, the art style, etc) are already in existence.

[Edge-]

As a guy who works in the industry, it just seems so, so... odd... that they could let such a major part that they've ostensibly been working on for going on 5 years basically just... vanish into thin air. That whatever their production schedule was was so unfocused that this could slip completely between the cracks to such an extent that they're canning it.

In less time than OW2 has been announced I've worked at a company that's expanded by a factor of 10, including artists, to meet a heightened and shifting production schedule. So as I said, this just baffles me that Blizzard, a company that's been making games for 30 years, can't figure out how to... make another game? Especially when all of the major pieces (the game engine, the characters, the art style, etc) are already in existence.

The literal only way I can figure is if they spent the first years 100% focused on the bigger PvE mode and made great progress and then at some point something just...happened and everything ground to a halt for some reason. Maybe around the time Kaplan left. Around that time they basically had an all-hands trying to figure out what to do with the game and tried to salvage the plans for a bit before realizing that they had to pivot to PvP and spent the last year and a half or so building what eventually launched. That's why despite the quality being very much on display, the overall "this is it?" feeling was very apparent and why the game has fairly quickly come a long way - same problem with many of these games including BF2042, too short a development cycle born out of necessity but one that allows for a lot of fairly quick progress post-launch.

Otherwise I can't make heads nor tails of this situation. And I'm struggling to think of another game that announced with a huge component like the bigger PvE plans and then just...said nah. I'm not sure another developer could afford, financially or in terms of their credibility, to make such a mistake.

[TheRevenantHero]

No, I don't think so either honestly. I'll admit fully I enjoy the game more for the PvP, but the PvE they showed off at first was gamechanging. Alas, too gamechanging I guess, which in hindsight I shoulda known I guess.

It's become clear the only reason they slapped a 2 on the title was to justify the new(awful) seasonal model. A friend pointed out to me that this could potentially result in a class action lawsuit.

[StillMcfuu]

I'm thrilled that they destroyed my favorite online shooter into a crappier version of itself, with toxic monetization and way less skill involved; all for the promise of a new pve experience which has now been scraped.

I'll have OW1 back please.

[Rendark]

Now that's just comedy.

[Edge-]

It's become clear the only reason they slapped a 2 on the title was to justify the new(awful) seasonal model. A friend pointed out to me that this could potentially result in a class action lawsuit.

I'm betting a lot of money your friend isn't a lawyer?

Because there's literally no case here outside of some gamers who are disappointed and have hurt feelings.

[Kaleredar]

It's become clear the only reason they slapped a 2 on the title was to justify the new(awful) seasonal model. A friend pointed out to me that this could potentially result in a class action lawsuit.

The only way that would have been feasible is if they had sold (as in, you paid actual money) for OW2 with the promise that you'd get the PVE thing delivered to you. And even at that point I'm sure Blizzard would have worded it in such a way that their lawyers could have gotten out of it if things went down the tubes.

But as it stands the only thing you're actually paying for is the season pass or specific skins/cosmetics. And you get the things you pay for when you pay for them. Nothing that you paid for was "erroneously promised." Hell, you technically didn't pay anything for OW2, and you've put no money "towards" a PVE thing that didn't materialize. And I don't think the courts will go for "The money I paid went towards making my account a higher level and getting me more cosmetics in anticipation of the PVE thing coming out. The two things not reliant upon one another at all, but all the money I paid was so I'd feel cooler when it came out."

So don't get your hopes up, and probably tell your friend he's pretty far off base.

[NoiseTank13]

so rule34 artists and HotS officially did more for their lore than OW devs did lmao