1. #1

    Unexperience fps player want to try out OW.

    Greetings OW community

    I want to try out OW at a casual level but i am quite sceptical getting into it reading the forums about toxicity, cause im really bad at shotting games. got a few question tho...

    Do i NEED to use voice chat on lower level.. 2 lowest rank league?? Also can u ignore people ingame??

    How do you know what counter what... is it telling you ingame in menus or it it just learn-by-feeling? there isnt any way you can see the dps/healing of skills like in heroes etc.

    I really enjoy healing in games so i will probably play that alot but decided to be good with 1 of each (offense, healer, and so on) will people expect you to play many roles or do many people play only a few classes?

    Thanks
    Last edited by Schalde; 2018-03-30 at 01:27 PM.

  2. #2
    The Patient KingSapmi's Avatar
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    You don't *have to* use the voice chat, at all. But it helps to listen to call-outs, like if a character is coming in to flank your team. Or, in general just to talk tactics with your team.

    You'll quickly learn how to counter and what counters what. A quick tip would be to jump into the shooting range and just try the different characters out, find which ones you feel comfortable with, plus you can easily learn all the characters abilities that way. Or just throw up some custom games against bots to practice.

    An example of countering is: If your enemy team is filled to the brim with squishy characters (More often than not, DPS with 200'ish health, or a Widow/Hanzo), Winston (The big ape Tank) can turn the tide for your team. Jump to the enemy back lines and harass DPS, Healers and Snipers, and then jump back out. Of course, they could very easily counter Winston again by going Reaper, as an example. He can quickly make Winston retreat quickly.

    Another example could be: Enemy team picks Phara, now she's got good range, can assault from above and if she's good, she can be quite the nuisance. A good counter for her would be a tracking character or something that can deal with her from the ground. Example's of these are: Widowmaker, to some degree Hanzo (If you master how the arrows work), Soldier 76, McCree.

    I feel that the role "requirement" stuff changes from bracket to bracket. I'm playing at high-diamond/low master with a bunch of friends, and we run the classic 2 tanks, 2 healers and 2 DPS. But we change quickly based on what we meet. But I don't know how it works in lower brackets, but more often than not, I've run into the players that insta-locks a bunch of DPS characters and refuse to go Healer or Tank. Find some characters within each Role you feel comfortable playing, that way you can fill any role without problem should the need be. Best just jump into quickplay and give it a whirl. You can't play Competative before you're level 25 anyways, that's a good amount of time to learn the basic's.

    Good luck and have fun!
    Last edited by KingSapmi; 2018-03-30 at 01:38 PM.
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  3. #3
    You'll learn about counters as you play. There are very few matchups where skill won't trump picks though. Most heroes have the capacity to put down a worse opponent.

    Voice is never required, as long as you're willing to follow the commands of people who do use voice. You can't see dps, you can find damage numbers if you really want to, but you'll be fine if you play by feel too.

    It's not like you can see if Winston has 200 or 225 hp left, and few attacks do completely fixed damage. Most is either splash, damage dropoff when shooting from longer range or some other mechanics to avoid it being a game of "trading numbers" with a fixed outcome.

    If aim is a problem there are heroes on which you can safely practice. The heroes are ranked easy-medium-hard, for the most part those categories are right. You'll learn the most about overwatch by just clocking a ton of hours in the game. Happy hunting and don't pick widow/hanzo every game

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by KingSapmi View Post
    You don't *have to* use the voice chat, at all. But it helps to listen to call-outs, like if a character is coming in to flank your team. Or, in general just to talk tactics with your team.

    You'll quickly learn how to counter and what counters what. A quick tip would be to jump into the shooting range and just try the different characters out, find which ones you feel comfortable with, plus you can easily learn all the characters abilities that way. Or just throw up some custom games against bots to practice.

    An example of countering is: If your enemy team is filled to the brim with squishy characters (More often than not, DPS with 200'ish health, or a Widow/Hanzo), Winston (The big ape Tank) can turn the tide for your team. Jump to the enemy back lines and harass DPS, Healers and Snipers, and then jump back out. Of course, they could very easily counter Winston again by going Reaper, as an example. He can quickly make Winston retreat quickly.

    Another example could be: Enemy team picks Phara, now she's got good range, can assault from above and if she's good, she can be quite the nuisance. A good counter for her would be a tracking character or something that can deal with her from the ground. Example's of these are: Widowmaker, to some degree Hanzo (If you master how the arrows work), Soldier 76, McCree.

    I feel that the role "requirement" stuff changes from bracket to bracket. I'm playing at high-diamond/low master with a bunch of friends, and we run the classic 2 tanks, 2 healers and 2 DPS. But we change quickly based on what we meet. But I don't know how it works in lower brackets, but more often than not, I've run into the players that insta-locks a bunch of DPS characters and refuse to go Healer or Tank. Find some characters within each Role you feel comfortable playing, that way you can fill any role without problem should the need be. Best just jump into quickplay and give it a whirl. You can't play Competative before you're level 25 anyways, that's a good amount of time to learn the basic's.

    Good luck and have fun!
    Thx for some good example ... gonna jump in a try it in a day or 2

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Protean View Post
    You'll learn about counters as you play. There are very few matchups where skill won't trump picks though. Most heroes have the capacity to put down a worse opponent.

    Voice is never required, as long as you're willing to follow the commands of people who do use voice. You can't see dps, you can find damage numbers if you really want to, but you'll be fine if you play by feel too.

    It's not like you can see if Winston has 200 or 225 hp left, and few attacks do completely fixed damage. Most is either splash, damage dropoff when shooting from longer range or some other mechanics to avoid it being a game of "trading numbers" with a fixed outcome.

    If aim is a problem there are heroes on which you can safely practice. The heroes are ranked easy-medium-hard, for the most part those categories are right. You'll learn the most about overwatch by just clocking a ton of hours in the game. Happy hunting and don't pick widow/hanzo every game
    Thx.. how is the need for Healers in OW?

  5. #5
    I am Murloc! DrMcNinja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Schalde View Post
    Thx.. how is the need for Healers in OW?
    Healers are always welcomed. People have a tendency to slot in damage dealers much more often.
    Last edited by DrMcNinja; 2018-03-30 at 02:33 PM.

  6. #6
    I Don't Work Here Endus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Schalde View Post
    Greetings OW community

    I want to try out OW at a casual level but i am quite sceptical getting into it reading the forums about toxicity, cause im really bad at shotting games. got a few question tho...
    Toxicity isn't THAT terrible, IMO. It's not like League of Legends, at least.

    Do i NEED to use voice chat on lower level.. 2 lowest rank league?? Also can u ignore people ingame??
    You don't NEED to, but it's helpful, in Competitive. If you're playing Brawls, almost nobody uses it. And yes; you can squelch users if they're abusing voice chat, as well as reporting them.

    How do you know what counter what... is it telling you ingame in menus or it it just learn-by-feeling? there isnt any way you can see the dps/healing of skills like in heroes etc.
    Practice and experience, basically. A lot of it is fairly obvious; Pharah is often high up but in the open, so it's nearly impossible to hit her unless you've got a long-range weapon, but she has to expose herself, so a hero with accurate long-range fire can take her out fairly easily. A short-range hero like Reaper, obviously, can't do much about her. Outside of the obvious stuff, it's not THAT big a deal, and you'll pick it up in time.

    I really enjoy healing in games so i will probably play that alot but decided to be good with 1 of each (offense, healer, and so on) will people expect you to play many roles or do many people play only a few classes?

    Thanks
    Some people play flex, some people focus. I largely play support, myself, but that came about more because I always ended up playing support when I played flex, and I made a choice to want what I was getting stuck playing.

    The big issue with flex players is that a lot of the offense heroes can be fairly niche or team-dependent; getting good with ONE offense hero can be a problem if that hero is particularly niche, like Widowmaker. When she works, she's great, when the map and team comps work against her, not so much. To a large extent, you can overcome this by being really good at that hero, but that takes time and practice.

    A good thing to use for practice is the Mystery Heroes option in the Arcade. Random heros every time you respawn. Forces you to try and adapt to new playstyles and you get a lot of exposure to different play styles in a short time.


  7. #7
    The Patient shifu's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Schalde View Post
    Greetings OW community

    I want to try out OW at a casual level but i am quite sceptical getting into it reading the forums about toxicity, cause im really bad at shotting games. got a few question tho...

    Do i NEED to use voice chat on lower level.. 2 lowest rank league?? Also can u ignore people ingame??

    How do you know what counter what... is it telling you ingame in menus or it it just learn-by-feeling? there isnt any way you can see the dps/healing of skills like in heroes etc.

    I really enjoy healing in games so i will probably play that alot but decided to be good with 1 of each (offense, healer, and so on) will people expect you to play many roles or do many people play only a few classes?

    Thanks
    No you do not "Need" to use voice chat it makes communication significantly easier and faster. However when it comes to playing competitive i would highly recommend it! Nothing more frustrating when in competitive and no one is communicating. But the lower the rank the less amount of communication I've experienced. And yes you can ignore people and mute people.

    There are a few guides online to help you figure out player counters. A quick google search should get your the results you desire.

    There are trends where all of sudden everyone plays DPS, or Supports, or Defense. Currently were in a phase of 2-3 supports with 3-4 DPS and hardly any tanks being played lately due to everyone overreacting to the addition of Bridgette and sombra hacks.

    In my experience people will view your your career profile and tell you need to play your most played character. And not if but when you experience this in QP just ignore it. However if your in competitive in my experience I've had better experience working on better team composition then always playing the character im best with after all it is a team based games.

    And for the love of god. If you are being hard counter. Please have the self reflection to understand when you are not contributing to your team then you need to switch it up.
    If i was riding a donkey down the road. And someone threw a rock and knocked me off. Would i be stoned off my ass?

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Schalde View Post
    Greetings OW community

    I want to try out OW at a casual level but i am quite sceptical getting into it reading the forums about toxicity, cause im really bad at shotting games. got a few question tho...

    Do i NEED to use voice chat on lower level.. 2 lowest rank league?? Also can u ignore people ingame??

    How do you know what counter what... is it telling you ingame in menus or it it just learn-by-feeling? there isnt any way you can see the dps/healing of skills like in heroes etc.

    I really enjoy healing in games so i will probably play that alot but decided to be good with 1 of each (offense, healer, and so on) will people expect you to play many roles or do many people play only a few classes?

    Thanks
    You shouldn't have that much problem. OW is not really a FPS game. FPS games are about aiming and only about half the heroes require players to aim, almost everything is pure automatic free dmg with no skill involved.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Schalde View Post
    Greetings OW community

    I want to try out OW at a casual level but i am quite sceptical getting into it reading the forums about toxicity, cause im really bad at shotting games. got a few question tho...

    Do i NEED to use voice chat on lower level.. 2 lowest rank league?? Also can u ignore people ingame??

    How do you know what counter what... is it telling you ingame in menus or it it just learn-by-feeling? there isnt any way you can see the dps/healing of skills like in heroes etc.

    I really enjoy healing in games so i will probably play that alot but decided to be good with 1 of each (offense, healer, and so on) will people expect you to play many roles or do many people play only a few classes?

    Thanks
    Just play the game. The easiest way to learn the game is to just dive in. Last Easter I bought game for my daughter and she had never played a FPS before but a year later she is Diamond ranked. Just have fun and you can figure it out as you go. The game will put you around people of your skill level.
    If you push a button that finds you a 'random group' and it gives you a random group of people with random skill and random knowledge then you have no right to complain that a 'random group' button did what it was designed to do. The fault lies in your inability to make friends to play with instead of relying on a button designed to be random. It is a 'random group' button, not a 'best of the best' button.

  10. #10
    The Lightbringer Battlebeard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Schalde View Post
    Greetings OW community

    I want to try out OW at a casual level but i am quite sceptical getting into it reading the forums about toxicity, cause im really bad at shotting games. got a few question tho...

    Do i NEED to use voice chat on lower level.. 2 lowest rank league?? Also can u ignore people ingame??

    How do you know what counter what... is it telling you ingame in menus or it it just learn-by-feeling? there isnt any way you can see the dps/healing of skills like in heroes etc.

    I really enjoy healing in games so i will probably play that alot but decided to be good with 1 of each (offense, healer, and so on) will people expect you to play many roles or do many people play only a few classes?

    Thanks
    Welcome to OW

    You don't really need voice chat but it's strongly recomended. OW is a team game and the more organized you are, the more you will win.

    There are probably counter-guides on the internet, I haven't checked myself. But if you just play lots of Quick Play, you will eventually learn. Mostly, think logically. A Pharah flies most of the game, so a Reaper or a Junkrat are weak counters for Pharah as their attacks are not very long ranged. Instead, go for a guy with long, straight shooting bullets, like Soldier 76 or Mccree. A sniper is best countered by someone who can get to them fast, before they get shot, like a Winston or a Genji. You will learn eventually what to play and what to avoid playing etc.

    You are expected to know at least one of each role (dps, tank, healer) for competitive. The common setup is 2 dps, 2 heal, 2 tank and is generally something to follow at most times. If the 2 dps and 2 heal slots are taken, you are expected to know a tank. You CAN ask to play healer and dps instead, but if they don't want to switch, the blame will fall on you if you don't pick a tank and perform with it. It's a flawfull system but that's how it works. You don't have to focus on learning both Offense and Defense heroes. Overall, all heroes in Defense are pretty undertuned and often recieve a lot of hate. Unless you are a GOD, as in extremely good with some of them, stick with the Offense heroes.

    My best advice is to start with Soldier 76, Reinhart and Mercy, they are probably the easiest of each category to play decent with in the beginning, then move to more advanced heroes. But all up to you, hope you enjoy the game
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  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Battlebeard View Post
    Welcome to OW

    You don't really need voice chat but it's strongly recomended. OW is a team game and the more organized you are, the more you will win.

    There are probably counter-guides on the internet, I haven't checked myself. But if you just play lots of Quick Play, you will eventually learn. Mostly, think logically. A Pharah flies most of the game, so a Reaper or a Junkrat are weak counters for Pharah as their attacks are not very long ranged. Instead, go for a guy with long, straight shooting bullets, like Soldier 76 or Mccree. A sniper is best countered by someone who can get to them fast, before they get shot, like a Winston or a Genji. You will learn eventually what to play and what to avoid playing etc.

    You are expected to know at least one of each role (dps, tank, healer) for competitive. The common setup is 2 dps, 2 heal, 2 tank and is generally something to follow at most times. If the 2 dps and 2 heal slots are taken, you are expected to know a tank. You CAN ask to play healer and dps instead, but if they don't want to switch, the blame will fall on you if you don't pick a tank and perform with it. It's a flawfull system but that's how it works. You don't have to focus on learning both Offense and Defense heroes. Overall, all heroes in Defense are pretty undertuned and often recieve a lot of hate. Unless you are a GOD, as in extremely good with some of them, stick with the Offense heroes.

    My best advice is to start with Soldier 76, Reinhart and Mercy, they are probably the easiest of each category to play decent with in the beginning, then move to more advanced heroes. But all up to you, hope you enjoy the game
    Thanks... so nice of people helping out and giving advises... And yes ofcourse i will use voice chat when i feel ready for it, to get great feedback. the thing is i have a no tolerance for people talking shit to one... they will just get an ignore. but constructive feedback is allways fine.

  12. #12
    The beauty of Overwatch is you don't necessarily need good mechanical aim to do well, there are plenty of players who reach Diamond or Masters ranks by just playing Lucio and Mercy and being a good healer. OW requires far more overall game knowledge than it does mechanical skill, you need to know all the character's abilities and what counters what. eg; Winston's mobility and tesla cannon makes him the ultimate counter to Genji and Widow because he just jumps on top of them and they can't really do a whole lot to get away, but Reaper's capable of melting Winston in 2-4 shots so if you're having trouble with a Winston consider playing Reaper to help protect your Genji.

    It's also super important to know that not ever character works in every situation, you can't play Genji Widow Tracer and expect to do anything against a tanky team with Rein/Orisa/Roadhog there's just not enough damage to get through the shields. It's very useful to be able to play at least 3 heroes to your best level to give yourself options when one of them isn't viable.

    Also don't play competitive until you're confident that you can actually contribute to your team and want to really try to push your rank. The worst thing we come up against in comp is people who for some reason don't think quick play is good enough to practice in, they go into comp playing heroes they've got no time at all on and throw the game. QP is just fine for practicing new heroes and learning how the game flows.

    My last point would be research. Sure you can learn it all just by playing, but watching Youtube videos helped me learn so much of the nuances of the game, things like what team comps simply can't work together, or situations where heroes are viable that aren't considered "meta". Plus the amount of guides on OW from basic aiming guides to advanced guides for individual heroes is staggering. Use your resources to learn faster and stop yourself developing shitty habits early.

  13. #13
    Overwatch is the first shooter game i've played since goldeneye for the N64. The only advice I can give is that its fun, but you have to be aware that you're gonna suck at the beginning and be ready to laugh at the hilarity of it all.

    I would maybe play a few games with a few different heroes that interest you just to see how they work, and then focus on one that you seem to gel with the best. This way you start to get better at the one style, and can shift your focus into learning how your opponents work. Until you hit the upper ranks, the game is much more about general gameplay and awareness than it is about hitting those sick sniper shots.

    If you wanted someone to help you along the way don't hesitate to post in the various forums for the game, theres lots of friendly people that are willing to give advice if its desired. Like if you wanted general advice while playing like "thats the russian girl if you shoot her bubbles she gets more powerful don't do that" you'll more often hear positive vibes than negative for you reaching out for help. The general toxicity is no more or less than anywhere else on the internet.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Chief Bennett View Post
    You can get to gold not using voice comms, doubt you could get any higher though

    - - - Updated - - -

    Also, just spent a few hundred hours in arcade or non-ranked to practise your aim
    I'm high diamond without using voice chat much.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Freighter View Post
    I'm high diamond without using voice chat much.
    Ditto, I avoid voice chat as much as I can because I don't want to get cancer due to russians. First they ruined dota 2 and CS:GO for me and now they're ruining OW.

  16. #16
    Deleted
    Just do what you want and have fun.

  17. #17
    If bronze and silver are your preferred brackets don't worry about voice chat at all. At those ranks people do not understand the basics of the game and have bigger fish to fry than voice chat strategies.

    If people see you mostly play a healer they might expect you to play a healer and tell you to do so. People can basically very easily see what you play the most and might share their opinion on what you should play. At higher ratings you are not often asked to play something outside of your main role since there are plenty of people with a flexible hero pool, but maybe at lower ratings maybe people whine more about e.g. mercy mains.

    And lastly yeah OW is an internet game and there is just as much toxicity as you would expect from any other online shooter. Maybe slightly less because the demographic is slightly different than most conventional shooters, but it sure still is there.

  18. #18
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Swalload View Post
    You shouldn't have that much problem. OW is not really a FPS game. FPS games are about aiming and only about half the heroes require players to aim, almost everything is pure automatic free dmg with no skill involved.
    OW is an FPS because it's a first person game that involves shooting. The FPS genre has nothing to do with requiring aiming skills, most FPS games come with some manner of aim-assist anyway. But yeah, good opinion I guess?

  19. #19
    The Unstoppable Force Jessicka's Avatar
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    OW isn't so much FPS, it's certainly a very important element but if you're familiar with MOBAs or MMOs you'll probably settle into things pretty easily as there's a lot of crossovers with those genres and a lot of heroes rely more on ability use than straight up flick or tracking aim.

    Give all the roles a try, but don't by any means assume that because you don't like one tank, that there isn't another tank you will enjoy; same for healers and indeed DPS. They all have pretty diverse styles and manners of doing their job, so there's a lot of working out what works for you. You'll also find that certain heroes are particularly bad when their counter shows up, so you'll probably want to work on something that's less effected for when that happens. Similarly if a hero on the other team is causing you big problems, knowing who can deal with them best is good to know. There's supposed to be a strong element of switching mid-match to counter and change strategy, even if it doesn't appear so from OWL; it does happen and it does work on the ladder.

    As for toxicity, there is a lot, it's very rare I use voice chat, but honestly in Gold where I play it's not used much anyway; and very often when it is, those trying don't know how to use it properly and it just causes more problems than it's worth. Maybe in Diamond+ people have those skills and can use it properly but for most it's not worth worrying about too much.

    You'll definitely encounter toxicity on some heroes more than others; Hanzo, Sombra, Widowmaker, and Symmetra are particular lightning rods (a lot of people would literally rather throw the match and lose than have you play them), while no one will ever complain about a 76 or Reinhardt.

  20. #20

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