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

[TidalConflux]

It was also because the Devs had stopped all work in OW to make OW2. That's why we didn't get any new holiday events or maps or heroes for years

I believe that wasnt until 2019 when we knew OW2 was coming right? I for sure remember a large exodus when Brigitte came out.

[Edge-]

I feel bad for all the OW devs who probably poured countless hours into trying to make the PvE mode happen but Activision-Blizzard deserves every bit of backlash it gets from this.

I genuinely hope they're all staying off social media today. Too many people shitting on them vs. shitting on the leadership who actually bear the responsibility here. There was probably a lot of really incredible work done that we'll never really get to experience or enjoy, which is a shame.

[TidalConflux]

Incredible.

I remember when the Overwatch graphic novel was announced. Then after a couple years of no word on it, it's officially cancelled as the OW team decided they wanted to find "another way" to tell the story. Then OW2 is announced and the entire selling point of it is the story campaign, with all of the multiplayer stuff being free to existing OW1 players. And now OW2 has launched and there will be no story campaign..

According to the roadmap, Story mode is still coming in Season 6 - the problem is the Hero Mode everyone wanted got cut. So the story is getting addressed, but the group PvE is essential dead.

[Jastall]

Someone contact CliffyB and tell him to Tweet at the Nexon executives again, he's got a golden opportunity to bring back Lawbreakers!

(this is sarcasm. HEAVY sarcasm)

At least Lawbreakers never actually took off in the first place so it's more comedy than tragedy.

Overwatch was Blizzard's sole new IP in who knows how many years. It took the genre by storm and had as good a launch as that type of game ever got. Blizzard took the scraps from Titan and successfully made something great out of it, only to then ruin it via directionless management or outright neglect so the IP isn't even capable of carrying a repeatable single-player mode which feels like a pretty darn low-hanging fruit to me.

It just doesn't make sense to me. How and why the fuck did this happen.

[TheRevenantHero]

ActiBlizz has just murdered Overwatch 2. The season pass model feels like shit compared to how you gained lootboxes in OW1 and now the biggest aspect of OW2 is scrapped. I legitimately can't see how ANYONE could defend this decision. Holy shit this is bad.

[TidalConflux]

It just doesn't make sense to me. How and why the fuck did this happen.

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.

[Jester Joe]

Just not the form they sold us on and had been promising for three and a half years. This is the equivalent of promising we're going to Disneyland for years, only to say "actually we're just going to the Disney store. Why are you unhappy, I said we were going to Disney, and we still are!"

I'm not arguing that, all I'm saying is I've seen too many people claim that PvE is gone completely and cancelled.

[KainneAbsolute]

They said the devs wanted to continue doing the pve and the decision was difficult.

Maybe they noticed that they were making good money with the battle pass, and they went for the easy path (cosmetics, uninspired missions, new heroes, and balance). I hope they don't repackage their pve work into a OW3 lol

On the other hand, maybe they wanted to focus on getting more heroes but each new hero meant a new talent tree, new balance to all the pve fights, etc.

[qwikz]

I have no idea what you're aiming at now, coz at no point am I saying this is going to be mind-blowing or anything.

Just that pve is doing to exist, just in another form.

You posted several times downplaying other posters about the removed promised features and spoke positively about the thing that they still are doing, only to flipflop now and say that your entire post was just a giant "akshually" about PVE not being removed and you don't even think it might be good.

My initial post was made in jest because I found it weird that anyone would bother to try to defend Blizzard on anything regarding this mess, but now you convinced me that you are either trolling me or are actually being paid for damage control.

[Jester Joe]

They said the devs wanted to continue doing the pve and the decision was difficult.

Maybe they noticed that they were making good money with the battle pass, and they went for the easy path. I hope they don't repackage their pve work into a OW3 lol

I don't think we'll ever seen close to what they wanted.

There's currently 37 characters, and they're adding a new one every other season.

If what they said was true, they were aiming to have 40-50 talents per character. That's upwards of 1850 talents total, and another 40-50 per new character, it just become an insane workload.

Granted, that isn't really an excuse for killing off the random mission aspect which they seem to also have removed, but being realistic the talent system would have had to be gutted down to bear bones to function.

[PACOX]

Why do I have trust issues when it comes to Blizzard?

[Jester Joe]

You posted several times downplaying other posters about the removed promised features and spoke positively about the thing that they still are doing, only to flipflop now and say that your entire post was just a giant "akshually" about PVE not being removed and you don't even think it might be good.

My initial post was made in jest because I found it weird that anyone would bother to try to defend Blizzard on anything regarding this mess, but now you convinced me that you are either trolling me or are actually being paid for damage control.

You're clearly not reading the thread.

Nowhere have I said anything positive about anything. I only quoted interviews. And now you're just stooping further to mocking instead of realizing you were just making a faulty assumption to begin with. Maybe not ridicule people and try to actually ask what they mean next time and you'll understand better, instead of feeling the need to label people who disagree with you as trolls.

[qwikz]

You're clearly not reading the thread.

Nowhere have I said anything positive about anything. I only quoted interviews. And now you're just stooping further to mocking instead of realizing you were just making a faulty assumption to begin with. Maybe not ridicule people and try to actually ask what they mean next time and you'll understand better, instead of feeling the need to label people who disagree with you as trolls.

Ok well thank you for pointing out that PVE is still coming and that there were interviews being done (just like interviews were done for the last 4 years for the features they are scrapping now), it was truly a worthwhile contribution

[Jester Joe]

Ok well thank you for pointing out that PVE is still coming and that there were interviews being done (just like interviews were done for the last 4 years for the features they are scrapping now), it was truly a worthwhile contribution

Are you really being that sarcastic when someone literally straight up said "PvE is never coming"? And you accused me of trolling?

I'd say I'm surprised but I'm really not.

[Mojo03]

I don't think we'll ever seen close to what they wanted.

There's currently 37 characters, and they're adding a new one every other season.

If what they said was true, they were aiming to have 40-50 talents per character. That's upwards of 1850 talents total, and another 40-50 per new character, it just become an insane workload.

Granted, that isn't really an excuse for killing off the random mission aspect which they seem to also have removed, but being realistic the talent system would have had to be gutted down to bear bones to function.

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.

[Ealyssa]

I'm not arguing that, all I'm saying is I've seen too many people claim that PvE is gone completely and cancelled.

Because what was "OW 2 PVE" promise is completely gone and cancelled...
So people are actually accurate in their assessment of the situation.

[Jester Joe]

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.

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.

Because what was "OW 2 PVE" promise is completely gone and cancelled...
So people are actually accurate in their assessment of the situation.

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.

[qwerty123456]

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

[Edge-]

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.

This continues to be one of the weirdest hills to die on considering it's purely fictional.

[Jester Joe]

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

The original took an entirely scrapped game to make.