The Future of Overwatch: Where does it go from here after almost 3 years?

[Neoxon]

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We're on the verge of the game's 3rd anniversary & we haven't gotten a lot of new content (at least for the events) as of late. Yes, we've gotten a character every 4 months alongside the occasional map (including the upcoming Paris map), the continuation of Overwatch League, & the tease of something big on the way that will explain the lack of new stuff for the events. But overall, things feel like they're winding down (especially with YouTubers moving away from the game), with us being thrust from one meta (GOATS) to the next (Reaper). Not to mention all the "Overwatch is dead" memes on social media (especially in YouTube comments).

So yeah, where does Overwatch go from here? What does it need to remain relevant, & where do you stand with regards to the game?

 

[Lant_War]

They could take a few notes from Siege, especially in terms of adding content. That game went from borderline dead to one of the most popular shooters from this gen.

 

[Maximus]

I love the game, one of the best shooters I have played and one I keep going back to after taking breaks. I think it's a shame the game isn't getting more content or rapid updates, when you see what happens with games like Fortnite. I'm also annoyed that purchases/progress aren't cross platform. If Fortnite is able to do it, Blizzard could easily do it too.

I want to see the game continue, but it just feels like Blizzard isn't doing as much as they could do keep the game feeling real fresh and engaged. I'm happy that when I do jump back in on PS4, that it is still easy to find games for all the different modes.

Also, make Lucio Ball a permanent game, instead of just available once a year.

I'm also disappointed this game didn't and still hasn't come to Mac. I always relied on Blizzard supporting Mac.

 

[Meg Cherry]

I feel like unless they add something huge (like a full solo narrative campaign) - the ship has sailed on me really caring about Overwatch. I enjoyed it for the first few months, but as the playerbase dwindled to just the competitive players - it lost a lot of the appeal. Plus it always felt like the console versions were on an extreme delay with getting new characters & content - which really drained a lot of appeal for me.

 

[Neoxon]

I feel like unless they add something huge (like a full solo narrative campaign) - the ship has sailed on me really caring about Overwatch. I enjoyed it for the first few months, but as the playerbase dwindled to just the competitive players - it lost a lot of the appeal. Plus it always felt like the console versions were on an extreme delay with getting new characters & content - which really drained a lot of appeal for me.

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In the case of characters, consoles get new heroes whenever the live servers on PC do. The ones that get new characters immediately after the reveal are the PTR server players, which is basically a testing server to find anything super overpowered or legit glitchy before the official release.

 

[juliamcardinals]

OW went from being gaming golden boy a an stale messz I hope they course correct soon because it would be shame if it doesn't

 

[Ferrio]

As someone who plays semi often I'm fine with them trucking on exactly how they're doing. I don't need it to try and change, just keep adding heros and maps that's it.

 

[napk1ns]

I feel like unless they add something huge (like a full solo narrative campaign) - the ship has sailed on me really caring about Overwatch. I enjoyed it for the first few months, but as the playerbase dwindled to just the competitive players - it lost a lot of the appeal. Plus it always felt like the console versions were on an extreme delay with getting new characters & content - which really drained a lot of appeal for me.

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To clarify: the console versions have update parity with the PC. The only difference is that the PC has the PTR to test out new updates roughly two weeks prior to an official patch. It's pretty negligible.

 

[seroun]

I uninstalled it after seeing that I didn't play it as much anymore. It's a shame because I love the characters, but it's stale, they take too long on updating stuff, and idk..

 

[InspectaDekka]

Played Overwatch on PS4 for a while but stopped. With each update it started to feel less fun and I can't put my finger on why. Maybe too much of a good thing? Who knows but vanilla Overwatch was the shit.

 

[Weegian]

It's still my go-to shooter. The way Blizzard is handling its other properties, I'm not holding my breath for some amazing new update. But I'll take a steady stream of maps and heroes.

 

[Meg Cherry]

In the case of characters, consoles get new heroes whenever the live servers on PC do. The ones that get new characters immediately after the reveal are the PTR server players, which is basically a testing server to find anything super overpowered or legit glitchy before the official release.

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The problem I've always had, is that all of the hype & excitement accompanies that PTR server release. I feel like I've been conditioned to not care about new character announcements, because I won't be able to check it out myself for a few weeks.

 

[ZugZug123]

Keep event modes enabled in Arcade all year, more PvE, enable 8v8 or even 12v12 modes (if TF2 only had 6v6 and no community servers I would never have 3000h on it) and add to the lore in game. A lot of OW fans are really attached to the heroes, keep them engaged.

 

[mopinks]

Overwatch 2!!

 

[Fudgepuppy]

I play it every day, and just want more tanks and supports. You're too dependent on dps to switch and counter the team, which can make some matches terrible.

 

[Greatest Ever]

Played Overwatch on PS4 for a while but stopped. With each update it started to feel less fun and I can't put my finger on why. Maybe too much of a good thing? Who knows but vanilla Overwatch was the shit.

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Time to join Siegeeeee

 

[Titik]

They need to get off thier policy of not having heroes overlap on thier abilities too much. There is no reason why heroes cannot share abilities with someone else but have another ability altogether.

I believe that this is the reason they cited on why they only want to release three heroes a year.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

I feel like unless they add something huge (like a full solo narrative campaign) - the ship has sailed on me really caring about Overwatch. I enjoyed it for the first few months, but as the playerbase dwindled to just the competitive players - it lost a lot of the appeal. Plus it always felt like the console versions were on an extreme delay with getting new characters & content - which really drained a lot of appeal for me.

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This is pretty much how it is for me, too. I come back to try out a new hero or just to dick around once in a while, but overall I just don't play it a whole lot because I'd rather be playing something else like Destiny or, during a Destiny break, my backlog. My wife plays the hell out of it though (which doesn't help, any time I try to play and we play together my lack of playing doesn't drag the MM skill down any and I never feel like I can do anything meaningful against sweaties).

 

[Reedirect]

A permanent new game mode and have it integrated in Ranked as well.

 

[RespectThySole]

I think I'm over it now. I fell off of it around season 9-10.

 

[Neoxon]

Overwatch 2!!

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Isn't it way too soon for a sequel? Blizzard games are usually supported for a long-ass time before a sequel is even considered, especially these days.

 

[Ralemont]

Unless they can fix everyone bum rushing to pick DPS as soon as the char selection screen comes up, I won't be returning.

Given Overwatch's obsession with hard counters necessitating character switching, I don't see a solution coming from the queue system.

 

[Shola Akinnuso]

OW lost me after realizing that they've got all of this lore that you'll never engage with. Beautiful art, great characters, great lore, PvP only arena gameplay. It's like Destiny with with all of the lore but the only play option is PvP.

The thing that really gets me about OW is that when the game does decide to do PvE, it's basically in PvP maps where it just feels like a cheap add-on. If Blizzard actually made legit SP and PvE content with SP maps full of discovery and exploring the universe and/or PvE stuff that really utilized co-op, Blizzard would tap an all new audience who would likely be curious enough to invest in the PvP seasons.

I don't get Blizzard.

 

[AtmaPhoenix]

I play it every day, and just want more tanks and supports. You're too dependent on dps to switch and counter the team, which can make some matches terrible.

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I think this is my main problem. I used to play Overwatch regularly for a few hours every day, now I play it maybe once a week for an hour to chill before I go to sleep. We have almost 20 DPS characters, but only 6 tanks and 6 supports, and yet somehow the meta for a long while was 3 Tank - 3 Support? And even if you take GOATS out of the equation, a balanced team is 2 DPS 2 Tank 2 Support. There are so few non-DPS options, yet everyone wants to play DPS.

On top of the lack of anything meaningful in events besides cosmetics that you can't reliably get thanks to loot boxes, it feels like actual progress updates in the game has ground to a halt.

 

[Jimnymebob]

It feels like they don't care now, which is a huge shame.
Since the Retribution event, it's just been a few new characters and maps, and that's it. It just feels like they're doing the bare minimum to support it.

Like, they seem to have big plans about the future of the game, and all this cool stuff and characters they're gonna be bringing, but they're purposely keeping fans out of the loop.

 

[Bhonar]

I know what I want --

SP campaign and more PVE content (whether SP or coop-based)

but it seems like that's not what the majority of players want

 

[1000% H]

I feel like a lot of the post-launch characters are really underwhelming. It started pretty strong with the likes of Ana, Sombra, Orisa but a lot of them are either annoying like Doom or Brig or complete nobodies like Ashe. Hard to keep going back when I don't really like the new characters/content.

 

[Selphie]

I really wish there'd be new gamemodes in quickplay/competitive.

 

[BDS]

It's too late at this point, Fortnite ate their lunch and stole their spotlight and you can't win that back. They should have instituted a role queue, forced 2-2-2 team composition, faster content updates, and replaced lootboxes with a battle pass-style system, and they should have done it years ago. It's too late now.

 

[Titik]

I think this is my main problem. I used to play Overwatch regularly for a few hours every day, now I play it maybe once a week for an hour to chill before I go to sleep. We have almost 20 DPS characters, but only 6 tanks and 6 supports, and yet somehow the meta for a long while was 3 Tank - 3 Support? And even if you take GOATS out of the equation, a balanced team is 2 DPS 2 Tank 2 Support. There are so few non-DPS options, yet everyone wants to play DPS.

On top of the lack of anything meaningful in events besides cosmetics that you can't reliably get thanks to loot boxes, it feels like actual progress updates in the game has ground to a halt.

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It doesn't help that Blizz pretty much shoehorned support=heals so they are even more limited now in what kind of heroes they can add to support.

 

[brandonbrb]

They need to fix the competitive mode, rename "casual-competitive" and create a new competitive mode with heroe bans.

 

[Nazo]

Well for starters they can properly balance the game for once. It's really disheartening to play against broken characters and comps all the damn time, leading to unfun and boring metas. The game needs a shake up in a major way.

 

[SaberX85]

I only play when there's an event, just to get the new skins

Really disappointed with no update on the story and I already give up hoping they will release the story

 

[Risev]

I feel that Blizzard are their own worse enemy in the case of OW. The first year was incredible, with each seasonal event bringing in its own unique game mode and fresh thematic skins. After that however, Blizz has been mostly rehashing the same thematic events and the realization started slowly sinking in for players that Blizzard has absolutely no intention of doing anything with the great lore and cast of characters they have here. I know that the game is a competitive shooter at its core, but people really love these characters, and the story is still at the same phase/stage as it was in since the reveal trailer.

The slow charecter / map releases would be justifiable were the balancing good, but balancing has been atrocious ever since the Mercy meta last year. Brigette was so broken that she remained a must pick at the competitive level and defined a meta for months even after getting nerfed multiple times literally every patch. The exuse tha Blizz are taking it slow with adding new maps and characters when the balancing is this bad simply doesn't work.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

I stopped after realizing I was no longer playing for fun but for the grind. The game balance is all over the place and shifting all the time too. I think there needs to be something very significant in terms of change to get me really back into it. For reference, I haven't played since a little but after Brigitte.

 

[BackwardCap]

Feels like they tried to do too much with the franchise all at the beginning but could no longer keep up the content output after the first year. Cinematics, Comics, Seasonal events, E-Sports league, New game modes.

Now it all seems to be focused on just O.W.L and constant balance adjustments.

 

[Cels]

Plus it always felt like the console versions were on an extreme delay with getting new characters & content - which really drained a lot of appeal for me.

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was there a single time that PC live servers had new heroes and maps well before console players?

 

[Deleted member 17627]

All they need to is just go back to what they were doing up until November 2017:

• Add new heroes, and make them interesting and actually playable.
  • Bridget and Ashe just felt like they were cashing in on previously established themes and concepts, they're also both pretty boring to play as.
  • Wrecking Ball was an interesting concept, but they way he controls (especially as a console player) makes the use of his body as a weapon very difficult. Without that, he just feels like Orisa, but with less defensive options.
• Add new maps and keep them in rotation, the rate at which we currently makes the game much less interesting.
• Add new costumes that are outside of events.
  • This was especially annoying with the anniversary costumes being locked to only the anniversary. You need to incentivize people to play your game. If for most people, they don't have an incentive to play outside of three and a half months of the year, you're doing something wrong.
• Update the events. This was something that also almost made me uninstall the game last year, pretty much nothing new was added to the seasonal events after the Blackwatch one last year. If they can't even update the one thing that encourages people to come back to the game, then that's worrisome.
• Offer more lore and actually do something with it. The first two years we got so many comics, shorts, voice clips, etc. detailing what the world of Overwatch was. This year we got two shorts (with Reunion being not that interesting) and that was pretty much it.
  • In regards to doing something with it, not having only one story event per year would be a start.
• Quality of Life updates all around. From matchmaking, character balance, to arcade mode rotations, all of this time can make such a huge difference in one's decision to keep playing the game.
  • On the topic of character balance, I want them to stop nerfing characters. Unless a character is so overpowered that they can only lose against one or two other characters, there is no need to nerf them to the point of them being obsolete and/or boring to use. Buffing characters is what keeps the meta active and exciting.

I really hope that they're able to go back and improve this game, because I really like it. Because if after this year's anniversary, nothing changes? I myself will probably stop playing.

 

[BDS]

was there a single time that PC live servers had new heroes and maps well before console players?

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I believe there is actually one instance of something like this happening. When Bastion was buffed in the spring of 2017 (the "Omnic Crisis") and became overpowered, Blizzard issued an emergency patch to nerf him on PC, but because of Microsoft/Sony certification process the console patch didn't release until like two weeks later. Or at least that's how I remember it. I don't play on console.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

I only play when there's an event, just to get the new skins

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This was me for awhile but I can't do it anymore. I realized I was just grinding, playing more matches than I really felt like and getting super frustrated because loot boxes and the slow grind to accumulate credits. I wish they actually addressed the loot box problems at some point but they never did.

 

[KLoWn]

Nerf Reaper.

 

[corasaur]

i still really enjoy the game (and watching owl) and want to get another year or two out of the experience at least, but here's some ideas that i think would revitalize the game and fan base.

even if they have to make it a spinoff game or premium addon, do something with the characters and world.

add in a new core mode of some kind.

bring back new content to the seasonal events.

drop a batch of just tanks and healers. the bad-comp problem is caused in part by the huge total number of dps characters. if fans are distributed randomly across all the characters, of course we have a hard time getting comps that don't have 3 or 4 dps players.

figure out what the game's balance goals are instead of going through this cycle of "nerf the option that currently annoys the most people and see what that leads to."

stick in a "grouping up and playing the objective" tutorial mode disguised as pve content with achievements and unlocks for completing it so that any people who trickle in out of obliviousness have an in-game way to realize that it dooms their team.

 

[antitrop]

I believe there is actually one instance of something like this happening. When Bastion was buffed in the spring of 2017 (the "Omnic Crisis") and became overpowered, Blizzard issued an emergency patch to nerf him on PC, but because of Microsoft/Sony certification process the console patch didn't release until like two weeks later. Or at least that's how I remember it. I don't play on console.

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Yes, I remember this very well. The Omnic Crisis was a matter of days on PC, but weeks on console.

That version of Bastion was the most powerful hero the game ever had until Mercy was reworked.

 

[i-hate-u]

It's the best FPS of all time for me. I can live with its current cycle of content release forever.

My biggest issues with the game has always been just the balance, which varies throughout the year.

 

[Cels]

I believe there is actually one instance of something like this happening. When Bastion was buffed in the spring of 2017 (the "Omnic Crisis") and became overpowered, Blizzard issued an emergency patch to nerf him on PC, but because of Microsoft/Sony certification process the console patch didn't release until like two weeks later. Or at least that's how I remember it. I don't play on console.

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yea that's right. on PC bastion was patched pretty quick. but console players had to wait nearly a month. i remember a lot of justified whining from console players. that was mostly blizzard's fault, they ignored nearly universal feedback from the PTR saying that bastion could not be released in that state, and then they released him like that.

but that wasn't really my question. is there some new content like a new hero or map or game mode coming out on PC well before consoles? not something like a balance change.

 

[ApeEscaper]

I dropped this a few months ago not enjoying it as much as i used to other games more fun now, i play it still occasionally on PC, if they add mouse and keyboard support on console version that'd be nice too might come back to play on there aswell but obv doubt they would add that and still nothing done against XIM4 users on it on the rise

 

[Deleted member 16657]

They need a big shake-up, like "Overwatch 2.0" or something. I just made a thread about the ping system in Apex Legends and I would really like to see similar contextual communication tools in Overwatch. They also can't keep rehashing the events. It was exciting the first year, now its boring. A good example of a recurring event is how TF2 did Halloween for a few years. Each year brought something new and unique - one year it was a map, another year a game mode, another year a cosmetic scavenger hunt.

Basically they need to really grab the attention of the mainstream back with a big QoL and content update.

 

[capitalCORN]

With the Blizzard has been waffly about itself and it's title nowaday, hard to see where things end up.

 

[Pariah]

Back in 2016, Overwatch raised by its own merits as a generation-defining game. Part of that was based on the inherent promise that the excellent base would evolve into something much bigger and even better. I don't know what happened for the game to start losing its shine at some point in late 2017, early 2018. The market goes too fast for any game to remain dominant eternally. With the emergence of Battle Royale games and the annual presence of series like COD, it was a matter of time before some new trend overcame Blizzard's game. Still, I feel the company is to blame here too. The updates have been slow, sparse and quite disappointing in general. So they have a great base, and Overwatch remains a popular title, but all in all they've been unable to sustain the game with exciting new content. To me the result of that is Overwatch in 2019 being a shadow of the game it was, and the game many expected it to be, in 2016.

If there's to be a sequel, and there will surely be one, they need to start with a faster roadmap for updates.

 

[Arthoneceron]

Everyone agrees that Overwatch needs a fix. No one agree on how.

For me, it was fun once. When they "fixed" McCree and Genji back in the S1 and priorized the "dive" meta, I stopped to care about the game.