Overwatch Rant

I've been playing Overwatch since day one - I didn't play the Beta, and the more I think about it, the more that's probably a good thing because based on what I've heard I wouldn't have liked it too much. However, these may be the last days I see myself logging in to play the latest addition to Blizzard's gaming collection. Competitive Mode (or Comp Mode for short) dropped just a few days ago, and I'm afraid to say that all that I feared would happen has occurred, and as of now, playing Overwatch is simply no longer fun.



Now a lot of people are probably going to claim that I'm dishing out the salt on this because of my skill level, and to a point, those people are right. This is my first real experience with an online shooter, and a good portion of my attraction to the title was that it was touted as a 'casual experience'. Perhaps that was in reference only to Quick Play, and Comp Mode was a whole new beast that I was less prepared for, but nevertheless there's very little about this game that seems casual.

For starters, the reward system confuses me. Your wins and losses are, of course, team oriented. A good or bad composition will win or lose you the match surer than anything else, but your primary scoring in Comp Mode seems to draw specifically from your own skill (at least when it comes to your initial rank). That's fair, considering how more often than not people play absolutely terrible team combos (and then report the other team for cheating - this literally happened to me just yesterday) I should not be punished for having a less than lackadaisical team that wants free XP.

The higher stakes in Comp Mode also does not seem to have pushed out the complete morons when it comes to gameplay. I literally had a game today in which I picked Symmetra on defense. Someone else did the same. They switched, then when it was time to play, they switched back, and proceeded to tell me that I needed to be a team player and change to a tank character (we, evidently, didn't have one). Guy, whoever you are, go fuck yourself. When it comes to team compositions in any game, not just Overwatch, school rules apply and it's first come, first serve. If you main a character, and one character only, that's a REALLY BAD GAME TACTIC FOR A TEAM OBJECTIVE SHOOTER!!! If you don't want to be a team player, that's fine, I get it. Once in a while, we all love being the badass lone wolf, but Overwatch is not the game for that mentality. Stop being dicks.

And Blizzard, you need to put something into play that forces people to change characters. I didn't agree before, but I'm starting to buy into the whole "one character per team" ideology nowadays, because if I have to have one more CM team with two Hanzos on attack, I'm probably going to murder someone.

On that note, fix Winston. His Ult attack heals him in full. Twice. That's bullshit.

What I do find hilarious is how many people have trouble with Bastion in game. Really guys? He's pretty easy to take on if he's by himself in a corner somewhere. The only time he's any real trouble is when you have a Reinhardt guarding him and a Mercy boosting him all behind Rein's shield. That's a b.s. move, but a standard Bastion is not. If you have a good sniper (and you will probably never have a good sniper), or a good Zarya, either of these characters can take a Bastion down really quick. You can also get him with a good Tracer and a bomb, or a Soldier 76 if he's a little more exposed (There's a green power cell on Bastion's back that you can hit and take out his health in record time. It's there, I promise.) So let's stop bitching about only marginally broken game mechanics and start getting back to the root of the problem with Overwatch: You.

You the player (and sometimes me, the player) generally suck at this game. We are none of us an island onto ourselves. You will very rarely be the player carrying the team (at least into victory) so stop acting as if you ever will. If your team comp sucks, if your team in general sucks, if you're not communicating, if you're communicating poorly, these are the main applying attributes to your wins and losses in Overwatch, and chances are high you're part of the problem. Don't be a dick, don't play that ONE CHARACTER THAT YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO PLAY, because you feel you have a right to them because you main them. Learn the game, learn the other characters, you might find a new favorite and actually be a boon to your team instead of a liability.

And if you can't do any of that, do us all a favor and play another game, because you won't be missed, no matter how good of a Genji you think you are (psst, you're not).