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Overwatch beta returning in February with new game modes, maps, & progression system

N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
And presumably more invites: http://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20421003773#1

Jeff Kaplan said:
Happy 2016 Everyone!

It’s been a while since we’ve chatted, so I wanted to provide a quick update on the status of the Overwatch Closed Beta.

When we brought the Closed Beta offline last December, we did so with the intent to use the downtime to address player feedback, work on some core features (like progression!), and adjust the balance of the game. Our goal was to have all of that work completed before bringing the Closed Beta back online, and our hope was to have that goal complete by middle to late January.

While progress has been great and the team has been working super hard to get everything implemented on time, we're not quite ready to bring the Closed Beta back online just yet. We’ve been pretty open about the fact that we could slip into February from the beginning, but a big reason for this delay is that we really wanted to add one more big feature to the next beta patch.

After looking through all of the feedback from last year, one of the things we noticed players consistently mentioning was their desire for more game modes in Overwatch, in addition to Point Capture and Payload. Without getting into specifics, we are working on a new game mode. And we’re very excited about it! And we have some great new maps to support it, too, but we need a little more time to get everything just right.

Rather than try to rush a beta patch out this month (which would mean the new game mode would have to be put off), we’re going to take a few extra weeks before bringing the Closed Beta back. By doing so, we can make sure we can include the new game mode along with the new maps. This will also allow us to do some additional polish to the game’s progression and reward system. Though all these features will still technically be a work-in-progress during the beta, we’d like them to be at a certain quality bar before releasing them for testing.

This was an easy choice for us to make, and hopefully this post can help you understand why we made it. I don’t have an exact date for when the Closed Beta will resume, but right now we’re looking at mid-February (and we don’t intend to slip out of February). We’ll do our best to provide at least one week’s notice before we’re ready to get this beta party started again, so definitely keep an eye on our official channels.

We love making this game with you guys. It’s been so much fun and you’ve been incredibly supportive of us. Thank you all so much for your patience and we hope to see you in-game soon!
Click to expand...
 
O

One Foul Note

Member
Fingers crossed for a key this time. I'm still a little unsure if this game can run or not on my pc so getting into a beta is kinda a requirement before I put any money down.
 
T

Thewonandonly

Junior Member
Do you guys think there will ever be a console beta because I really really want to try this game. It looks so cool from all the video's I have seen and it looks like it is going to be the hero shooter to get while all else fail. Also do we know a release date for this yet I really don't follow the PC crowd much just know this is coming to console and I'm there day one.
 
S

Syf

Banned
Interested in hearing details on the progression system. I hope it's nothing that will make people choose heroes they want to level rather than heroes that would actually be good in a certain team composition. Anyway, excited to get it rolling again.
 
B

Balmung421

Member
Thewonandonly said:
Do you guys think there will ever be a console beta because I really really want to try this game. It looks so cool from all the video's I have seen and it looks like it is going to be the hero shooter to get while all else fail. Also do we know a release date for this yet I really don't follow the PC crowd much just know this is coming to console and I'm there day one.
Click to expand...

Game is supposedly supposed to be out for PC and console before May 2015. No exact date yet.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if they expand beta test weekends for console players. Would be silly not to, as that is a lot of feedback they would miss out on.
 
UnrealEck

UnrealEck

Member
I don't know if I'm eligible for the beta now because they suspended my account after it was accessed by someone I didn't authorise and characters from my WoW account were moved and a subscription bought using what I assume was a stolen credit card.
 
V

Vital Tundra

Member
I hope progression is more like leveling up a hero and getting a new pallet swap and what not. That would be hot. Green Tracer would be my joint.
 
T

Thewonandonly

Junior Member
Balmung421 said:
Game is supposedly supposed to be out for PC and console before May 2015. No exact date yet.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if they expand beta test weekends for console players. Would be silly not to, as that is a lot of feedback they would miss out on.
Click to expand...
I hope so it would be smart to get some console feed back because this game has a chance to bomb like CS go on console or absolutely blow up and be huge on consoles.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Syfadious said:
Interested in hearing details on the progression system. I hope it's nothing that will make people choose heroes they want to level rather than heroes that would actually be good in a certain team composition. Anyway, excited to get it rolling again.
Click to expand...

That's why they threw out the previous progression system.
 
C

celebi23

Member
Not gonna lie, still kinda salty that there's no Mac version planned right now :/ Blizzard has usually been pretty reliable with Mac support for a long time.
 
M

Mupod

Member
I wonder what's stopping them from opening it up to a pre-order beta. It ran without a hitch during the last stress test. Fear of money?

Would be cool if I got a real key this time instead of a weekend test. But anything happening around the same time as SFV and XCOM 2 is going to be difficult to fit into my schedule.
 
T

TheStig88

Member
Fingers crossed for an invite. Got a weekend invite last time but my rig just couldn't give me the performance/settings balance I wanted so I didn't play any. Not so much this time.
 
M

Millsington

Member
'Progression' is not really a word I like to hear in competitive multiplayer games, but after watching the video (linked in the post) about what they learned testing progression systems I feel a lot better.

For those not able to watch, they tried two systems which they said didn't work well.

1. A talent tree system like WoW that you got points for as you gained experience from playing the game, but it didn't work because there were so many combinations of abilities and characters that it was hard to keep track of when players are expected to frequently switch classes during the match.

2. A per class level system that rewarded cosmetics only. This didn't work because people stuck with classes they were trying to level despite being sub-optimal for their team.

It sounds like they are committed to cosmetic only rewards but with some kind of system to prevent problems like they had in #2.
 
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