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Is Overwatch going to be popular on consoles?

It will have his niche player base, but it won't explode or be anything close to CoD popularity or anything. I say that because after extensively playing Overwatch and also trying out the game pad control scheme (no, not in a real match, I'm fully aware of the controls discrepancy between mouse and game pad) I feel like this kind of game doesn't translate well with joysticks. Why do I say that? Well console shooters uses lots of subtle tricks and design decision to accommodate the control scheme and make it feel as natural as possible.

Design tricks in most console fps:
  • The base movement speed of players is fairly low.
  • The action is mainly in the horizontal axis (few reasons to shoot up or down, even Blops3 reigned that down following AW which did not have that design).
  • Most console shooters favor hitscan, or if not at least very fast projectiles.
  • Bullet magnetism and aim stickyness makes aiming pretty pain free.
  • Most shooters on consoles feature aim down sight, which is often coupled with a target snapping, making it easier to engage mid/long firefights with having to be super precise with the stick.
  • Turning around with a joystick is often awkward and slow, so map design and sprint lets you disengage instead of fighting back if flanked.

Almost none of those design tricks are present in Overwatch, making it feel like a PC shooter shipped down to consoles. Characters move much faster than your typical console shooter, and some are particularly hard to hit like a good Genji. There's barely a horizontal line for action. You have to look up past your maximum vertical field of view at the default view angle for Mercies/Pharahs, high perched Snipers or people on rooftops while your can't go there (say your Tjorbiorn vs a Junkrat). You also have to 180 turn from time to time, like against dashing/recalling Tracers or Genji dashing through you, which is awkward with sticks. All of the above makes it much more frustrating to be efficient at both aiming and looking around.

Regarding aim assist mechanics like aim stickiness, it's there but with slow projectiles characters like Lucio or Mercy that mechanic is a trap. You have to actively move out of the stickyness zone if you ever hope to hit someone that is ADADing, else you will never hit them because you have to actively lead and predict, but now you have to fine tune your aiming with a joystick out of the sticky zone. It feels really awkward. The game also lacks ADS which isn't a big problem since very few heroes are designed for mid-range fighting but it does make McCree and S:76 harder to play with at those ranges.

All of those above makes me think that while the game will be a huge success at launch on consoles, the huge population won't stay and people will go back to what they are comfortable, feeling like they have trouble getting kills and playing good in that game without really knowing why. I predict it will have around BF4 level of population past the initial hype, which isn't shabby.

I like this write up, and hopefully they have taken this all into account. Blizzard isn't afraid to change how a console port plays vs the PC version. See diablo 3 and the roll mechanic, along with other things. I expect to see some of these things, minus the zooming and snapping which will be a loss for a console game. If it is a straight port with just minimal adjustments then everything you say could very well be true.
 
have they even advertised it for console? i feel like most people didn't even know this was coming to anything other than pc...but maybe that's just me. i've never been in the blizzard camp even when i was a pc gamer.
 
Seems like a timely article and Q&A.

Jeff Kaplan said:
Jeff Kaplan, director on the new Blizzard FPS, told a youtuber who visited Blizzard's office this week that the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game will be independently supported from the PC version.

"We don't want to do anything that would harm PCs because of console tuning," said Kaplan. "And there's been a lot of unease about 'I play on this platform, which means the other one is going to ruin it for us' and we wouldn't do that."
 
Seems like a timely article and Q&A.

It seems more like a reassurance for PC players that the game has not been "casualized" because of consoles development to me, which is a common concern among the PC playerbase but ya the console version might be massively tweaked from the PC build with gamepad enabled. We'll see at open beta. Personally I don't think there will be much difference if any, the concerns I have are too ingrained with the design of the game IMO but we never know.
 
have they even advertised it for console? i feel like most people didn't even know this was coming to anything other than pc...but maybe that's just me. i've never been in the blizzard camp even when i was a pc gamer.

They only confirmed console versions in November when they re-announced the game and filled in a lot of details.
 
Seems like a timely article and Q&A.

Didn't expect them to be testing new heroes this soon. That's awesome news.

While console and PC being kept separate isn't a surprise, at least it's out there now.

Edit: I hope Blizzard keeps options in the console version to allow the game to stay close to the PC version. I want to play both PC and PS4, and I'll play both on controller, adjusting each time would be rough.
 
Didn't expect them to be testing new heroes this soon. That's awesome news.

While console and PC being kept separate isn't a surprise, at least it's out there now.

Heck I didn't expect the maps they've added in the past month and a half either. Since beta started we've gotten 3 new heroes and 4 new maps. While constantly tweaking stuff cause Beta.
 
Heck I didn't expect the maps they've added in the past month and a half either. Since beta started we've gotten 3 new heroes and 4 new maps. While constantly tweaking stuff cause Beta.
And the brawl mode. Been really enjoying the last two rotations. Didn't expect it at all
 
I don't think its had the marketing to push it into the top tier console games 5m+ if you were in a game/gamestop, i bet out of 10 people you asked, 9 would have no idea what over watch is, they are the people that make those sales up.

i think 3-4million would be great for it, and i think thats what it'll do.
 
360 TF2 managed a competitive scene for 7+ years and you can still actively find games for it almost 10 years later, even without the patches and with a patch that absolutely shit on the community

If it's a good game, it will survive easily, it's just a matter of how it will get updates. I dont expect the level of updates that the PC ver sion will get, but im hoping for a much better support then Valve will do.

But i'd imagine it will sell over 1 mil on PS4, and at the very lowest 500K
 
360 TF2 managed a competitive scene for 7+ years and you can still actively find games for it almost 10 years later, even without the patches and with a patch that absolutely shit on the community

If it's a good game, it will survive easily, it's just a matter of how it will get updates. I dont expect the level of updates that the PC ver sion will get, but im hoping for a much better support then Valve will do.

But i'd imagine it will sell over 1 mil on PS4, and at the very lowest 500K

Blizzard is very good at supporting both version of Diablo 3, so I don't doubt that the console version will be kept up to date with the PC version. Maybe not 1:1 on the date schedule, but it should be close to it.

And if they figure out the system to keeping their weekly brawl, which should run independent from actual patches, then content should be dropping frequently.
 
I'm not too sure it'll be that popular in general. A lot of streamers got bored with it and it's not high in viewership. More people are watching Paragon and that has little interest on GAF.
 
I'm not too sure it'll be that popular in general. A lot of streamers got bored with it and it's not high in viewership. More people are watching Paragon and that has little interest on GAF.

Twitch views =/= how popular or competitive a game will be. It might just be that Overwatch isnt as fun too watch, doesnt appeal to populat twitch streamers, or a whole slew of other nonsense

This game is similar to TF2 in a lot of ways, and TF2 has never been a good game for twitch streamers to stream.
 
I suspect you will be able to get matches going, but playing the thing makes it apparent the entire development team plays with a mouse and Blizzard's core fanbase exists on one specific platform.

This is before we even get to the $20 price increase for consoles.

I'm not too sure it'll be that popular in general. A lot of streamers got bored with it and it's not high in viewership. More people are watching Paragon and that has little interest on GAF.

Over 8 million people signed up for the PC beta: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1184282
 
playing the thing makes it apparent the entire development team plays with a mouse and Blizzard's core fanbase exists on one specific platform.
After watching the Kaplan interview about them balancing console and PC versions separately, I'm wondering what the extent of this problem will actually end up being. They showed in Diablo 3 that they're willing to make core control changes to better fit a platform, and I don't think we have actually seen the console version of Overwatch played anywhere. Possible they are being smart about adapting the controls properly
 
Twitch views =/= how popular or competitive a game will be. It might just be that Overwatch isnt as fun too watch, doesnt appeal to populat twitch streamers, or a whole slew of other nonsense

This game is similar to TF2 in a lot of ways, and TF2 has never been a good game for twitch streamers to stream.

The viewers and players dropped off because it's in closed beta as well, the player pool is very small.

People are more likely to watch games that they can play and have access to, also despite popular belief not every streamer got beta access.
 
Twitch views =/= how popular or competitive a game will be. It might just be that Overwatch isnt as fun too watch, doesnt appeal to populat twitch streamers, or a whole slew of other nonsense

This game is similar to TF2 in a lot of ways, and TF2 has never been a good game for twitch streamers to stream.

Well part of the problem with TF2 was Valve never really supported the comp community or streaming all that much. I doubt Blizzard will make that mistake.

Of course Valve is now making up for that mistake with comp matchmaking and the other day they added a list of the top TF2 twitch streams to the main menu in TF2 which will also probably help increase twitch viewership of TF2
 
I think it will. Consoles tend to keep communities a bit longer for games like this since there isn't an oversaturated market like on pc. Look at battlefront statistics on console vs PC on playerbase. Whyyyyyy more console players
 
Who knows, it'll get some player base blizzard marketing muscle guarantees that, will it become the "hot thing"? Who knows
 
This is confirmed not happening unfortunately, at least not at launch.
That's true. And yeah they have said that all future maps and heroes will be free which is awesome

That's good, was just going to ask this. Being a full price release I'd have been totally put off if it was full of micro transactions.

Though Blizzard are good at post launch support to be fair.
 
I think it will. Consoles tend to keep communities a bit longer for games like this since there isn't an oversaturated market like on pc. Look at battlefront statistics on console vs PC on playerbase. Whyyyyyy more console players

PC keeps communities much longer...just read the other thread, these might as well be sister topics. Battlefront is dead because it's a shit game.
 
Destiny can be played 'solo' as much as Overwatch can: It's an online only game designed around multiplayer, but you certainly CAN play it solo.

It's like people respond to this thread without realizing Overwatch has bots.

I honestly have to question whether or not you even know what Destiny is like. Comparing it in any way to Overwatch because it has "multiplayer" aspects is ridiculous. The majority of Destiny is pure PvE. Co-op and PvP are different things.
 
I honestly have to question whether or not you even know what Destiny is like. Comparing it in any way to Overwatch because it has "multiplayer" aspects is ridiculous. The majority of Destiny is pure PvE. Co-op and PvP are different things.

Someone said you can play Destiny solo and Overwatch is purely multiplayer. I pointed out that you can play either of them single player, even though they are obviously BASED around multiplayer and are both online only games. Nothing I said was incorrect, and I never said the games themselves were that similar.

Overwatch has basically as much 'solo' stuff to do as something like Unreal Tournament did back in the day, and nobody gave a shit then either.
 
PC keeps communities much longer...just read the other thread, these might as well be sister topics. Battlefront is dead because it's a shit game.

That's an opinion, besides there are plenty of 'great' games on PC with small communities ad plenty of 'shit' games with large ones.
 
I bought two copies so yes.

I sure as hell hope it does. Not sure if if it'll run on my toaster so I preordered the console version as well until I upgrade.
 
No but I have a good feeling about that Gearbox game with the name nobody can remember that is similar and coming out around the same time as Overwatch is going to fly off shelves.

I actually do think Battleborn will do better on consoles than Overwatch.
More people on consoles are aware of Gearbox because of Bordelands. I would not underestimate the "OMG I'M YELLING AND LISTEN TO THIS ABSOLUTELY ABSURD THING I SAY, ALSO I'M A PENGUIN IN A DIAPER" type of humor. Seems to be pretty popular.
 
It's a tough sell for me at that price for a multiplayer only game. I've been burnt by Evolve and Battlefront in the last year so I won't be jumping in until a sale.
 
well, to be honest R6 has quite a healthy community on consoles.

I think it will all come back to Blizzard's support. if they cut content on consoles or just stop releasing updates like they did with Diablo - community will forget the game very quickly.

That being said, I think there's a new generation of (console) gamers not familliar with Blizzard's games.
So they will have to go extra mile to gain their trust. It's all in the hands of Blizzard.
I wish it would do good.

That never happened.

was adventure mode and seasons ever released on console though?

Adventure mode yes, there must be reasons there is no seasons.

Last update was in January.

Greetings, nephalem!

Patch 2.4.0 is now live for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

This patch includes a variety of item and content updates, including (but not limited to):

New Zone: Greyhollow Island

The mysterious forested locale of Greyhollow Island is now open for exploration! Inhabited by new enemies and steeped in intrigue, brave the wilds and unravel the enigma behind the isle's mysterious inhabitants. Be forewarned, however; the land itself is hungry for blood.

To learn more about Greyhollow Island, click here.

Expanded Areas: The Eternal Woods & Leoric's Manor

The Sanctuary you know grows larger. Two existing zones are receiving new, fully explorable additions, featuring new bounties and events. Survive the hunting grounds of the fierce yeti in the Eternal Woods, a new branch of The Ruins of Sescheron zone. Leoric's Manor becomes a bit grander beyond the collapsed stairwell in Act I, opening up the Royal Quarters for curious treasure hunters.

New Feature: Set Dungeons

Test your mettle against one of twenty-four custom designed set dungeons! Each dungeon features a pre-generated, static course designed entirely around a specific class set. Don all six pieces of your chosen set and visit Leoric's Library to obtain a clue on where these hidden trials are located. Hunt down your dungeon of choice and master it to unlock exclusive cosmetic rewards for one, more, or for the truly dedicated, all of these challenges!

New Feature: Empowered Rifts

Spend your gold to empower a Greater Rift, granting a fourth opportunity to upgrade a Legendary Gem. Gold costs vary based on the tier of Greater Rift level attempted, and bonus upgrades are granted only to those who successfully complete the rift, so spend wisely!

General

Players may now purchase additional stash space, up to 350 slots total
At level 70, +% Bonus Experience is reduced to 10% effectiveness
Death's Breath now has a unique item color and have a beam effect for increased visibility



Item Updates

Several existing sets have received power redesigns or significant updates
Redesigned Sets
The Legacy of Raekor
Thorns of the Invoker
The Shadow's Mantle
Monkey King's Garb
Delsere's Magnum Opus
Tal Rasha's Elements
Updated Sets
Might of the Earth
Armor of Akkhan
Roland's Legacy
Embodiment of the Marauder
Natalya's Vengeance
Unhallowed Essence
Inna's Mantra
Raiment of the Jade Harvester
Spirit of Arachyr
Firebird's Finery
Added new Legendary items
A number of existing Legendary items have also been redesigned
Old versions of these Legendary items found previous to this patch will not be automatically updated with redesigned powers, and will need to be found again to benefit from these changes.



Skill Updates

Taunt now causes monsters to consistently attack you
All classes have received several skill updates



Nephalem Rift Updates

Medium and Large versions of most cave maps can no longer appear in Greater Rifts
Density has been increased in many cave maps
The amount of progression granted by progress orbs in Nephalem and Greater Rifts has been increased
The number of progression orbs dropped by Rare monsters has been increased from 3 to 4
The total amount of progress required to complete a rift has been increased
Several new tile sets based on the new zones introduced in Patch 2.3.0 and 2.4.0 have been added for Nephalem Rifts
New snow and forest themed monster population types have been added for Nephalem Rifts
Some Pylons have been slightly tweaked for balance



Adventure Mode Updates

A new recipe has been added to Kanai's Cube
An arrow will now indicate the location of the Keywarden if you are in a zone where one is present
The names and descriptions of the Keywardens and the items they drop have been changed to correspond to the respective realms their machines open and the organs dropped in those realms
Bandit Shrines now have a unique appearance



Monsters

Experience granted by all monsters at level 70 has been increased
Monster health has been reduced in solo, 2, and 3-player Greater Rifts
Elites in Set Dungeons can now occasionally drop pieces of Set Dungeon lore
The tactics and animations of several enemies have been retuned
The tactics and animations of several Rift Guardians have been retuned
Rift Guardians will now teleport to a player if there is a very long walking distance between them
Starting at Torment VII, Rift Guardians now drop a guaranteed Forgotten Soul and have a chance, increased by difficulty level, to drop a second Forgotten Soul



User Interface

The user interface has received several quality of life updates
Skill buttons with active skills now glow
Skill buttons with time-limited buffs now show a timer bar
Skill buttons with stacked buffs now show the stack count in green
Revenge now plays an effect on the skill button when it is ready
A second row has been added to the buff bar for each player with space for up to 14 total buff icons
Very large floating numbers will now be abbreviated
An option has been added to disable this abbreviation
An effect has been added to the XP bar when players gain or lose bonus experience from Pools of Reflection
 
I imagine it will have a bit of a following. Its a new IP, looks fun, Blizzard.

I'm still going to be getting it on PC though. Blizzard = PC for me.
 
well, to be honest R6 has quite a healthy community on consoles.

I think it will all come back to Blizzard's support. if they cut content on consoles or just stop releasing updates like they did with Diablo - community will forget the game very quickly.

That being said, I think there's a new generation of (console) gamers not familliar with Blizzard's games.
So they will have to go extra mile to gain their trust. It's all in the hands of Blizzard.
I wish it would do good.

When did Blizzard stop supporting console diablo, are you talking about the ps3/ Xb360 version?

I played that game on XB1 just last week on the same patch that is current on PC.

If anything, blizzard supports their games with patching and content updates far more than most devs out there.
 
While this is a Blizzard game, I'm concerned it's going to go the way of Titanfall and Evolv and fizzle out. I obviously hope it doesn't because the game is great fun, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility.
 
Question: is mouse/keyboard still the primary way that PC gamers play FPS? Because as advantageous as it is I prefer using a controller. Despite being able to perform much better with it, I feel like using a mouse negates the sense of gamefeel -- it's like I'm clicking icons on my desktop which greatly reduces my level of enjoyment. Still, feeling like I'm fighting an uphill battle with a pad against a bunch of kb/mouse users isn't exactly fun either meaning that I've just flat out preferred multiplayer FPS on consoles since... well, forever.

I'm definitely interested in Overwatch. It's not one of my "most wanted" games, but its taken on the role of 2016 "dark horse" for me. My PC would run it no problem, my friends on PS4 don't seem interested, I wouldn't be concerned about the player base prematurely dwindling, and I'd very likely be able to grab it for a discounted price far before I could find it cheaper on consoles. Still, if I would just be constantly dragging my team down on PC and having a generally poor experience because of it (or choosing to be more competitive with kb/m and having a meh time anyway) then I would be forced to take the wait-and-see approach on the PS4 version.

Preemptive: before someone chimes in saying that one can be just as good with a pad as with kb/m, while that may be true for an extremely small percentage the latter is inherently faster/more accurate with aiming than the former. As someone who used to compete in and run tourneys for console FPS I have an extremely ingrained preference, but I fully believe from my time playing PC FPS (really dug Day of Defeat at one point in time) that one input method is competitively far superior to the other.

EDIT: Then again, there's always the possibility that the gamefeel could suck on consoles anyway. (ex. I can't stand how "samey" the guns feel on the modern COD games)
 
Question: is mouse/keyboard still the primary way that PC gamers play FPS? Because as advantageous as it is I prefer using a controller. Despite being able to perform much better with it, I feel like using a mouse negates the sense of gamefeel -- it's like I'm clicking icons on my desktop which greatly reduces my level of enjoyment. Still, feeling like I'm fighting an uphill battle with a pad against a bunch of kb/mouse users isn't exactly fun either meaning that I've just flat out preferred multiplayer FPS on consoles since... well, forever.

I'm definitely interested in Overwatch. It's not one of my "most wanted" games, but its taken on the role of 2016 "dark horse" for me. My PC would run it no problem, my friends on PS4 don't seem interested, I wouldn't be concerned about the player base prematurely dwindling, and I'd very likely be able to grab it for a discounted price far before I could find it cheaper on consoles. Still, if I would just be constantly dragging my team down on PC and having a generally poor experience because of it (or choosing to be more competitive with kb/m and having a meh time anyway) then I would be forced to take the wait-and-see approach on the PS4 version.

Preemptive: before someone chimes in saying that one can be just as good with a pad as with kb/m, while that may be true for an extremely small percentage the latter is inherently faster/more accurate with aiming than the former. As someone who used to compete in and run tourneys for console FPS I have an extremely ingrained preference, but I fully believe from my time playing PC FPS (really dug Day of Defeat at one point in time) that one input method is competitively far superior to the other.

EDIT: Then again, there's always the possibility that the gamefeel could suck on consoles anyway. (ex. I can't stand how "samey" the guns feel on the modern COD games)

KB/M is the universal control device of PC gaming since its inception and it is not going to change. And it objectively provides higher precision than controller so there is no reason fo a PC gamer to use a controller in games that requires precision aiming. Not saying controller is that inferior or anything, just some facts. On topic with Overwatch, a lot of the heroes do not require precision aiming so controller is definitely viable to a great extent, just below the top level of competition imo, so if you are comfortable and confident with a controller, use it by all means, just expect some beat downs from good KB/M users because that's how it works.
 
Did you seriously just ask that question?

Ha! It was more wishful thinking on my part that the landscape may have evolved to a better mix or some balance mechanic may have been found that levels the playing field. (ex. some sort of judicious implementation of aim assist) I've been mostly out of the PC FPS scene (and really the FPS scene in general) for a while due to lack of gamefeel variety.

KB/M is the universal control device of PC gaming since its inception and it is not going to change. And it objectively provides higher precision than controller so there is no reason fo a PC gamer to use a controller in games that requires precision aiming. Not saying controller is that inferior or anything, just some facts. On topic with Overwatch, a lot of the heroes do not require precision aiming so controller is definitely viable to a great extent, just below the top level of competition imo, so if you are comfortable and confident with a controller, use it by all means, just expect some beat downs from good KB/M users because that's how it works.

You may not be saying it but I am: pad is competitively inferior to kb/m for FPS.

Interesting point about some characters being more controller friendly than others though. I was just reading something about that on a different site. It would kind of suck having my input method dictate my character choice, but the game does seem to offer a lot of variety. I've enjoyed rolling support and defensive/tank roles in games, but I've also really enjoyed playing the sniper in FPS and generally prefer rifles/pistols to autos/boomsticks in shooters.
 
The biggest thing is you will probably get torn up if a decent Tracer finds you out alone using a controller
 
Ha! It was more wishful thinking on my part that the landscape may have evolved to a better mix or some balance mechanic may have been found that levels the playing field. (ex. some sort of judicious implementation of aim assist)



You may not be saying it but I am: pad is competitively inferior to kb/m for FPS.

Interesting point about some characters being more controller friendly than others though. I was just reading something about that on a different site. It would kind of suck having my input method dictate my character choice, but the game does seem to offer a lot of variety. I've enjoyed rolling support and defensive/tank roles in games, but I've also really enjoyed playing the sniper in FPS and generally prefer rifles/pistols to autos/boomsticks in shooters.

Actually the majority of characters can be played with a controller just fine, like almost all of the support and tank heroes, some defense heroes too, since they generally have lock on mechanics or use AOE weapons that hit a cone/area, offense heroes not so much though.
 
Question: is mouse/keyboard still the primary way that PC gamers play FPS? Because as advantageous as it is I prefer using a controller. Despite being able to perform much better with it, I feel like using a mouse negates the sense of gamefeel -- it's like I'm clicking icons on my desktop which greatly reduces my level of enjoyment. Still, feeling like I'm fighting an uphill battle with a pad against a bunch of kb/mouse users isn't exactly fun either meaning that I've just flat out preferred multiplayer FPS on consoles since... well, forever.

I'm definitely interested in Overwatch. It's not one of my "most wanted" games, but its taken on the role of 2016 "dark horse" for me. My PC would run it no problem, my friends on PS4 don't seem interested, I wouldn't be concerned about the player base prematurely dwindling, and I'd very likely be able to grab it for a discounted price far before I could find it cheaper on consoles. Still, if I would just be constantly dragging my team down on PC and having a generally poor experience because of it (or choosing to be more competitive with kb/m and having a meh time anyway) then I would be forced to take the wait-and-see approach on the PS4 version.

Preemptive: before someone chimes in saying that one can be just as good with a pad as with kb/m, while that may be true for an extremely small percentage the latter is inherently faster/more accurate with aiming than the former. As someone who used to compete in and run tourneys for console FPS I have an extremely ingrained preference, but I fully believe from my time playing PC FPS (really dug Day of Defeat at one point in time) that one input method is competitively far superior to the other.

EDIT: Then again, there's always the possibility that the gamefeel could suck on consoles anyway. (ex. I can't stand how "samey" the guns feel on the modern COD games)

Funny, I'm the exact opposite. I feel like playing with a controller adds an artificial level layer between what my brain wants to do and what I can actually do. I get frustrated trying to aim with a controller and failing because I know how to aim with a mouse, and the controller just feels like an unnecessary layer of complexity. As a result I enjoy shooters more with M+KB than controller.

Having said that, if you insist on playing with a controller, then I wouldn't recommend the PC version. Overwatch is an incredibly fast game where you will be at a huge disadvantage if you play with a controller on PC. Jeff Kaplan even said they were going to balance PS4/XB1 and PC separately due to the different control schemes. So my recommendation is stick with the PS4 version.

Actually the majority of characters can be played with a controller just fine, like almost all of the support and tank heroes, some defense heroes too, since they generally have lock on mechanics or use AOE weapons that hit a cone/area, offense heroes not so much though.

I would argue there are a lot of characters you can't play as well with a controller. McCree, Genji, Roadhog, Hanzo, Widowmaker, Tracer, Zenyatta, and others require pinpoint aiming and they have no sticky targeting. These will be hard to play with a controller against a PC crowd.
 
The only reason I'm hesitant to pick it up day one is because DOOM is out a week before

While Overwatch is the polar opposite tonally, both are arena FPS. Overwatch has a lot more going on with character playstyles and such so it should differentiate itself well but who knows

Overwatch seems like the sort of game that will be largely helped by streaming. It already has a lot of hype around it and the gameplay does a pretty solid job of showing why
 
Funny, I'm the exact opposite. I feel like playing with a controller adds an artificial level layer between what my brain wants to do and what I can actually do. I get frustrated trying to aim with a controller and failing because I know how to aim with a mouse, and the controller just feels like an unnecessary layer of complexity. As a result I enjoy shooters more with M+KB than controller.

Having said that, if you insist on playing with a controller, then I wouldn't recommend the PC version. Overwatch is an incredibly fast game where you will be at a huge disadvantage if you play with a controller on PC. Jeff Kaplan even said they were going to balance PS4/XB1 and PC separately due to the different control schemes. So my recommendation is stick with the PS4 version.

Point of reference: my favorite weapons of any shooter are shitty bolt action rifles from WW2 era games. There's something about successfully fighting both the enemy and your weapon that I find extremely satisfying. I'm a weird one, I know. But I also acknowledge there's a definite difference between overcoming the deficiencies of a "low tier" weapon and an inferior input device.

Thanks for your reply! I really do hope that Overwatch ends up as hype as I think it will and it succeeds on console because you're right, I would be better served by the PS4 version.

Edit: and thank you for your reply, poster below!
 
I've been in the beta for quite awhile, only play with controller. Most of the heroes are fine. There are certain heroes (mainly attack heroes) that are basically useless on controller because you can't play them properly.

Tracer for instance, you can't use her warps effectively to attack people because you can't aim fast enough. You're basically stuck using her warps to escape, and if you're doing that you should just play a different hero. Nothing's stopping you from playing Tracer if you really want to, just realize that it's going to be an uphill battle

More importantly, the main thing I learned from playing with a controller is that you have to think about ho w you engage other people. If you fight Tracer or Genji 1 on 1 you will most likely get destroyed, so avoid those situations if you can.

This isn't a fighting game situation where pads can be as effective as arcade sticks with enough time put in. Keyboard and mouse will always be superior to a pad. With that being said, you can still play Overwatch with a controller on the PC and have a great time with it.
 
I truly hope that it has a following on console. Blizzard will likely look at the amount of players and dictate updates based upon those numbers. PC will always be first for them.
 
It will have his niche player base, but it won't explode or be anything close to CoD popularity or anything. I say that because after extensively playing Overwatch and also trying out the game pad control scheme (no, not in a real match, I'm fully aware of the controls discrepancy between mouse and game pad) I feel like this kind of game doesn't translate well with joysticks. Why do I say that? Well console shooters uses lots of subtle tricks and design decision to accommodate the control scheme and make it feel as natural as possible.

Design tricks in most console fps:
  • The base movement speed of players is fairly low.
  • The action is mainly in the horizontal axis (few reasons to shoot up or down, even Blops3 reigned that down following AW which did not have that design).
  • Most console shooters favor hitscan, or if not at least very fast projectiles.
  • Bullet magnetism and aim stickyness makes aiming pretty pain free.
  • Most shooters on consoles feature aim down sight, which is often coupled with a target snapping, making it easier to engage mid/long firefights with having to be super precise with the stick.
  • Turning around with a joystick is often awkward and slow, so map design and sprint lets you disengage instead of fighting back if flanked.

Almost none of those design tricks are present in Overwatch, making it feel like a PC shooter shipped down to consoles. Characters move much faster than your typical console shooter, and some are particularly hard to hit like a good Genji. There's barely a horizontal line for action. You have to look up past your maximum vertical field of view at the default view angle for Mercies/Pharahs, high perched Snipers or people on rooftops while you can't go there (say your Tjorbiorn vs a Junkrat). You also have to 180 turn from time to time, like against dashing/recalling Tracers or Genji dashing through you, which is awkward with sticks. All of the above makes it much more frustrating to be efficient at both aiming and looking around.

Regarding aim assist mechanics like aim stickiness, it's there but with slow projectiles characters like Lucio or Mercy that mechanic is a trap. You have to actively move out of the stickyness zone if you ever hope to hit someone that is ADADing, else you will never hit them because you have to actively lead and predict, but now you have to fine tune your aiming with a joystick out of the sticky zone. It feels really awkward. The game also lacks ADS which isn't a big problem since very few heroes are designed for mid-range fighting but it does make McCree and S:76 harder to play with at those ranges.

All of those above makes me think that while the game will be a huge success at launch on consoles, the huge population won't stay and people will go back to what they are comfortable, feeling like they have trouble getting kills and playing good in that game without really knowing why. I predict it will have around BF4 level of population past the initial hype, which isn't shabby.

Overwatch is much slower than COD and that works just fine on consoles. It probably won't succeed because it's MP only and the price not because of how it plays.
 
I don't see Overwatch being successful on consoles in the long run. There's too much gameplay variety and some characters requires a lot of twitch reflexes and vertical awareness. Pad player will quickly go back to destiny or cod, where the gamedesign is fitted for them.

Which isn't an issue, because the game will enjoy a durable success on PC, and that's what truly matters.
 
I don't see Overwatch being successful on consoles in the long run. There's too much gameplay variety and some characters requires a lot of twitch reflexes and vertical awareness. Pad player will quickly go back to destiny or cod, where the gamedesign is fitted for them.

Which isn't an issue, because the game will enjoy a durable success on PC, and that's what truly matters.

Hey, bud
Get your head out of your ass, yeah?
 
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