Overwatch:
Blizzard Entertainment, the company known for their expansive titles such as World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Heroes of the Storm and Diablo have added a new game to their roster, Overwatch. Now, why should you care about the Overwatch uprising? Blizzard Entertainment have an unbridled talent for creating perfection, they don’t have many titles to their name, but each one comes with a unique perspective on the Blizzard team magic that’s woven graphics, gameplay and cinematic style storytelling into each of their games. So, upon the announcement of Overwatch, their new shooter title in May 24th 2016, fans were unsurprisingly excited.
At the time of writing our analysis, one of the recent Overwatch news was that they were just about to hit their one year anniversary and the hype train didn’t seem to be slowing down. To celebrate Overwatch’s origin Blizzard was giving away the usual new emotes, sprays, voice lines and (what players really care about) skins to unlock. The past year has seen new Overwatch Characters hit the scene with a reshuffle on how those new characters affect competitive play.
Overview
A year on and as a new player or returning player it can be a little difficult to grasp all the new updates and additions to the game. Here’s a little guide to understand the ‘basics’ of Overwatch gameplay.
At the time of writing Overwatch has a diverse cast of 25 unique, live heroes to choose from across four main ‘categories’.
Each class of hero brings a different dynamic to the game and can complement certain team set ups while also countering specific OW heroes on the opposing team.
While the 4 categories are used to group heroes with similar attributes like Tanks having more health and offensive heroes being more nimble, with more attack and less defense, the categories are more guidelines and each character brings a unique style of play to the game that may benefit one player more than another in how they decide to play the game.
Heroes - Offense
While the best way to find your own play style and what characters fit is to play the game and try as many heroes out as is possible, you can check out our list of the 25 heroes below.
Armed with a kata to deflect incoming projectiles, Genji is a swift, technologically-advanced ow hero, armed with three-point shurikens to take down his enemies.
An aerial assassin, Pharah flies high to launch explosive attacks on her enemies. Armed with rockets and a combat armor attire, she's one tricky customer.
It's high-noon, McCree the gunslinging mechatronic cowboy dives in and out of danger with terrifying speed, taking out enemy targets with his faithful Peacekeeper revolver.
Reaper by name, reaper by nature. This ow hero can step between the shadows becoming invulnerable for a time while also launching devastating AoE attacks, blitzing the enemy when they least expect it.
A high tech veteran, Soldier: 76 is the staple hero. Fast, agile and armed with a cutting-edge pulse rifle. His penetrating Helix Rockets can pierce the hardiest of heroes.
A camouflaged infiltrator, Sombra uses a series of EMP's to disable and take out multiple foes at once. Hacking the enemies around her ensures a quick and easy kill.
Doomfist is the latest Offense hero added in the ranks of Overwatch. Recently freed from imprisonment, he's determined to plunge the world into a new conflict. Doomfist’s cybernetics make him a highly-mobile, powerful frontline fighter.
Double pistol power, Tracer "blinks" across the map, able to rewind time, restoring health which can become a real challenge for opposing heroes. With a high skill level, she's hard to master but her rapid fire skillset make her a demon in the right hands.
Heroes - Defense
If you need someone to guard locations and establish a front that your enemies will struggle to break through, then you need a defense role hero.
If you get tired of spraying bullets and throwing bombs, then Hanzo could be your new favorite ow hero. Armed with versatile arrows, he can strike multiple targets at once, reveal enemy locations and if you're precise enough, one shot heroes in the head.
Send your enemies flying with Concussion mines or stop them in their tracks with steel traps. Junkrat comes equipped with an arsenal of bouncing grades inflicting massive damage at high velocity.
A dwarven engineer, Torbjörn’s strengths lie in his ability to build upgradable turrets that auto target enemies and send out protective armor packs to shield his teammates.
Widowmaker lives up to her name, eliminating her foes through poisonous gas and quick marksmanship. She's armed with a full auto sniper and her ultimate grants her infra-sight, giving her the ability to spot enemies whether they may hide.
Heroes - Tank
Protection for you and your team is crucial, and so a tank is what you’ll need to disrupt those enemies. Sporting abilities that protect themselves, and you, your team will withstand more hits.
The portable turret machine, Bastion can transform between his assault form, spraying bullets at enemy players, his mobile recon form, armed with a automatic pistol weapon or his ultimate Tank form for massive AoE damage.
A diverse ow Hero who can be utilised by the rest of your team, defending them from frontline enemy damage with a protective shield. Orisa can amplify the damage output of other allies with deployed Superchargers, changing the state of play.
A hulking metal monstrosity, Reinhardt swings his massive hammer, sweeping enemies off their feet in a close range proximity. He can also propel forward, grabbing opposing players while also being able to project a large shield to defend his squad from damage.
Here piggy piggy, Roadhog flicks his chain into action, grabbing and drawing in enemies before blasting them with his Scrap Gun. With high health and high damage, Roadhog isn't to be trifled with.
An agile Gorilla with a electricity-blasting Tesla Cannon, Winston stays hot the enemies heels, slowly draining their health. He can also project shields and empower himself with rage, jumping and smashing players.
Pink haired, bulky cannon welding Zarya is a valuable asset on the front lines for her gravity ultimate that draws enemies in before exploding causing huge damage. She can also convert incoming damage into energy
Heroes - Support
Support is a must have for any team, with the ability to heal making them invaluable. However, they’re more vulnerable than most, so you need to keep them protected.
Armed with tranquilizers, Ana is more than just a healer. A versatile hero, Ana can heal her teammates with Biotic grenades while providing more support by significantly empowering one comrade with a Nano Boost.
Lúcio has some serious kit for holding back foes and boosting his teammates. Armed with a Sonic Amplifier, Lúcio can knock back enemies, which can prove fatal if done from a height. Additionally Lúcio's team can benefit from his healing and speed boosts.
With carefully placed Sentry Turrets, Symmetra can be a real defensive help in team situations. In addition to turrets Symmetra can construct portal pads, easily returning her teammates to combat.
Flying balls of doom, Zenyatta can charge up his attacks to deal some considerable damage while keeping his teammates alive with more healing balls and an ultimate that allows him to transcend damage.
Overwatch Game Modes
The different games modes of Overwatch offer differences in gameplay, allowing you to hone your skills and test your mettle across the different maps.
Assault: The assault mode is a defence and attack affair, with teams defending or capturing the objectives. Assault contains the standard Overwatch Gameplay of team vs team.
Control: The outcome of Control game modes is dictated by the progress meter of each team. Control involves both teams fighting for various control points on the map, once one team maxes their progress meter they win a point and the next round begins.
Escort: Escort is a particularly fun game mode with a moving payload that one team has to protect and stay within close proximity to in order for it to move to the end destination. The role of the opposing team is to remove players from the payload, freezing it and keeping it away from the goal until the timer is up.
Hybrid: Hybrid maps are a mix-up of Assault and Escort mode. They involve the attacking team conquering control points then in succession, escorting a payload to it’s destination. The mode involves a lot of mixing of team comps and heroes and is overall a fun, challenging experience and a welcome addition to Overwatch’s gameplay.
Leveling & Loot
Items can make or break your team, and your hero, so make sure to scout out the areas for these caches. Alongside the items you find, earn more XP to ensure your character levels up.
You level up in Overwatch by earning experience points (XP) from matches. Quick matches earn more XP than AI matches as the level of difficulty is increased. The amount of XP you earn is affected by whether you win or lose a match (500 bonus XP for a win) or through your person performance in that match.
Currently, there is no cap to what level can be achieved in Overwatch, but you need to be at least level 25 before unlocking competitive play.
Why rank up? Well, if not only to show your skill to other players, it’s to have the opportunity to gain cosmetic items from Loot Boxes.
These loot Boxes can drop any of the four following classifications of rarity:
To go ahead and start using your loot, head off to the Hero Gallery from the main game menu and select the character the loot is attached to. If you have an item you want to unlock but can’t yet, there is the option to unlock it with your currency (this can be obtained from Loot Boxes). Overwatch’s origins edition of the game introduced some exclusive skins not obtainable in-game.
Competitive Play
Unlocked at level 25, competitive play adds a ranking system into the mix for players to establish themselves in the competitive scene. This begin with 10 matches to decide a players placement, after-which players continue to play competitive matches in order to boost their ranking. The rankings are Bronze (1-1,499), Silver (1,500-1,900), Gold (2,000-2,499), Platinum (2,500-2,900), Diamond (3,000-3,499), Master (3,500-3,900), GrandMaster (4,000+) and Top 500 – among the 500 best players of that region.
Being a relatively new game, the Overwatch leagues haven’t had the opportunity to establish themselves in the esport’s scene as much as games like CS:GO or League of Legends. However, over the year we’ve seen top teams enter the throw in professional competitions including most recent events and tournaments:
The Overwatch World Cup is an event held by Blizzard Entertainment and has a 4 phase qualifying system that goes from:
• Phase 1 – Announcement
• Phase 2 – Voting
• Phase 3 – Group Stage
• Phase 4 – Playoffs
At the time of writing in 2017 Overwatch World Cup is in Phase 3 of the group stage with the playoffs being held in November.
Which players are looking forward to the Overwatch World Cup? How is playing in Gyeonggi different to playing in Anaheim? Can Russia overcome the dominant South Koreans at the World Cup? These are the kind of burning questions we hope to be able to help you to answer.
The Overwatch World Cup is an event held by Blizzard Entertainment and has a 4 phase qualifying system that goes from:
• Phase 1 – Announcement
• Phase 2 – Voting
• Phase 3 – Group Stage
• Phase 4 – Playoffs
At the time of writing in 2017 Overwatch World Cup is in Phase 3 of the group stage with the playoffs being held in November.
Which players are looking forward to the Overwatch World Cup? How is playing in Gyeonggi different to playing in Anaheim? Can Russia overcome the dominant South Koreans at the World Cup? These are the kind of burning questions we hope to be able to help you to answer.
Overwatch: Our Conclusion
Fantastically perfected and brilliantly maintained, Overwatch is truly a Blizzard game and lives up to the high standards the company has laid out over a career of spectacular titles. With regular updates and a focus on competitive play, Overwatch looks to set in stone its place in the esports community, becoming a breeding ground for new talent.
It’s cross platform appeal has developed its audience and manifested support from all regions of the globe. With 2016 being the first year of the game’s success, 2017 brings with it their 1 year anniversary, with more heros and skin releases to come in upcoming patch notes, the following years.
Esports News, Patches and Balance Changes
Whenever Overwatch updates occur, we’ll be on hand to let you know exactly how the game has changed. We will analyse how the latest Blizzard releases and patches will impact on gameplay, both for recreational players at home, and for the top professionals.
You can stay up-to-date with how the latest balance changes might affect your favourite characters, and how the world’s best players might use them to shape more winning strategies, or to refine some of their specialist tactics. Every time Blizzard releases a new patch, you will be among the first to see find out just what it means for every Overwatch player.
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Act of balance: Hanzo’s storm arrows facing a nerf on Overwatch PTR
JOIN OUR OVERWATCH COMMUNITY
If you feel you could add to our coverage of Overwatch and other Blizzard releases, then get in touch with us here at Esports.net. We are always on the lookout for skilled writers who can get to the nub of an issue with style, and provide expert insight. Contact us now if you think you have what it takes!
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