As Blizzard takes on the fps, should you be fearful for the state of your spare time?
”It’s really important for us to be listening to the community, because with Overwatch, as soon as it launches, it belongs to them just as much as it belongs to us. We want to make sure Overwatch is a cool environment that they enjoy hanging out in. We don’t want to do anything that really detracts from their sense of enjoyment in the game. We feel like the community works with us; they own our games as much as we do… We want to do right by the players”
Spend any time listening to game director Jeff Kaplan talk about the development phase of Overwatch and it’ll sound like Blizzard is perpetually stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rock being the studio’s die hard fans, those that have stuck with the demonic destroyers of spare time for over two decades; the hard place just so happens to house everyone else that loves to whine on the Internet. Opinions are like voices and we all have a different kind – and Blizzard listens to every damn one.
That makes Overwatch something of a revelation. This might be Blizzard’s first new IP in 18 years, and something of a creative departure for its team of veteran RPG and strategy designers, but it’s treating production like an independent project. Everything from the business model to Overwatch’s design decisions are being constantly run past millions of backseat developers. Blizzard fanatics, first-person shooter fans, and gamers eagerly pitching into a quality assurance drive in the hope to receive something colourful, something fresh, and (dare we even say it) something fun in return.
Overwatch is a huge deal for studio and community alike, and with the June release window in sight, time is running out. “Sure, there is a lot of pressure,” he says. “But it’s also a tremendous honour. Not only do we love the community’s feedback and that they set a high bar of expectation for us, but we consider ourselves as a part of that community, so we have that same bar of expectation,” he continues eagerly, though whether Overwatch – even with its perpetual Alpha and Beta tests – can match the hype and anticipation its generated? Well, that’s where we come in.
INTRODUCING YOUR LATEST OBSESSION
Blizzard, just as it has done with everything from Diablo III to World Of Warcraft, has opted for a different, more open approach to traditional development studios; a commitment to conversation, if you will. We’ve had time with Overwatch, torn through its colourful urban environments with shotgun and bow in hand, and we’ve been surprised by what we’ve found. This isn’t your typical first-person shooter. It’s time to leave those cynical expectations at the door; Blizzard is about to make the FPS fun again. 'There’s a lot of amazing FPS games out there, and players are really enjoying them, but we felt like there was a particular segment that wasn’t being served,” explains Kaplan. “For us, that was a really fun, actiony, competitive, and over-the-top type of shooter One that features abilities, really dramatic movement, and the feeling that you’re really embodying epic heroes that are larger than life. Focusing in on individual heroes rather than creating a game where there is an everyman soldier and you’re just getting different versions of the M16 or the AK47."
Kaplan will go on to describe Overwatch as a “bright new future for shooters” on numerous occasions during our time with him, and he might just be onto something. Though wed put it as simply as this: imagine somebody grabbed Team Fortress 2 by the scruff of the neck and stuffed Heroes Of The Storm right down its colourful beautiful throat. In the aftermath of such a violent coming together a thrilling six-versus-six competitive FPS for PC, PS4 and Xbox One emerges - the frantic action of the former paired alongside the character versatility and strategic depth of the latter. That is Overwatch in a deliriously hyperbolic nutshell.
The combination of surface MOBA sensibilities and shooter mechanics should indeed be appreciated, and enjoyed for sure, but should not to be misconstrued as to what Overwatch is actually off ering. One of the biggest problems Blizzard has faced thus far, even with its beta running for months, is that Overwatch is routinely confused as a mobile online battle arena game with shooter elements thrown in for good measure. That’s something Blizzard is eager to step away from.
“The comparison is flattering, although I totally agree with you; it’s a little misleading,” agrees Kaplan, our assertion that Overwatch could face an identity crisis if this idea is le unchecked seems to be right on the money. “I think the reason people immediately jump to that [conclusion], is that we haven’t seen a bunch of hero based games. Obviously there’s these juggernauts out there – League Of Legends, DOTA 2 and Heroes Of The Storm, games that have huge communities playing them – so people assume that if it’s a game with different heroes and different abilities then what should we call it? How do we label that and put it in a box? What’s the common language? For a lot of people, that’s what MOBA means.”
In many respects, Overwatch is coming along at the worst possible time; console players are still wary of the MOBA. Overwatch is likely sharing the same space in your brain box as Gearbox’s similarly colourful Battleborn – a game cursed by a perpetually confused marketing message regarding its genre intentions. But Overwatch is first and foremost an FPS, it just isn’t like any other.
“I always associate MOBA not only with having unique heroes or champions, but usually there’s in-match progression; you’re levelling up towards the end of a match, fighting creep waves and that sort of thing – Overwatch doesn’t really have any of that… Our gameplay is very FPS orientated,” Kaplan says, though he isn’t concerned that this MOBA misconception will discourage players from getting involved, in fact, he’s endlessly impressed by how switched on players have become to the way games are made. “One of the things that’s been really awesome throughout this beta process is to see just how savvy players have become when it comes to game design and game theory.”
And that means that players are really beginning to understand where the real fun of Overwatch lies for themselves. There are 21 heroes split between four classes – Off ensive, Defensive, Tank and Support – and the way in which you utilise these characters can have a dramatic effect on the outcome of games. That’s down, in part at least, to Overwatch featuring no typical team deathmatch game mode, or penalty to switching between its characters. Instead, it has tailor made modes to speak to its team-based competitive nature, with players encouraged to jump between classes and heroes on the fl y to respond to new threats.
Playable Heroes in a console game isn’t entirely new, it’s just uncommon. Call Of Duty: Black Ops III introduced distinct ‘specialists’ into play last year, for example, though your progression and playtime was still fuelled by the allure of a better K/D spread and new weapon attachments. Overwatch, on the other hand, is a competitive team-based game at heart and inherently objective focused to boot, but not in the way you might commonly associate with Battlefield. Rounds don’t revolve around rattling up the scoreboard with kills, nor is it about running wild as a lone wolf; Overwatch at its core is defined by how well you and a group of perfect strangers can “stand together as a group of heroes and succeed, or be overcome by the enemy.”
“I think another reason we’ve attracted the attention of the MOBA crowd is that FPS traditionally – even if they have team-based modes to them – tend to be have very lone-wolf gameplay,” considers Kaplan. “In team deathmatch, for example, you’re usually not co-ordinating with your team you’re just kind of running around killing people. I think the MOBA crowd really loves coordinated team play, and objective based coordinated team play. I think Overwatch has that in spades and that’s another reason we get compared.”
“I think players understand that in a game like Overwatch – where you have these individual heroes – if you did something just like deathmatch and that was the only mode to the game, you couldn’t really have a hero like Lúcio, Mercy or Symmetra be really competitive. But when the game becomes more team oriented and objective based and suddenly a Symmetra can be the difference between a win and a loss on the team – I think players are savvy to that.”
This is where potential problems for Overwatch arise. Each of the 21 characters are incredibly distinct, like they could exist in their own separate games. The maps are so compact that it can feel like you’re being given a constant run around by players that can navigate the winding corridors and roo ops with GPS precision. The array of abilities each hero possesses can leave you feeling lost too. If you don’t initially understand a heroes’ strengths and weaknesses there’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re letting the side down with your ineptitude. But the truth is, Overwatch wants to make you a little uncomfortable.
The beauty of Overwatch though, is that it doesn’t just suggest experimentation to overcome these feelings, it actively encourages it. Experimentation is a part of the moment-to-moment chaos. It’s this design that ensures Overwatch will feel challenging at first, but, as the layers begin to peel away, players will eventually be able to slip into varying roles comfortably.
“We want to create a game that’s as approachable to as many people as possible. At Blizzard we always love to speak to a very wide audience. We have fans that span every genre, and fans that span every age group and skill level, we need to be really approachable. But for a multiplayer game – which all Blizzard games are – to really have longevity it needs depth to do that,” says Kaplan, giving us a window into the importance of such heavy Beta testing. “We love to design systems where, at first glance it looks really simple and that anybody can get into it and play it, but also for somebody in their 200th hour to discover something new that they couldn’t do before; that’s always been our goal.”
This all comes to a head during hero selection. With six players lining up in a lobby, Blizzard wants its players to be communicating towards selection. The studio has le enough freedom between its classes and characters that you can still pick your favourite, but also have enough flexibility to work with your team without compromising your own personal enjoyment. “We like for you – before the match starts – and your team to really think about team composition. We feel like there’s not really a right or wrong answer there, there’s no such thing as you absolutely shouldn’t do X, Y, or Z, we try to give you a tremendous amount of freedom as to how you and your team decides which heroes to play.”
“But we like you to think about it; if I see that [one of my team mates] has picked Roadhog, well there are a lot of heroes that could compliment Roadhog in a big way. We want players to think about how they can work together to have the maximum chance for success.” Kaplan talks about the misconceptions already building in the community around certain heroes – this is a game that’s going to live or die by its post-release balancing and nerfing. He cites Bastion as a perfect example, with beta players crying wolf that “there’s only one counter” to his ballistic defensive strategies. In reality, Kaplan says, “I can think of at least nine heroes I could counter Bastion with. That doesn’t mean I’m good with all nine of those heroes… But we want there to be that freedom.”
It’s all about experimentation. Kaplan says his personal choice to combat a skilled Bastion would be D.Va, though Scott Mercer might go with a Tracer. Getting your head around this system and concept is integral once you get in-game, because that’s where the real fun begins. Blizzard will let you switch between heroes upon respawn, to better let you combat threats in real time. “It’s about reacting to the match fl ow and then reacting to the other team’s composition. That’s where the real magic happens.”
It’s incredibly fun in practice. Without the fear of being locked into a new or unknown character for an entire game, like what tends to happen in traditional
MOBAs after the most popular characters are swiped away, you’ll quickly feel yourself being open to risk. This is a must on game modes like Payload, where the attacking team must escort a vehicle to a delivery point, and the newest, Control, as you desperately attempt to assess your own team and the enemies’ strengths and weaknesses in the throngs of hyper-kinetic battle.
It could have been a tough ask for players, to be constantly aware of everything that’s going on. Every battle looks like a rainbow splatter of death and chaos; bullets and lasers erupt around you as western warriors, robo-apes and gun-toting grim reapers emerge from any and all angles. Fights are fast, we’ve been in some white-knuckle battles that lasted mere minutes, and others that provide the constant back and forth action you’d expect to see on the Halo eSports scene. Light aim assist is in effect, and it’s a little more generous than PC gamers might be familiar with, though console players will feel right at home. Overwatch handles as tightly and comfortably with a controller in your hands, as it does a mechanical mouse and keyboard beneath your fingers. Blizzard is aiming for full 1:1 content parity with the console version – releasing in June.
THE BLIZZARD TOUCH
Kaplan mentions that the “real magic of Overwatch” is in its character and class systems, though we’d hasten to disagree. If anything, the magic is found in the progression system that holds it all together. A late entry to the game, the new system has been introduced to the latest Beta a fter months of community feedback being taken into consideration. It ultimately led to the creation and subsequent disposal of two completely unique in-house progression models, proving again how willing Blizzard is to listen to feedback.
“In Overwatch we wanted the progression system to not further the player’s power in any way, or give you any sort of gameplay advantage over another player,” says Kaplan, explaining a development task that is easier said than done. “But rather we wanted the progression system to stand as almost like a reward for your time investment… We wanted the progression system to be more of a thank you to players. Your time playing Overwatch means something to us and we want to make sure it means something to you too – so you get some sense of investment in it.”
That meant that the two systems, one that used XP to guide individual hero levelling and another where XP earned you specific single character cosmetics, had to be forcibly removed. The Overwatch team was iterating to find the sweet spot, though it wasn’t doing it blindly. “Diablo and World Of Warcra , those games are heavily driven by progression; the player motivation is actually driven through the progression systems. It revolves around levelling of character, gaining a power and collection of items. But in Overwatch, it’s a very different type of game; more akin to something like Hearthstone,” he says. “With competitive PvP games, messing with player power as part of the progression takes away the sense or perception of fairness in the game.”
The system currently running through beta promotes fairness, while also encouraging players to feel free to make big character changes mid-match without fear of stalling their momentum. Every game that you play – win or lose – earns you XP, the more you contribute in a game and the better you perform, the more XP you’re likely to earn. Level up, you get gi ed a loot box with four mystery items inside – and in traditional Blizzard fashion they range in rarity between common, rare, epic and legendaries. “The loot boxes have at least four items in them, and they always include a rare item; it’s very similar to a Hearthstone pack.”
The items inside? They are all cosmetic. Blizzard is offering up rewards as a thank you and they can range between Sprays, unique emblems you can spray paint anywhere on the map; Highlight Intros, custom animations that introduce your hero between games; Avatars, for the social systems; Victory Poses, for your victory brag at the end; and, of course, a ridiculous variety of Player Skins.
Kaplan is excited about the potential for each of these unlockable items. We were treated to details on what the team is planning, from victory poses that riff on famous movies to punk rock skins for the coolest characters, and there’s electricity in his tone when he speaks about it all. He’s even excited to see player response to the 3D modelled and animated loot boxes. It’s clear this is a huge victory for the Overwatch team; they are so enthusiastic to have a system that doesn’t compromise its game. Better still, Blizzard has been able to implement this system without a hint of pay wall or ‘pay-to-win’ tactics: “all of the items that exist in the system are unlocked through gameplay,” as it stands, no microtransaction model exists in Overwatch.
Essentially, Overwatch is doing a lot of things right. It’s offering all future heroes and maps for free and it has a progression system that simply seeks to reward you for your time. There’s a fun and frantic FPS game that bleeds momentum; a weird, but alluring contrast to the highly competitive gameplay and deep hero system that runs deeply through its veins. Overwatch is a fully-fl edged console and PC release that’s attempting to usher in a new era of shooters; this is for those of you that have grown loudly discontented with the current state of play. Honestly, we’d be surprised if you were disappointed.