Overwatch: Boop!

[Rising Phoenix]

A good Winston is incredibly disruptive to the enemy team. If you can reliably land your jumps to get a 50 hit point head start on your enemies, his Tesla gun is impossible to avoid. When your lifespan is measured in seconds and the enemy bearing down on you has 500 health, you're going to have a pretty bad time without IMMEDIATE help. The tradeoff is that Winston has a HUGE hitbox and the ability to get into a LOT of trouble, and he's pretty unlikely to win any slugfest with another tank, and of course, Reaper eats him for breakfast.

I love nanoboosting Winston...It's guaranteed damage and the enemy can do very little to avoid it. Helps the prime ape to get his ult charge incredibly quickly and to continue disrupting the team. Nanoboost into primal rage is terrifying.

[Togath]

So... winning in capture-the-flag... any advice?
I mean, I keep getting draws, which is better than a loss... but still... would be nice to get the free loot box for winning.
Currently I've been going Torb for the matches. But I'm wondering if maybe going for something with more than just defense might be wiser.

[Rising Phoenix]

So... winning in capture-the-flag... any advice?
I mean, I keep getting draws, which is better than a loss... but still... would be nice to get the free loot box for winning.
Currently I've been going Torb for the matches. But I'm wondering if maybe going for something with more than just defense might be wiser.

Wipe the enemy team/prevent them from accessing their point. That's basically the only way to win. Also Sombra cheese if you can pull it off.

[Avilan the Grey]

He's by far the hardest tank to play along with perhaps zarya. However, if played well he's devastating.

I have played far less Zaria than I like (I love the character and her powers are fun) but I haven't found her that hard. She has a great survivability, and the rest? It kinda comes natural to me. Bubble when attacked. Stay mid-field. Bubble whoever A) is in trouble or B) is going to give you power because he or she is getting shot at all the time (Roadhog, for example).

[Rising Phoenix]

Bleh lost 8 games today, won one... Lost 238 SR and back into plat lol. Smurf accounts are everywhere tonight.

[Avilan the Grey]

Strangle all smurfs.

Had a good game this morning. We won decisively after a chaky start (we had trouble forming a coherent defense on king's row).

I am both dreading and looking forward to the Lucio changes. The big con is the area of effect and the wall riding bonus because quite frankly I am not good enough to utilize it.
The pro is that he'll become an almost tank with increase in healing and faster bullets.

To be honest I don't feel he needed to be messed with, his gun is good enough. I was taking out quite a lot of ppl both this weekend and this morning.

[Togath]

So... was it some obscure emote, or do you get a shower of confetti for getting a basketball through the hoops on the mobile base thing?
Also discovery of the day; unless my eyes deceived me... Symetra can carry basketballs!? Now I really want to try the mobile sentry nest idea I had...

[mythmonster2]

So... was it some obscure emote, or do you get a shower of confetti for getting a basketball through the hoops on the mobile base thing?
Also discovery of the day; unless my eyes deceived me... Symetra can carry basketballs!? Now I really want to try the mobile sentry nest idea I had...

Yup, you get confetti and fanfare for getting the basketball in, and Symm can carry basketballs. Only problem with the latter is that sentries on basketballs (or any movable object) seem to break pretty easily if they touch the ground.

[Mutazoia]

Yup, you get confetti and fanfare for getting the basketball in, and Symm can carry basketballs. Only problem with the latter is that sentries on basketballs (or any movable object) seem to break pretty easily if they touch the ground.

I always thought it would be awesome if she could launch the stuff she picks up at other players for a little damage, or maybe a knockback effect.

[Silverraptor]

So, with the Lucio change incoming saying 10 meters, I've been grabbing Dva and using her defense matrix to measure out areas I'd likely be with Lucio. It is really a lot smaller. I think reducing it from 30 meters to 10 is too small. Maybe 15 meters would have been a better size. What do you guys think?

[Velaryon]

I was playing some No Limits last night to get my weekly loot boxes, and ran into a team stacking Genjis on Lijiang Tower. I killed about 30 of them with Winston before they smartened up and started switching. Sadly, our team dropped the ball and lost the next two rounds. It was still fun though.

[Morphic tide]

I was playing some No Limits last night to get my weekly loot boxes, and ran into a team stacking Genjis on Lijiang Tower. I killed about 30 of them with Winston before they smartened up and started switching. Sadly, our team dropped the ball and lost the next two rounds. It was still fun though.

Ah, No Limits, where you can have the payload turned into a tank covered in Symetra turrets and Orisa shields. With a Bastion or three thrown in for good measure

[The_Jackal]

So, with the Lucio change incoming saying 10 meters, I've been grabbing Dva and using her defense matrix to measure out areas I'd likely be with Lucio. It is really a lot smaller. I think reducing it from 30 meters to 10 is too small. Maybe 15 meters would have been a better size. What do you guys think?

Better to check out the practice range and find the meter markings on the floor, and judge range that way. D.va's defense matrix is actually 15m, not 10. Remember that Lucio's coverage will be a circle 20m across. Personally, I'm fine with the range nerf, it keeps Lucio from wall-riding around the outside edge of Ilios and cover the entire area around the point. Also, if it DOES hurt Lucio's pick-rate, GOOD.

[Rising Phoenix]

Are you guys ready for the new pharmacy meta? Thank you for nerfing Ana's damage, that was really the problem with Ana...and not her grenade...

Ahem...at least widowmaker will see more usage now? Though to be fair it shouldn't take a high skill cap hero to counter a mid range skill hero.

In other news Orisa is strong. Definitely stronger than Sombra at launch. And as for Sombra. Double dive with Sombra and tracer/genji will definitely be hyper annoying to deal with.

[Avilan the Grey]

I don't know if I was ready for the previous Meta. Honestly I don't care much for the concept anyway. I play the characters I enjoy and if they are weak ATM so be it.

[Pendulous]

I keep hearing the same thing. Orisa is really easy to kill. Her critical range is huge, and snipers have a field day.

[Morty]

Every time I try to play McCree, the distinct feeling I get is that I could do the same thing as Soldier, only better. But then, my attempts at offence heroes are poor, in general. Even Pharah, who I thought I did okay with.

[Togath]

Orisa seems fun so far~ As far as I can tell, her gun doesn't have a range limit or accuracy reduction for range.

[Milo v3]

Every time I try to play McCree, the distinct feeling I get is that I could do the same thing as Soldier, only better. But then, my attempts at offence heroes are poor, in general. Even Pharah, who I thought I did okay with.

There was actually a decently big thing on the overwatch forums about how McCree is innately worse than Soldier in every way.

[Rising Phoenix]

There was actually a decently big thing on the overwatch forums about how McCree is innately worse than Soldier in every way.

An excellent McCree is better than an excellent soldier. An average soldier is better than an average McCree if that makes sense.

[The_Jackal]

Every time I try to play McCree, the distinct feeling I get is that I could do the same thing as Soldier, only better. But then, my attempts at offence heroes are poor, in general. Even Pharah, who I thought I did okay with.

Yes, McCree is more or less completely outclassed by Soldier76, and Blizzard has responded by buffing Soldier76 after that video went live. He is awfulbad, his ultimate is suicide, his gun is completely outclassed by Soldier in just about every situation. The only thing he's got going for him is Flashbang, which would be awesome if it weren't so incredibly sketchy and unreliable. Where Roadhog's hook invariably places the target directly in front of his muzzle, Flashbang doesn't cancel the taget's momentum, so they can wind up bouncing out of range, or even behind you, so that many a time, the target will shake off the stun before you can sight them in.

It's too bad, because I really like McCree, he's INCREDIBLY stylistic and cool, but his kit is, at this point, totally inferior to Soldier76 in every way. Soldier has more range, more damage, more mobility, more burst, and a self-heal, and an ultimate that is immensely easier to use, and even if it's winds up being countered (by Zenyatta or Lucio or D.va) will at least not result in his inevitable death.

I should be clear: I'm FINE with McCree not having Soldier's range, but he needs SOMETHING to compensate in close range to make up for it, and no, flashbang alone isn't enough.

An excellent McCree is better than an excellent soldier. An average soldier is better than an average McCree if that makes sense.

I'm afraid not. If you can reliably headshot with McCree, you can reliably kill with Soldier. McCree headshots get big burst damage, which is nice, and maybe harder to counteract with heals, but Soldier's 200 DPS weapon can easily keep up with McCree's 140 DPS weapon, modulate his fire to counteract spread, and kill just as quickly, if not quicker. At the 99th percentile in Competitive, Soldier gets more eliminations, more voting cards, more medals, more damage, and fewer deaths than McCree. Soldier is measurably, objectively, indisputably better in every way. Soldier even gets more Helix kills than McCree gets fan-the-hammer kills, even though there's no cooldown on fan-the-hammer, and helix has an 8-second cooldown. As things stand now, there's no reason to pick McCree unless a) Soldier is already taken and b) you need hitscans to counter PharahMercy.

[Avilan the Grey]

Huh. PLayed two games this morning (one QP, one Comp) and nobody went for Orisa. Slightly surprised by that.

[chainer1216]

Huh. PLayed two games this morning (one QP, one Comp) and nobody went for Orisa. Slightly surprised by that.

She cant be used in comp for a week.

[Pendulous]

So, a night of the new patch. Played a lot of Junkrat. I didn't feel like anything I did would have had repercussions had my grenades still damaged me, so I don't know if that's really going to make a difference. I did feel like I was being more aggressive with him, but I think it's because there's approximately 947 shields on the battlefield at any given time, and I need to take them all down. One thing I'd like to see is Junkrat's traps being much harder to see. Gets really annoying to have them constantly killed, either by random combat fire or targeted fire because they're easily seen. You know...kinda like his ult...

Got two matches in with Orisa though. I like her. I do feel like she's less of a tank though. She's too weak defensively, even with Fortify. Her shield is fine, but I feel like it's meant to protect her and only her, but it's for your team. Her health is just so low, and at least Zarya can put a personal shield on herself. I am gonna miss not being able to take out Meis because they'll learn and know better than to try and freeze Orisa with Fortify up. The main thing I really don't like, is that damn reload speed. I have always had a bad habit of constantly reloading, in any shooter game I've played. With her...ugh. It's really long, and it's bad for my habit. But, the damage is nice; I like being able to shoot at a considerable range. I'm sure I really pissed off a Tracer, who stickied me twice in one match, but I just Fortifed both times and didn't die.

One thing I don't really get, is her Halt ability. Outside of trying to get environmental kills, I see very little use in it. Like, at all. It's slow moving, it takes very precise timing when to stop, and all it does is give a split second graviton that isn't going to affect your opponents all that much. Maybe if you were on a coordinated team, and the enemy doesn't see it coming? That's about it.

[Avilan the Grey]

I wasn't even thinking about 'rat. I did a skirmish with him and now when you mention it I probably would have died before the change. I was trapped in a wide corridor against a Tracer and I survived by basically spamming the room with bombs. Would not have been possible before.

[Morty]

There was actually a decently big thing on the overwatch forums about how McCree is innately worse than Soldier in every way.

Yes, McCree is more or less completely outclassed by Soldier76, and Blizzard has responded by buffing Soldier76 after that video went live. He is awfulbad, his ultimate is suicide, his gun is completely outclassed by Soldier in just about every situation. The only thing he's got going for him is Flashbang, which would be awesome if it weren't so incredibly sketchy and unreliable. Where Roadhog's hook invariably places the target directly in front of his muzzle, Flashbang doesn't cancel the taget's momentum, so they can wind up bouncing out of range, or even behind you, so that many a time, the target will shake off the stun before you can sight them in.

It's too bad, because I really like McCree, he's INCREDIBLY stylistic and cool, but his kit is, at this point, totally inferior to Soldier76 in every way. Soldier has more range, more damage, more mobility, more burst, and a self-heal, and an ultimate that is immensely easier to use, and even if it's winds up being countered (by Zenyatta or Lucio or D.va) will at least not result in his inevitable death.

I should be clear: I'm FINE with McCree not having Soldier's range, but he needs SOMETHING to compensate in close range to make up for it, and no, flashbang alone isn't enough.

I'm not surprised, but it's good to know it's not just me being bad at McCree. The flashbang, in my experience, just has extremely low range and radius. Throwing it only works when the enemy is too close. I also like the idea of a mid-range sharpshooter, since I'm so awful with snipers, but not that much.

So I'll stick to Soldier, Pharah and Reaper when I want to go offence. I just need to learn how to play Pharah without getting shot as soon as I fly up.

[The_Jackal]

I'm not surprised, but it's good to know it's not just me being bad at McCree. The flashbang, in my experience, just has extremely low range and radius. Throwing it only works when the enemy is too close. I also like the idea of a mid-range sharpshooter, since I'm so awful with snipers, but not that much.

So I'll stick to Soldier, Pharah and Reaper when I want to go offence. I just need to learn how to play Pharah without getting shot as soon as I fly up.

You've got to make use of cover. Seagull has some good Pharah videos too, notice how he frequently will fly up near an obstacle, peek around it, fire, then dip back below the horizon. IMO, the biggest challenge with Pharah is getting comfortable with her flight controls, and knowing how to use the map to your advantage. In some ways, she's the strongest flanker in the game, and should be played accordingly.

[Lord_Burch]

I'm not surprised, but it's good to know it's not just me being bad at McCree. The flashbang, in my experience, just has extremely low range and radius. Throwing it only works when the enemy is too close. I also like the idea of a mid-range sharpshooter, since I'm so awful with snipers, but not that much.

So I'll stick to Soldier, Pharah and Reaper when I want to go offence. I just need to learn how to play Pharah without getting shot as soon as I fly up.

So I'll stick to Soldier, Pharah and Reaper when I want to go offence. I just need to learn how to play Pharah without getting shot as soon as I fly up.

You've got to make use of cover. Seagull has some good Pharah videos too, notice how he frequently will fly up near an obstacle, peek around it, fire, then dip back below the horizon. IMO, the biggest challenge with Pharah is getting comfortable with her flight controls, and knowing how to use the map to your advantage. In some ways, she's the strongest flanker in the game, and should be played accordingly.

^This. Also, get accustomed to using the wrist rocket (I can't actually remember what its called) to move yourself around, and more importantly, move your opponents into the path of your rockets.

[Rising Phoenix]

Yes, McCree is more or less completely outclassed by Soldier76, and Blizzard has responded by buffing Soldier76 after that video went live. He is awfulbad, his ultimate is suicide, his gun is completely outclassed by Soldier in just about every situation. The only thing he's got going for him is Flashbang, which would be awesome if it weren't so incredibly sketchy and unreliable. Where Roadhog's hook invariably places the target directly in front of his muzzle, Flashbang doesn't cancel the taget's momentum, so they can wind up bouncing out of range, or even behind you, so that many a time, the target will shake off the stun before you can sight them in.

It's too bad, because I really like McCree, he's INCREDIBLY stylistic and cool, but his kit is, at this point, totally inferior to Soldier76 in every way. Soldier has more range, more damage, more mobility, more burst, and a self-heal, and an ultimate that is immensely easier to use, and even if it's winds up being countered (by Zenyatta or Lucio or D.va) will at least not result in his inevitable death.

I should be clear: I'm FINE with McCree not having Soldier's range, but he needs SOMETHING to compensate in close range to make up for it, and no, flashbang alone isn't enough.



I'm afraid not. If you can reliably headshot with McCree, you can reliably kill with Soldier. McCree headshots get big burst damage, which is nice, and maybe harder to counteract with heals, but Soldier's 200 DPS weapon can easily keep up with McCree's 140 DPS weapon, modulate his fire to counteract spread, and kill just as quickly, if not quicker. At the 99th percentile in Competitive, Soldier gets more eliminations, more voting cards, more medals, more damage, and fewer deaths than McCree. Soldier is measurably, objectively, indisputably better in every way. Soldier even gets more Helix kills than McCree gets fan-the-hammer kills, even though there's no cooldown on fan-the-hammer, and helix has an 8-second cooldown. As things stand now, there's no reason to pick McCree unless a) Soldier is already taken and b) you need hitscans to counter PharahMercy.

I generally have more trouble with good mcrees than soldiers as a healer and it is probably that I cannot counter the burst damage as effectively. Which is true.

What McCree has over soldier is flashbang. If they buff that he can become a more reliable tracer/genji check and whoo boy are those two running rampant at higher ranks along with the buffed Winston.

Edit: Also something needs to be done about pharmacy... It shouldn't take 3-4 team mates to nullify the effects of two.

[Morty]

You've got to make use of cover. Seagull has some good Pharah videos too, notice how he frequently will fly up near an obstacle, peek around it, fire, then dip back below the horizon. IMO, the biggest challenge with Pharah is getting comfortable with her flight controls, and knowing how to use the map to your advantage. In some ways, she's the strongest flanker in the game, and should be played accordingly.

^This. Also, get accustomed to using the wrist rocket (I can't actually remember what its called) to move yourself around, and more importantly, move your opponents into the path of your rockets.

Well, the 15 elimination streak video was impressive. I'll try to apply it to my Pharah games.

I generally have more trouble with good mcrees than soldiers as a healer and it is probably that I cannot counter the burst damage as effectively. Which is true.

What McCree has over soldier is flashbang. If they buff that he can become a more reliable tracer/genji check and whoo boy are those two running rampant at higher ranks along with the buffed Winston.

Edit: Also something needs to be done about pharmacy... It shouldn't take 3-4 team mates to nullify the effects of two.

The flashbang having some range and radius to speak of wouldn't hurt. It'd be actually useful in lining up shots.