Negotiations aren't the only thing that are breaking down; Overwatch 2's competitive rank system is also broken , according to many players. Many have complained that they are being de-ranked in an unfair manner due to the new system, which seems to be wildly inconsist

Patches are here to stay in gaming, and they are important for fixing huge errors, balancing live-service games, and removing online exploits being constantly abused. They also help games ship on time then get a little polish here, a little spit shine there later on. But it’s increasingly obvious that games are afraid to be imperfect, and that risks making them bor

I also finally understand why people give a shit about these characters beyond their battle abilities . I feel a kinship with Junkrat. He’s a wildcard, like Charlie in Always Sunny. He’s just a silly little guy, and I love him for it. I’m going to read up on his story before I dive back in tonight - I never thought I’d do that for any hero shooter. I couldn’t even count how many heroes there were, and Junkrat has made me hopeful I’ll find more I love, but if I don’t, I’ll happily main this wacky pyromaniac until he runs out of li

Overwatch 2 launched with an account merging feature, which would bring along any cosmetics and leftover currency from the previous game. Unfortunately, this feature hasn't been working as intended , and some players still don't have access to skins they bought back when Overwatch launched in 2

Beyond just shooting, Junkrat’s abilities provide some handy and chaotic utility. His concussion mines can be used to blast opponents away when losing a 1v1, accelerate him to the objective quickly, or simply launch him to high ground. They’re surprisingly versatile, molding to whatever playstyle you gravitate towards. I like to pop them on bridges and in choke points, blasting enemy heroes off the map or sending them back and giving my teammates time to please come help me, I’m sca

Think about how you engage with daily challenges. If they can be accomplished without any additional effort, then there’s no point in having them. But, if they make you do something you don’t want to do, then they’re having a negative impact on your experience. So either they’re nothing or they’re bad, but they’re never g

The US Department of Justice and Acti-Blizz have been holding legal discussions regarding the Overwatch League esports tournament. The main reason for these discussions is Acti-Blizz breaking antitrust rules stemming from a "competitive balance tax". The talks have reportedly broken down after Activision "refused to make certain concessio

But it’s a problem in single-player games too. If I’m losing a game in Marvel Snap I can retreat and I won’t lose as much rank, but if I have a challenge to play cards in the last turn, I have to see it through to the end, even when I know I’m going to lose. In these instances I have two competing objectives - win click the next web site game or play a six-cost card. When you’re playing as though you’re trying to do something other than win, you’re engaging in deviant play. Games should not encourage this, yet almost all of them

Having one tank in Overwatch has made support a complete nightmare, and it’s made some tanks completely redundant in certain modes. I’ve been playing a lot more Mercy, finding it helpful on defense especially as I flutter from teammate to teammate, frantically keeping them alive while they fend off the enemy’s push. But all it takes to stop that is a Zarya toggling her shield, walking right through all of them, killing me, and then strutting back to safety. The lone tank is busy holding the line and the DPS are busy killing the enem

Support playing as DPS is inevitable with this meta, though. If a flanking Genji or Reaper gets behind the line, you have to fight back, but it’s often too late if you wait for that moment. That means you have to be on the offensive, or you risk getting killed and being spammed with ironic ‘thanks’ and constant ‘I-need-healing’ in the chat. Yeah, I get it, but I was left on my own to fight the two DPS’ and a pushing tank. Healing the 50 damage you took isn’t high on my list of priorities right

Mei has recently been pulled from Overwatch 2 for two weeks because players were using her wall to reach places they weren’t meant to. Maybe this is too much to tolerate at the highest competitive levels, but mostly I just think ‘who cares?’. Didn’t they just nerf Mei out of existence anyway? Is it really that big a deal that you can mess around on some m

Patches are par for the course in gaming these days. While your live-service behemoths are always tinkering with the meta, keeping gameplay fresh, and fixing all the bugs those first two fixes cause, even the smallest single-player titles come with constant post-launch care these days. Day one patch is now the norm, and while games like Cyberpunk 2077 which launch in historically unacceptable states benefit greatly from devs now being able to fix things in the wild, it’s unlikely Cyberpunk would have launched at all if the studio knew it would be stuck with what it had. On the whole, patches offer a safety net that’s good to the industry, but it sometimes feels like they take away a game’s personal