Overwatch: Post Launch Plans

Fyra Frost - Jun 7, 2017, 5:09 PM

It's been 2 weeks since the very successful launch of Overwatch. Over 7 million players across 3 platforms bought the game in its first week alone. And now, people are curious as to what's next for Overwatch. Here's a short rundown of Eurogamer's interview with Overwatch's game director Jeff Kaplan.

Competitive play

is still coming late June (projected date keeps shifting internally)
will be more skill-based rather than the “progression-based” one implemented during the beta. There will be no safety nets – you’ll go down/lose points when you lose.
There will be a dynamic queue just like quick match. The game will try to match you against a group of similar size. If the queue time takes too long, server will be less strict and try to match you against a different sized group.
They will be keeping an eye on the matchmaking and are open to discussion.

Server tick rates

There’s a general misunderstanding in the community regarding tick rates
In most cases, the usual problems are with the latency not the tick/update rates
The servers operate at 60Hz but the client update rate is lower(20Hz)
They already have a high bandwidth option that allows for 60Hz update rate
- Currently limited to custom games
- If they switch quickmatch to 60Hz update rate, 20% of the population might not be able to play
- They’re looking for more feedback

overwatch

Hero balance

McCree
- change is straightforward
- Nerf to fan the hammer damage
- They want McCree to be a counter for heroes like Tracer, Genji and Reaper
- He should not be able to shred tanks easily.
- Will be coming sooner than D.Va changes
D.Va
- They’re still exploring options
- Will take longer to pinpoint.
- D.Va’s not in a horrible position, but could be better
Platform implementation
- They expect the changes to hit all 3 platforms at the same time

Play of the game

They’re working on it but it’s not on the immediate horizon
Would like to show more PotGs that are fun to watch
They feel that they can refine how they are PotGs are shown. Possibly work on the camera angles
about 70% of the current PotGs are actually really cool moments that people feel pretty happy about.

New content

parts of the team are already working on patches for the end of the year and early next year
they don’t know what the right cadence should be. They want to get a feel from the community as to how much content is released.
Hero releases.
- The team felt that releasing Mei, D.Va and Genji at the same time was too disruptive
- They will release heroes one at a time until they feel the game stabilizes
- They want to be careful about overdoing it with a patch.
They have placed more hints about Sombra out there that the community hasn’t found yet

Console crossplay

No progress but they are very open-minded about it.
They’re going to wait and gather feedback from developers and fans