I stayed up all night pounding sodas and playing Overwatch. Overwatch is a multiplayer online battle arena in the form of a first person shooter. Characters have all manner of magical abilities which give them edges in combat. Having a cohesive team is everything in a game like this, and you’re forced to grind away until level 25 before you can take your profile into ranked competition. You play the same game, but you are not able to be cast into a series of tier qualifying matches until this somewhat lofty goal.
When you get even a good team, not a great team, but people stick together and use what minimal in game communication they can. Having people on headsets is a serious edge, almost assured the key to victory in “quick match.” Even eleven year olds can make articulate relevant information, and even have high ranking accounts. I like that Overwatch is a game for the ages. Its a good feeling when your good work gets recognized by the group, which Overwatch presents plenty of opportunities to do so. Ranging from graffiti, top players fighting for “likes” at the end of the round, the end of the round “Play of the Game,” which feels amazing, and good old fashioned chat. Call of Duty does not have the community Overwatch does. Nobody call my mother anything derogatory during my playtime, I didn’t hear any ethnic slurs, and when I wasn’t doing well as a certain character, they broke it to me softly, “Hey we were doing a lot better with your Lucio.” No need to be rude. I read the chat rooms at professional Overwatch League, and it is so often so toxic.
I played for six hours straight, with 36 wins. That is a win rate I am very comfortable with as a beginner, and I suspect my entire ride won’t be so posh. I faced tough players on my better characters who clearly just understand the levels and the strengths and weaknesses of characters on a level I’m nowhere near yet.
I was drawn to the healers, and then also the offensive characters. Not the tanks, who are intended to draw the aggravation of the other team. If I am playing the damage dealer, I like to sneak in like a ninja and wreak havoc. Or draw foes into battles of attrition with one of the healer classes. Fight like Napoleon in Overwatch, the most people at a position of you choosing.
HereticDerek 