Overwatch Tricks and Tips

Last week I spoke about the rising hype behind Overwatch. You can check it out here. This game is fantastically fun and I highlighted some of the points that make it truly stand out. I've been playing ALOT of the Open Beta and taking full advantage of this as this is probably the last time that I or anyone else in fact to be able to play the Beta version of Overwatch up until the few weeks where it will fully launch. In fact Blizzard was kind enough to even extend the Beta for a few days for us!

Good Guy Blizzard

In preparation for the full release of the game: I want to go over an overall gameplay guide to making sure that when they log into Overwatch that it would be as memorable as possible.

Before playing any game I always make sure to optimize my settings to have the best playability possible. Let's look to the options menu in Overwatch. The first thing that the screen will bring you to is the Video section which should be calibrated to your specific settings. I actually had a lot of problems with this. It's due to a personal problem with my graphics card but I believe that a few other people have similar troubles. If you are having troubles going to fullscreen on Overwatch, I recommend playing it in Windowed mode. I use Borderless Windowed so the change is negligible for me. I also can only go to a High Graphics quality but I may turn that up or down depending on my internet connection. A lot of these settings are preset but I am not sure if the FPS Limit is default capped to 30. I took it off and can jump to 60 (when my graphics are lowered)

Next we go to the sound menu. This is largely dependent on personal preference but the only thing that I would like to address are the Voice Chat options. Selecting Auto Join will always have you join the appropriate voice channel. This means when being in a group with your friends or when entering a match and being put in team voice chat. If you do have Auto Join selected please make sure to have the proper Voice Chat settings. Having an Open Mic may cause teammates to immediately mute you if you are causing audio disturbances. Additionally if you are using push to talk you will not change the key here so look over at the next section to change that.

Most of my time was spent here in the Controls menu. The first thing that I did was change my sensitivity. I'm horrible at FPS games and am more accustomed to MOBA genre style games. Jittering my mouse and constantly moving it around throughout the map is one of my bad habits. It hasn't affected my gameplay in games like Heroes of the Storm or League of Legends because my twitch reflexes and map awareness compensate. Additionally, hit boxes and skill shots are much larger for me to hit on a linear lane map style. A game like Overwatch where the maps are largely dynamic and it isn't simplified to linear maps like in these other games. Even the slightest pixel off can mean the difference between a head shot kill or a missed bullet and death.

The next thing that changed were my Reticle settings. I changed the type to be a dot which allowed me to be as precise as possible. The small reticle size for the dot type is made up in accuracy with a bright vivid colour. As you can see the fuchsia looking colour will help me identify the cross airs on the screen.

I would avoid using colours such as Black, White, and Red. These will blend in to a lot of the settings and may cause you to misfire.

Zenyatta is my favorite Hero

Now if you look in the top right corner you may have noticed that there is a tab that states "ALL HEROES" These are the general controls and settings for all twenty-one heroes however you can change the drop down menu and override the general controls for specific heroes if you wish. There are a few heroes that allow extra options for better Quality of Life changes and may help your gameplay greatly.

We'll look over Genji, Hanzo, and Junkrat first. These Heroes have a special option where the hero or Junkrat's Rip-Tire would automaticall climb walls. To utilize this as you are approaching a wall you need only to press the space bar and it would automatically climb the wall. I found this useful as I was unsure of where I could scale certain walls as they would be too high or I would get blocked on the way up. Later on I would turn this option off. It's more of a training wheels sort of addition. You wouldn't want to automatically scale a cliff that you didn't mean to later on in a match.

Next up we have Lucio. His option is to make Crossfade a hold option rather than a toggle. By default Crossfade is on Heal but by holding down Shift you can make it change to Speed. In the thick of the fight sometimes you may constantly spam the Shift key to toggle the auras on and off and might get confused. By utilizing hold you can make sure that you will use speed when necessary. Personally I always prefer hold options to toggle. When scoping or utilizing an ability. It helps me remember that when I am holding down a key I am in a certain mode. Such as speed for lucio or in a long range snipe position for scopes. When I keep pressing a key that is toggled it confuses as I might not count the amount of times that I hit it in a fast paced match.  

Going back to the toggle option. You can choose to toggle the barrier of Reinhardt's shield. It's all a matter of personal preference but as explained earlier I keep it off.

The same can be said for Widowmaker's zoom on her scope. Additionally you can change the aim sensitivity when zoomed if you prefer a more delicate touch (or not).

Now unfortunately I missed a few screenshots for Mercy, Soldier 76, and Zarya. The Beta closed on me before I was able to do so (sad face). Here are text descriptions:

MERCY can change her heal beam to being toggled as opposed to held. This is probably the only time when I would prefer having a toggle for a heal/damage buff as this is a large part of what Mercy does all game. Having to hold down the mouse while holding a mouse button will slow me down as I apply pressure on my left finger. Additionally, Mercy can have the option to prefer the target that she is using her beam on to fly to them using the Shift key. This is more of a personal preference and important to understand a team comp. If you are using a mobile assassin this will be more useful as it will help you stick to them while they can focus on dodging and kiting without losing you by their side. Or a tank that you know you'd like to stay a majority of your time with. Essentially, if you know that you are using a strategy of sticking to a few people as opposed to running around the map and healing everyone.If you know that you will be spread throughout the team and healing because of a comp you might want to turn this off as if you are not exactly on the teammate's hitbox you will fly to another target.

SOLDIER 76 & ZARYA have the option to show allied teammate's health bars. This is useful when knowing when to deploy a heal or a shield.

With the majority of the Heroes options covered I just wanted to highlight some of the keybindings set. Not many people know that the Melee attack is bound to the V key and additionally if you have a mouse with a few extra buttons the side button is also default bound to melee. Feel free to set keys to your liking but a large tip is to look at all the configurations and understand what actions there are. What you might see my surprise you if you do not frequent FPS games.

I believe that by default the kill cam will be automatically skipped. I would keep that off as knowing how and where you opponent killed you can be huge information. I would also keep the kill feed display on as well.

Not many people know this but the skirmish setting while searching is on by default. If you prefer to peruse the hero gallery or edit loadouts then the group leader should have this setting turned off.

To the left of the screen you may occasionally see a slightly faded orange icon. This is to show a poor network connection at the moment and that is demonstrated to the side. I wasn't aware of this at first but drew the parallel to Heroes of the Storm, another Blizzard game where they have this implemented. Try to keep safe if you notice this icon.

Lastly the social options. None of these really contribute to gameplay but we might as well go over it. You can have a profanity filter. (I have mine off for shit talking purposes) You can have group members invite other friends of theirs and additionally you can make your group open to everyone which means anyone looking at their friends might want to hop in to you group. Just some things to keep in mind.

That's it in terms of setting optimization. Now let's talk game theory:

When playing, I use this mental checklist to best understand what needs to be done for the game.

1) Objective The first and foremost thing to be understood is the objective. This is how you win and lose games and if this is not the first thing that comes up in your mind when starting a game then you are gonna have a hard time understanding how to win. Know WHAT your objective is. WHERE your objective is and HOW you can achieve your objective. The first is known upon your loading screen. The second is known upon your spawn location. The third is known based on upon your first encounter with the enemy.

2) Teams The next thing to understand are the Teams. What are the teams on each side. Are you more team fight based, defend control based, or more assassin pressure based. Understanding the team comp will help you understand your role on that team and how to deal with the enemy team. If you know your team and the enemy team comp then you should play to your strengths. Like before knowing what your role as a team is will help you understand how to complete your objective. If you realize that their team as a whole will counter you then you should avoid getting into a situation where they will win. If as a team they have better lockdown then you need to let your team know not to start pushing as they will get shutdown unless your team has the upper hand.

3) Location Location goes a big way in this game but it's most important in relation to positioning. Tanks won't have to worry too much about this but the rest need to keep cautious. If there is no none enemies or firefight don't go into a choke point. Chances are that they are waiting for you before they spring the trap.

4) Fighting Support -> Attack -> Defense -> Tank. The premise of fighting itself is heavily on gameplay mechanics and a players reaction speed but in general utilize the above chain of command when deciding targets. Not necessarily who you see first.

5) Swapping Hero Swapping is something that is used to help push your advantage. If you are constantly in a losing position then you have the opportunity to change your strategy and adapt to the current circumstances.

Let's go over this checklist in a game. So you queue up with some friends and you're in a skirmish currently. You are fooling around playing as Genji jumping across rooftops and the like. All of a sudden the game instances you into a real match. You straighten up immediately in your chair and prepare. You already know what map you are fighting on in the loading screen. It's a coin flip to decide what role your team is going to have but you start to imagine the ideal heroes for either side. Hero selection begins and you look to the top to see what your fated assignment is. Depending on what it is you begin to select the heroes that you envisioned while the map was loading. Unless it's a Control King of the Hill map you can already decide the route of where to go since it is fixed. Communicate with your team and understand what team comp you will go to best achieve your objective. The first checklist is complete and you repeat what you need to do in your mind. I must push this payload to the end. I must stop the enemy team from reaching this point. I must break through the enemy team and hold an objective. After the mental preparation you burst out of the spawn room. As you start encountering the enemy you either pick them off if you are able to or you just dance around each other scouting the team and preparing battle plans. You know what their team is and hopefully what they aim to do with such a composition. Step 2 is complete. Use awareness, footsteps, and team communication to understand where you guys have spread yourselves out and where they have placed themselves and complete the third task of finding the location. And now the battle really begins. The preparation is done and can only get you so far. Your skill as a player will dictate how the following match will go when fighting. Use basic priority of getting anyone that will reach an objective or to get rid of their sustain and supports. Then focus any of their attackers that will try to break through and assassinate your team. And then defensive heroes to break the enemy team's momentum. Only the tanks will be left to pick off. This will either work completely effectively, there will be a neutral position in advantage, or you will be realizing your defeat quickly. Hero swap to appropriately swing the game in your favor and go through the mental checklist again.

It's a little complicated and better learned through experience but hopefully these small tips will be enough to help you greatly in your gameplay.

Feel free to add me and ask for a game!

Battle.net: LrdRwekien#1110