Overwatch: Post Launch Plans

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

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

Read more about Overwatch  and check the cheapest CD Key for Overwatch!