EPT![[image loading]](http://bneteu-a.akamaihd.net/overwatch/static/media/wallpaper/lineup-facebook.0Bcoz.jpg)
Blizzard's new multiplayer shooter game.
Beta starts in 2015, sign up at http://www.playoverwatch.com/
Overwatch on Facebook
Overwatch on Twitter
Story:
-The game is set on Earth, 60 years in the future
-Robots became very common in the future and they went crazy, attacking cities all over the world. The war that resulted against the robots was the Omnic (?) Crisis.
-The strike team that took on the robots was Overwatch.
-For the next 30 years after the war, Overwatch was a worldwide agency that displayed how great people could be when they came together, representing heroism and sacrifice.
In the last few years, Overwatch started to fall apart.
Gameplay:
-Chris Metzen is only doing one voice in this game.
-Blizzard has been making competitive PvP games for a long time and this will be yet another.
-Overwatch will have some dark gritty areas, but it will mostly be a world you will want to come back to.
-The game is all about heroes.
-The game will be accessible with non-twitch options.
-You can do things other than put a crosshair over targets, as that is what drives people away from other shooters.
-The game is less-lethal. You will die, but you should die less frequently than in current modern military shooters. With more time alive, you are able to do more interesting things and interact with your team more.
-The teams are going to be 6v6, which is just big enough to make it fun.
-There are Payload and Capture Point maps, no deathmatch mode.
-The game is focused on Heroes, not classes.
-There are 12 playable characters at Blizzcon, with many more to come.
-Tracer has a ~10 meter teleport / blink that uses energy. Enough energy to do 3 blinks in a row.
-Tracer has Recall, which puts her back where she was 3 seconds ago. This also includes health, ammo, and energy.
Hero Roles:
-Offense - Scout, Harass, Press the Objective, High Damage. (Pharah, Reaper, Tracer, Hanzo)
-Defense - Guard locations, create choke points, establish a front. (Widowmaker, Bastion, Torbjorn)
-Tank - Protectors, high survivability, disruption, lead the charge, have armor to reduce damage. (Reinhardt, Winston)
-Support - Heal, buff, utlity. (Zenyatta, Mercy, Symmetra)
Maps and Game Modes:
-Exotic worldwide locations
-Simple objectives
-Encourage hero mobility
-Team focus encounters
-Temple of Anubis - At the base of a technological pyramid.
-Hanamura - Temple grounds, homeland of Hanzo.
-King's Row - 30 years ago there was a population of robots that lived below the streets. People were going to send an EMP underground to destroy them.
-You can change to another hero every time you die.
Q&A:
-They aren't talking about the cost yet, so no idea if it will be free to play, a one time purchase, or something else.
-There are elements of Titan in Overwatch, both were Earth based, there were some shared ideas, but it is different from Titan.
-There is no customization to the gameplay. Initially there was a robust customization system, but there are too many heroes to keep track of all of the customization that can be done. Customization works in Heroes of the Storm because it is a slower paced game.
-Overwatch will be on PC, consoles are something they can look at in the future.
It is too early to talk about system requirements, but they should be reasonable, just like other Blizzard games.
-The game will be balanced so that two of a hero on a team will be okay, but more than that will likely put you at a disadvantage.
-They aren't ready to talk about skins, leveling, or achievement systems yet, but they are all good ideas.
-There is party chat and team chat, with party chat being your group that you queued with. The team is also working on VO and chat communication.
-There will be some kind of long term progression in the game.
-The team is looking at outside Voice Chat options, as players prefer that over in game chat usually.
