#I’m an old overwatch player

[blitzy-blitzwing]

me: *finally plays overwatch after two years*

me: *arrives in midtown*

me: …

me: where the hell am I?????

[hungwy]

I’ve seen many people reblog a post which contains tweets that, in my eyes, amount to a single complaint that is only half true (but that I agree with for the most part). But anyway, here’s a longpost:

(tweet in question)

I think it’s mostly wrong to say FPS multiplayer “peaked” ("was most fun for the playerbase"?) with Source games in the way presented. Believe it or not, you can still join a server with 30 people playing on a user map with fucked up assets everywhere, and some of the 30 people playing will be 14-year-olds with bad mics getting mad at being spawn killed by someone with 20,000 hours in the game. In fact, there are servers like this in most Source games, including Garry’s Mod, TF2, and CSS and CSGO (but honestly I think TF2 is most representative of the above scenario). I just launched Valve’s community server browser and have found an unending list of silly-sounding servers for TF2: Minecraft trade, Murder at the Mannor, Zombie Escape, Medieval Mode, all full or near-full. I checked Garry’s Mod: SCP-RP, Zombie Survival, Clone Wars Roleplay, “Swamp Cinema”, 1980’s Mafia Roleplay, DarkRP (x20), again, all well-populated. Admittedly CS2 was mostly deathmatch servers (due to it being Source 2 and not Source and so missing a lot of plugins that would allow for “fun” servers), but CSS still had surf, bhop, minigames, and jailbreak servers still going and full. My server browser won’t show CSGO for whatever reason, but up until CS2 released I know for a fact that these silly ass servers still exist there too. The implication that these servers and their conditions are gone is wrong. You don’t want a server with the exact same conditions though, I think you want to relive the specific memories you’re having and feel happiness again. But maybe I’m going too far there.

How about this. I’ll give it to you, Dusk developer, that for you FPS multiplayer peaked with insane TF2 trade servers, but you also make boomer shooters for a living, so I think you’re biased towards enjoying an older generation of games anyway. Modern FPS games are fantastic and in their own ways contain a lot of fun. Modern games in general fill the spaces that, for you, TF2 servers filled. Have you seen Roblox minigames and Minecraft server plugins? They’re actually crazy and decently well made. I’m excited that kids have grown up in such a good environment for games. They have tons of options that we didn’t have back then. It’s awesome! Like, don’t let your nostalgia blind you to the fact that kids are having just as much fun as you now. TF2 and Garry’s Mod are not the be-all, end-all of FPS multiplayer fun. That sentiment I completely disagree with and think people should get over.

But like, how the hell does competitive gaming play into this? I truly don’t buy the wording of “Esports and competitive ranking ruined multiplayer”. It’s just not true. Not only are the servers you’re mourning still exist, they’re still well-populated and their “golden age” coincided with some of the greatest heights in competitive FPS gaming. You know what’s funny? When CSGO released in 2012, TF2 saw a drop of almost 10,000 average players. It recovered basically the next year. Besides a small dip in 2018, TF2 had held around 50,000 average players since its release, until 2019 where its average player-count has risen to about 80,000 players. Garry’s Mod wouldn’t peak in total concurrent players until 2015 and has had a dedicated core of players averaging around 25,000 since like 2013. Seriously, these are incredibly consistent player-counts throughout the release of Overwatch, PUBG, Fortnite, Apex, and Valorant. In fact, contrary to the tweeter's implicit assumptions, it seems like nothing much has changed, and that competitive gaming did not, at all, ruin or depopulate these “fun” spaces.

So, again, how does competitive gaming and esports play into this? Only thing I think is valid is the fact that a few popular modern FPSes don’t do the whole “community-hosted server” thing: Apex, Fortnite, PUBG, Valorant, and Overwatch all do not have native community-hosted server support. Which, to be frank, is bad for their competitive gaming scene too! Esports has ALWAYS used self-hosted servers for practicing to get better. I don’t know the argument for not having these sorts of things, maybe not developing the toolkit for these things is easier than developing them. IDK. But I agree that it is bad that many popular games don’t support this sort of thing. The “self-hosted netizen” is a category of person that’s been declining for a long time regardless of the effect of competitive first-person shooter games on the casual first-person shooter games self-hosted server market. But again, for the topic of the post, I think this is a completely nonsensical implication. As far as I can tell ALL Valve-made Source engine games have active and popular community servers still, and the popular games ALL have very populated servers with “fun” gamemodes and atmospheres. Competitive has grown very popular, yes. It's true. It's fun to compete, everyone knows it. But esports has taken very little if anything away from the casual playerbase of Source games.

(Also, for the record, during the actual multiplayer FPS golden age of the time, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 shooters, there were no self-hosted servers for us, and it was still the most fun anyone ever had playing casually on console. It was the age of trickshotting and montages, man! For the intent of this post that exact restriction counts as “keeping players from interacting with one another” yet these games, especially COD, were, uh… infamously social. Not to mention these games had competitive scenes alongside the casual scene perfectly fine.)

I think, really, ignoring the actual content of the tweet, these tweets are just about nostalgia for your childhood. Which is fine! You can miss things you used to do for fun and no longer do. Probably every human that’s ever existed has gone through this. I mean, again, it is kind of popular in current culture to be nostalgic. The 90s aesthetic, early 2000s media, retro games, super hero movies, cartoons being consumed by adults to a greater degree than ever, et cetera. I think to some extent the complaint itself isn’t like, a completely unclouded judgement of the Decline of The Beauty of Multiplayer Gaming throughout the years. The concrete complaints in those tweets seem both a little rose-tinted and unnecessarily doomerpilled to me. But like, regardless, it’s kind of your fault for not returning to these things, man. Go join one of those servers if you’re not busy being an adult with a job and friends and other obligations that may keep you from doing things that you’re not used to and have fun like you did in childhood. Or is that what's actually the problem…? I don’t know. A suggestion. I just think in the end the complaint isn't valid.

This post is long and I had a LOT of thoughts that I may have missed or chopped off at the incorrect time. I think the picture I'm trying to build has probably been communicated, though? Maybe I’m not considering something, maybe I overinterpreted implications, maybe the fact that the playerbase of TF2 and Garry's Mod being highly consistent for ten years or whatever is not indicative of anything I've said, but I hope regardless you understand that like, at least part of this tweet is weird to say in the ways I've attempted to untease. People young and old are still having crazy times in video games and esports has done, as far as I can tell, absolutely nothing to change at, ever.

Turning off reblogs because I have a feeling anyone who doesn't follow me might become annoying about this

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

Questwatch really has the brainworms going...

Listen, I know it’s canon-compliant, seeing as Kiriko and Orisa shouldn’t be with Overwatch by this point, but it was cute to hear that Genji had been working on his Role Heroes’ backstory with Emily for weeks. They’re actual friends!

We could already assume Emily was part of the Overwatch family with how close she is to Winston and Mei (They are her siblings-in-law, your honor). There was that Overwatch 1 interaction where Winston invites Mei to hot pot with Lena, Emily, and Athena that was followed by an Overwatch 2 interaction where Winston says he can’t wait for the next hot pot with Mei. Then, there was also the 2018 OWL spray where they’re all watching sports on a couch. Classic Lemon Tea history right there.

What makes me upset is the fact that Emily doesn’t seem to be living at Watchpoint: Gibraltar. London Calling ended with Lena and Winston saying “We did it! We saved London!”, but we know Iggy is in danger in the upcoming co-op mission. That’s the thing that’s always annoyed me with the plot armor our heroes have. You’re telling me that Lena and Emily have been living safely in London for over five years while Talon has Lena on a hit list???

On one hand, a bit of angst where Emily says her goodbyes to Lena would make me cry, in a good way. (Their love will persevere through anything, damn it!) We see how appreciative Emily is of Lena’s vigilantism in London Calling. She would give up having her girlfriend by her side for the betterment of the world. Also, I love the idea of Mei being subjected to Lena being a sobbing mess without her girlfriend in the crew quarters. On the other hand, Emily is not safe in London. Period.

Let me make one thing clear: I do not want Emily as a hero. Ever. Not only do I not want the possibility of Lena and Emily killing each other (it’s heartbreaking enough with Winston), but I think Emily is perfect as a civilian. She reminds Lena what she’s fighting for, but she’s also a great parallel to Jack’s relationship with Vincent. Jack forgot what he was fighting for, putting his duty above all else, and distanced himself from everyone. Emily is the reason why Lena kept up with being a vigilante, the reason why Lena bumped into Iggy, and the reason why Lena and Iggy were able to stop Kace’s uprising.

All of this is to say that I love the idea of Emily being at Watchpoint: Gibraltar with the new blood of Overwatch. It’s as safe as she’ll ever be with Lena as her girlfriend, after all. I want to see her interact with more heroes, and I guess I’m a little disappointed by the heroes playing their Role Heroes campaign. If we could get Kiriko and Orisa, who are not there in canon, why couldn’t we get Jack? Have you SEEN him being an absolute nerd over chess in the Sojourn novel? It would be a great way to show players who don’t view external media that Jack isn’t just a grumpy old man.

Also, can we talk about Adventurer Tracer’s lines? “Was your knight on holiday?” when eliminating Mercy? “Sorry, I’m the knight in this realm!” when eliminating Pharah? HELLO??? I need to see a Lemon Tea and Pharmercy double date this instant. (People can grow apart after five+ years of not seeing each other. Sorry, Gency shippers.)

I haven’t even seen the rest of Questwatch. I’m “only” tier 42 as of writing this, and I haven’t seen anyone post all the chapters in their entirety. Still, I am LIVING for all this Emily content. Now, give her a voice. Give her a 3D model. Let her show up in Story Missions. I am BEGGING.

(I am so normal...)

[loungelizardatwar]

I just took a look through all of the characters from Overwatch 2 and I noticed something. If you look at the aging male characters (Soldier 76, Reinhart, Torbjörn, Cassidy, Sigma, Doomfist) you’ll see that the animators do have the capability to add wrinkles and age marks to the characters that add a lot of depth to them and actually make them look more human and believibly their age.

Taking a look at the female characters is a whole lot different.

95% of the female characters in the game have pristinely smooth skin (and mainly PALE skin but that’s not the point i’m making here)

Even Ana- a woman who’s canonly 62 years old only has a few lines around her mouth and eyes. She is probably the most well done example of a more aged woman in the game and she literally still only looks like she’s in her 40’s

Take a look at Ashe! She’s supposed to be 41 years old and does not have a single flaw or blemish besides a birthmark. Her skin is literally smooth as paper.

Mercy is 39 and has the flawless skin of a cosmetics commercial.

Widowmaker is 35 and has the most plush baby-faced facial structure i’ve ever seen. Not a single line or wrinkle.

Sojourn is supposed to look 51 YEARS OLD. Aside from her white hair having never seen her before I guessed that her age was going to be in her 20’s or 30’s.

Mei is 33 and looks pristine!

I understand that this is a video game franchise that has a more cartoony look to it’s characters but if you’re going to spend the time to add age diversity to the male characters then the female characters deserve it too. It sends a super unrealistic standard for all woman and I think it’s a very bad look considering that the majority of the game’s players are men. It’s like you’re showing men at a very young age that all women are naturally going to look perfect at all ages.

[undeath1245]

The “lore” of Overwatch

Do you guys think that the franchise’s lore is lackluster, boring if not worse? Because I feel like there isn’t enough substance in the backstory behind Bl*zz*rd’s hit FPS game. Or most likely, the lore is being swept aside to focus on other things other than maintaining the game’s “sequel” and its shitty monetization system.

Now, I figure that the franchise has to have a backstory to explain its playable characters’ backgrounds; TV Tropes refer to it as an “excuse plot”. But, the lore has so much substance and content that it shouldn’t be swept aside and left out for so long. I mean, I became a huge fan of Overwatch’s story from its animated shorts, and the last one I saw was “Infiltration”. I honestly feel like this story could have benefited better if it was told through either a single-player story mode (excluding the upcoming indefinitely cancelled PvE mode), a standalone single-player FPS game, or, even better, an animated series made by the same studio that made these shorts. I’m a bit skeptical about following the story again and watching the other shorts I missed, largely because I’m unsure if the writing and overall lore is good or not. Many people say that the shorts’ writing was plain and shallow, as if they needed to be made as soon as possible to appeal to the fans who adore the animation and story, and the animation is wonderful, I tell you what.

Some people say that some of these shorts don’t entirely match with a player character's overall personality and backstory. Take Hana Song, for example. In the game, she is characterized as a snarky, giddy Gamer Girl™ and mech pilot who spouts annoying quips at her enemies, and I love that about her. But from what I’ve heard, in her own short, “Shooting Star”, D.Va is characterized as a war-torn soldier who apparently uses her Gamer Girl™ personality as some sort of public façade, as she retains a vigilant, worried demeanor in case the “enemy” ever comes back, whomever that is. It’s almost as if her joy and spunky personality had already diminished, and we didn’t get to see any of that happen. It could have been better if we could see some flashbacks about her career as a skilled, popular gamer and her good times with her teammates before things went south. I mean, “Honor and Glory” did this better with Reinhardt. Plus, wasn’t D.Va supposed to be a StarCraft gamer? Because I heard that got retconned by Michael Chu.

And that brings us to another issue with the franchise’s lore: the retcons. From what I heard, Overwatch’s lore suffered from so many retcons, and I don’t know why. I think the first instance I heard of such a retcon was when Moira was introduced. Before Moira, it was heavily hinted that Mercy was responsible for  Gabriel’s transformation, when she botched a resurrection that turned him into a shadowy freak. But in Moira’s origin story, she was the one responsible for giving Gabriel the spooky sublimation powers he currently possesses. At first, I thought that it was Mercy’s resurrection ability that further fucked up his body, but after reading some Wiki pages, Gabriel was resurrected into Reaper by Moira after his supposed death. Adding to this retcon, Brigitte (or Birgitta as I prefer to call her as such) was supposed to be 28 years old before her age was retconned to 23 years. Another instance of these retcons is that, from what I read from this post, Gabriel rebelled against Overwatch because of his bitter jealousy of Jack when he got promoted as strike commander, not because of his dispute with his team from their differing ideas and methods. One other retcon is that, from what I was reading from this page on All the Tropes, Pharah was supposed to be fully Egyptian until her ethnicity was retconned to be mixed race, Egyptian and First Nations to be precise, granted that it was probably because of her Thunderbird skin.

But then again, after reading this excerpt, some of these retcons were probably misinterpreted as such because they somehow interfered with the fandom’s overall headcanon, like Mercy being responsible for Gabriel’s transformation. But then again, when it comes to the writers adding in new stuff into your game’s story, especially when it comes to adding in new characters, and especially when it comes to adding in new stuff through mere snippets (the animated shorts and comics), you think that they should have planned the full story ahead much earlier instead of later on. I’m not saying that they should have added in some sort of story mode early on in the first version. I’m saying that they should have made a complete outline of the game’s story instead of making it up as they went along, not that this method was bad. I’m sure that there are other stories that were made up as the writers went along and were handled well, too.

(incoming rant)

I began writing this post around a couple of months ago. I was largely neutral with what Liar Entertainment has in store for the PvE mode. I never planned on getting it and playing it right away, largely because I’m not a PC gamer and I don’t want to sell my personal information. I was waiting for the playthroughs that were to be uploaded onto YouTube. But then, on May 16th, Bl*zz*rd had announced that the PvE mode has been cancelled. Not only that, but from what I’ve heard, it had been cancelled ever since around 2021, largely because of management issues and executives prioritizing the oh-so most popular PvP mode more than anticipated PvE mode. So essentially, Overwatch Lite (that’s what I’m calling the current version) was not only a glorified update that dared to call itself a sequel, but it was also a complete scam from the beginning. Fans had been waiting for a story mode ever since, especially those who are diehard fans of the game’s lore, and the PvE mode was basically what they were itching for. Sure that it wasn’t like a single-player campaign like in other games like in Call of Duty or Halo, but it was a campaign mode nonetheless, at best a multiplayer campaign similar to Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty: Zombies mind you. And yet, Bl*zz*rd decided to pull the plug on it and focus on the traditional PvP mode, and more likely what to put in their shitty online store. I heard that the company had been declining ever since *ct*v*s**n merged with them, and I’m no avid gamer, but I feel inclined to believe as such. Maybe if that merger had never happened, Bl*zz*rd would have remained as the most popular, most beloved video game company ever known. Maybe if that merger hadn’t happened, Overwatch, or even Project Titan, would have flourished as one of the most popular FPS games of all time.

Sorry that I almost turned this post into a rant there. I’m still a bit agitated that content like the game’s lore and story is currently being handled by a diminishing video game company, with the PvE mode being split into fragments locked behind a battle pass paywall. I have no idea what’s going to happen with this franchise at this point. Maybe these missions would be fun and engaging. Maybe the story is still happening. Who knows? All I know that, now that Liar Entertainment had come clean to the PvE mode being cancelled, I think that the game’s playerbase will diminish as time rolls by. I know that there will be a couple of players still latching onto the Overwatch scene and sticking around for future seasons. I honestly can’t blame them. I mean, you got to at least stick around to see if those battle pass-locked missions and cinematics are worth the money. But at this point, now that the company had wiped out all faith in the playerbase, Overwatch will fall, no one wins, and that planned lore that people had been waiting for is lost in time. But, it doesn’t mean that it could be the end for the fandom, or the remains of the fandom at this point. We could still make some fan works here and there, do some fan art and even make some fan-made shorts if we could. If Bl*zz*rd couldn’t deliver the story as promised, we might as well make it ourselves. I know that there are a lot of fan stories out there that explores the many concepts of Overwatch. I still remember some comic dubs of such. Heck, we could even explore cut content from the game, like the heroes from Prometheus.

There’s plenty of material out there. All it takes is our imagination. I know that fanon shouldn’t hold superiority over canon, nor should it be held over people’s heads. But sometimes, when it comes to an incomplete, interrupted storyline like Overwatch’s, maybe we ought to fill in the blanks and create what we can come up with. I don’t want to end this post on a low note, rather a fairly high note. If the company won’t deliver the story, we might as well make like the Mad Titan Thanos and make it ourselves.

[coringetorix]

It’s absolutely incredible how often Overwatch manages to continue to shatter my expectations.

Overwatch 2 being mostly a shop overhaul? That I somewhat expected. >$20 for a legendary is kinda in line with Apex I guess, but the amount of free credits you can obtain is an actual joke.

Removing features like the On Fire system and profile levels? Completely unnecessary but whatever, it’s minor. Not a good thing, though.

Killing Overwatch 1? You said you wouldn’t do that, ActiBlizz. Not happy about it, but I see the benefits of all your players being on one game.

Only PvP at first? Baffling. PvE was the whole selling point. Guess it’s coming later, but what do you have to offer now? Is OW2 essentially just a big patch?

Making you have to pay for heroes? Insane. Overwatch is one of the most rock-paper-scissors-hard-counter style games there is.

PvE campaign cancelled. So, it is just a big patch.

Turns out the campaign was internally cancelled before they publically announced it was coming at a later date. Incredible.

New (read: just like the old) PvE costs money for 3 missions with no replayability. Absurd. How can my hope get any lower?

Early reviews say the missions are mid. At this point, that’s par for the course. No surprise there, but...

It will take a year to make another few missions. What the fuck, lmao. 

I desperately want to know what’s next. I’m hooked on this storyline. What new lows can ActiBlizz sink to? I want to find out. My imagination will inevitably fall short and I can’t wait.

[local-phantom999]

hey hey! haven’t been on here in a while so i figured i might as well post an info dump before i forget about this place again.

sooo hello peoples of the internet! my name is Rory (known as localphantom999, your_local_phantom, or any variation of on most platforms). i’m 20 years old, queer, disabled, and most likely neurodivergent in some sense. i’m a gamer from time to time, enjoying titles such as: Minecraft, Overwatch 2, VALORANT, and the occasional single-player game. i also enjoy a wide variety of TV, movies, and YouTube. my current fandoms include: Hermitcraft and the Life Series.

to be more in-depth about my identity, i’m abrosexual, meaning my sexual orientation fluctuates on a regular basis, just as someone who’s genderfluid has a fluctuating gender. if i had to settle for a solid label, i would say i fit more asexual panromantic. but i just say im queer cuz it’s comfy and i don’t like labeling my sexuality. as for my gender, lol i don’t have one. i’m agender and use they/them pronouns exclusively. if anyone outside of the LGBTQ+ community asks, i’m nonbinary cuz it’s way easier to explain.

anywaysssss, that’s all from me for now! if i think of anything else, i’ll be sure to add it! love yall and have a wonderful day, wherever you are!

-Rory 💚

[r0semultiverse]

Overwatch 1 veteran player here and yeah no I haven’t played since the disaster that was season 1 dropped where they axxed any progression for people who didn’t wanna pay money. It got old very quickly with fewer things to do & obtain. Less competitive rewards didn’t help either. Everything free was being taken away and now watered down story mode won’t be free anymore either. That & locking meta characters behind a paywall, they just keep shooting themselves in the foot and do not care about new or veteran players. They snake oiled their players into investing in a subscription over false promises & are now just trying to milk it until they have to shut down the servers. I’m so glad I stopped playing. I’ll cherish the Overwatch 1 memories & all of the friends I made playing it, but R.I.P. to something that could have been outstanding.

At least we still have the smut (for now, until it ain’t as popular to make content out of due to Blizzard fumbling the game so badly).

[scarlet-moonlight]

HEARTSTEEL members (+Alune) and the Overwatch characters I think they would main/What type of player they are (I need to cope with the shitty games Ive been getting recently and I’m doing it by combining my two biggest hyperfixiations at the moment), semi serious and not serious at the same time lol, a lot of these are based on my own personal experiences playing this game (Especially Kayn)

(Also I’m using the black/bold for Ksante because tumblr doesn’t have yellow and purple for Alune because while I think pink suits her, Kayn already has it and no member uses purple)

Ezreal

-Kiriko and Moira main. Only picks the female characters because they have the cutest skins. Never actually healing you, and if he is, its only so that he can get ult and then solo DPS the entire team even though it never works out. Still 1v5’ing the enemy team even without his ult because he thinks it can look good on his tiktok montages (Yes he’s one of THOSE TikTok Moira’s) Went absolutely ballistic over the LE SSERAFIM skins and only spams their emote all game

Kayn

-Junkrat main, loves doing that cool thing that Junk players do where they jump into a group of enemies and ults RIGHT in the middle of them. Loves playing payload maps on defense cause he can spam the attackers spawn gate with mines and traps as soon as the game starts (That little shit) Very toxic in voice chat, will take his time to tbag every player he kills so it can look good on the kill cams, spams the “its snowing” voiceline everywhere (Overwatch players, you know what I’m talking about) will absolutely flame his supports for not healing them when HES THE ONE JUMPING INTO THE ENEMY TEAM IN THE FIRST PLACE (And yet only plays quick play/arcade modes because competitive players scare him lol)

Sett

-Ana main because she reminds him of his mama Unlike Ezreal, he actually knows how to heal his team. Occasionally finds himself tossing a nade at nothing accidentally or even worse, pressing Q out of panic and nano boosting the Lucio or smth. Got flamed by his teammates (*ahem* Kayn) and still feels really bad about it. Almost always caught in a 1v1 against the Widow or Ashe he thinks he can win (He does not) Never actually uses his scope and just shoots at people randomly to heal them, cause he’s too lazy to practice his aim.

K’Sante

-Zarya main, fits his vibe for some reason. He actually knows how to defend his team. Started off as a casual player, (isn’t that much of a video game person in general,) but liked how everyone else had fun on this game and wanted to do better for their sake. Got surprisingly good at it too. Very smart with his bubble and grav placements. The only one who actually plays the game normally, I swear.

Yone

-An old man who does not have time for video games, only plays because Ezreal and Kayn roped him into it and he couldn’t say no. Super basic, only playing Soldier 76 because that was the first character given to him by the tutorial and he’s too lazy to practice anyone else. Pretty good with his aim and left click but just…does not do anything else besides that. Does not sprint to try and chase people, does not use his Helix Rockets, does not use his biotic field, just..stands there spamming left click cause thats all he knows how to do.

Aphelios

-Casual support enjoyer by day, tryhard Genji and Hanzo main by night. Does the most INSANE Dragonblades with Genji, nano boost or not. Flanking entire back lanes with just his dash alone, deflecting ults like no tomorrow. Knows every map, every shortcut, every health pack location, its TERRIFYING. Even more so when he’s playing Hanzo, WILL one shot you from the most bullshit corners you didn’t even know existed WILL two tap you with storm arrow (Sometimes just one) and WILL somehow get at least a 3k from an extremely well placed Dragonstorm. Its insane. (Also he plays Kiriko as a support but with the way he kills people with her, you think he was playing a sniper. Ezreal could only dream to be like him)

Alune

-Mei main. Also just out of vibe. Almost always spending money on her favorite skins and emotes for her (Sprinkles is her personal favorite) Also a casual player. Really good at sniping with her secondary fire though, so watch out. Ults are also super satisfying. Knows the best places to throw them to at least freeze the entire team for its duration. Ice Walls are always perfectly timed to protect you from ults, including several RIP-Tires from Kayn (Much to his rage and anger) Has some scary combos with her ult and Genji blade from Phel.

[havesomehunter]

Hunter in Chimera Squad (3)

⚠️WARNING

It's just an idea of alternating reality

About his behavior in the game.

Hunter has a fake identity in Shrink, and works as a free bounty hunter at the same time.

By the way, he really doesn’t care about what does Shrink aims to do. The only thing he cares about is the working ( to be honest killing) opportunities that Shrink can offer him.

Player can find him in a special investigation mission . At that time, Whisper will enlighten the player that he might be a senior agent of Shrike.

“Capture him! Or we won’t have another chance!”

“He must know something about Nightingale’s death as one of central agents of Shrike.”

Of course you won’t catch him. He will escape at the last, and offer you a business card.

“Graaa! !You people really scared me. I thought you are the 31PD at the first time.”

“Has You XCOM become a kindergarten nowadays? It will become a great joke to mock him.”

“To be honest, whether you people believe it or not, I have a contract with someone to stay away from political assassination. So…”

“Here’s the business card ~ I’ll give you a family discount, don’t worry.”

After that, you may encounter him in your base occasionally as an employable character with an extremely high cost, or in a random battle as a formidable enemy.

(*He’s a real bastard who will ask for the resources that you most need.)

Hunter must appear in each BOSS FIGHT , which means the player must defeat both Hunter and the boss.

Hunter has a slack debuff when as ally, and two elementary armor when as enemy because of his Shrike suit.

When he acts as Chimera Squad’s ally, he will dress in only his casual clothes without any armor.(Because I really like to see him dressed like a college student, and his carefree attitude towards the danger.)

There’s a psionic bar under his health, because most of his abilities require it, and his psionic power is limited “borrowed” from...SOMEONE.

Plus, hunter will Evac instead of Dead when his health is empty, and he will leave a Smoke Grenade before leaving.

“Ouch!!! Have you ever received any education in tactics?! Or you’re intentionally?”

“This won’t get refund. And your strategies are also boring me. ”

“You XCOM still have some good old styles, while I admit I have made a mistake.”

“Ohhh~ I have waited for this for five years , Looking forward to see you next time, XCOM.”

“Closing time~ Help yourself~”

The sign lights on his mask is a reform of Hunter’s sign in XCOM2. And the laughing face is painted by himself with a fluorescent paint.

New Abilities and New Debuffs

• Common abilities

Hunter has four basic skills as a sniper: Fire and Overwatch (by both Darklance and pistol), Grapple, and Squad View

*There’s a decline in aim and crit in short range with the Darklance, but the pistol is on the contrary.

Tracking shot: Before the Hunter engage in the battle, he will aim at three target at the first from out of the map, and shot them in their next turn. Give the target a (medical) bleeding debuff when hit. You’d better find a good cover. (No need for psionic)

*“In case someone needs to hang a picture on their forehead, I’m passionate about helping to make a hole.”

Tranq shot: Tranquilize one target with the pistol in two turns. Hit rate affected by the range. Three turns cooldown.(Need a few psionic)

Shared squad view: Give the whole squad a one-turn squad sight. Has tree turns cooldown. (Need a lot of psionic)

Darklance reload: Darklance has a permanent free reload, and shot without ending your turn.(No need for psionic)

•Ally abilities

Blood sacrifice: Put a few of psionic power in a bullet, which will make the target bleeding when it is hit. One turn cooldown. Player can choose to shot immediately or reserve it, until each of your bullet is changed in to a psionic bullets. However, Darklance will prioritize using psionic bullets.(Need a few psionic)

*Hunter’s pistol is not the Darkclaw anymore, so it can’t use the bleeding bullets.

*Psionic bullets well disappear after reloading.

"Ops.."

Limna’s touch: One use per mission. Consume almost all psionic energy to build an area around the Hunter, which can bring him an ability to shot any enemy into this area ignoring the cover. This area will exist eternally before Hunter moves. And of course you can chose to use your bleeding bullets with a shot range accuracy penalty.(Need a huge amount of psionic)

* "Eliminate all the hu… enemies ! "

•Enemy’s abilities

Torture: Use the Darklance to shot at one agent. Cause a “medical bleeding” debuff when hit it. Give Hunter a recovery when the bleeding agent get damage.(Need a little bit psionic)

*May shot his ally if has a urgent need of recovery.

* "Nurse is coming~ is there anyone needs nursing care? "

Asaru’s lance: One use per mission after it taking a damage, or it will has a three turn cooldown. Aim at one target with the Darklance, and shot in next turn. Ignore the cover ,and make a huge damage. You’d better find a good solution.

*"Cloth your eyes and count to seven."

•Debuffs

Medical bleeding: Three turns. Agents’ bleeding debuff is different from enemies’. It will take a damage when the bleeding unit is being treated instead of a sustained damage.(But can be dispeled by Second Wind)

Bleeding: Target will inflicts a little damage in each three turn, and get damage while they move.

*" You really paint well. Have you considered becoming a artist? Oh... sorry, you are gonna die."

*Targets may have chance to become panic when they are bleeding, no matter agents or enemy.

Slack: Only ally Hunter's debuff. Hunter will get a "Slack" when he engaging a battle as XCOM's ally, untill an agent is getting Bleeding out, or killed an enemy by his own hands. Decline his hit and crit rate.

*"How could you XCOM always cheer up by facing such a group of cowards."

•Specialities

Psionic thirst: Recover psionic power when any unit using a psionic skill.

Bloodhound: Each bleeding unit can increase the chance of dodging.

*"Uh...shuch a familiar smell."

Contract: Hunter will stable the agents who are Bleeding Out, when in a really dangerous situation. No matter which camp he is in.

*“(Tut(Tut(Tut…You are abandoned by your hypocritical friends. What a pathetic~”

“Someone will get angry if you were dead.”

*Hunter will shot your agent as a very low hit rate when the player spends to much time on thinking. No matter which camp he is in.

“Take your time. Let’s make this game more challenging.”

“One two three ~ counting sheep~who is the next?”

[realjoehours]

★ get to know me! ★

hi i’m joe/soupy and i use they/them pronouns!

aroace nonbinary lesbian

you can use nicknames with me go wild i think it’s funny

i’m a minor so no weird stuff

scottish?!?!

feeling joe-tastic

your typical gay flute player and band kid

i love my girlfriend she’s the absolute best!!

probably autistic

visual snow haver

weirdgirl central

world’s worst overwatch 2 player

poopa stinka

cramming new stuff into my blog description until the day i die!

★ i have quite the plethora of interests that you’ll see on this blog lol (in no particular order)★

Sonic The Hedgehog

Undertale

Deltarune

Pokemon (especially Alola, Paldea and when it comes to Lillie, Nemona or Rika)

Pokemon Horizons

Ace Attorney (especially Maya Fey, Ema Skye or Athena Cykes)

Warrior Cats

The Saga of Darren Shan

The Saga of Larten Crepsley

The Demonata

Voltron: The Legendary Defender

Cats (the musical and the animal)

Sing and Sing 2

Ghost Trick (especially surrounding Lynne)

Saltydkdan’s Pokemon Friendlocke

Saltydkdan (just in general)

Scott the Woz

Doctor Who (Bill Potts, River Song and Kate Stewart are super cool)

Scott Pilgrim

Centaurworld

Garfield

Hatsune Miku (just getting into her music! feel free to send song suggestions!!)

Overwatch (i'm the worst ever. i like playing lucio, kiriko, moira and illari :))

Dungeon Meshi (i'm a big Marcille fan!)

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (especially anything Trixie related)(currently watching the show with my girlfriend and i’m very early on so no spoilers pretty please)

and also my girlfriend she’s actually the best ever!! (@thequipsterever go check her out she’s amazing!! (and you do see her on the blog because i annoy her on here often lol))

★ time to talk about my side blogs! ★

@tanglesoup - my sonic side blog named after the best character in the franchise, tangle the lemur

@thealphysblogever - my undertale and deltarune side blog (also named after the best character)

@joeeatsdvds - my side blog where i talk about dvds and shows that i watch and also where i talk about my yummy dvd collection!

@joesoups-art-archive - my art (and writing) archive blog full of all my old art and stuff to do with my old projects

@theepicallycooltriplemblog - a side blog i run with my girlfriend all about our silly group of beanie belly kitties

@thequicksilvermagician - my darren shan side blog dedicated to posting about the demonata, the saga of darren shan and the saga of larten crepsley (and also to posting about the best character Kirilli Kovacs)

@thecheesemisterofalola - my pokemon irl roleplay blog about my trainer oc named Cheesy! (cw for unreality if you do check it out)

★ tags to know! ★

#joe soup speaks - a tag for my incredibly high quality ramblings

#joe’s doodles - a tag for my doodle posts

#joe soup responds to asks - a tag for replying to asks! (joetown residents, my mutuals, may receive their own specific ask tag if they frequently appear in my ask box)

#joe soup plays catz - a tag for when i visit my son gamer when i play catz

#oh hey that’s my ask being answered! - a tag for my asks when they get answered

#funny posts i like - a tag for posts i think are funny which i reblog

#art i like - a tag for fanart i like

#kitty cat tag - a tag for kitties!

#certified good post :) - a tag for wholesome posts i reblog

[winsoongi]

hi i wanma know more about ocs

YESSSSS THANK YOU I’m gonna be honest I didn’t think I’d get this far so I don’t have my tedtalk/thesis/lorebook prepared but here we go!!!!

All of my main ocs are pro gamers in FOWL, which stands for Fantasy Overwatch League. FOWL exists in a universe where the game itself is called Fantasy Overwatch and where when queue times became a problem the game was updated to be 7v7. As I’ve said before, FOWL was a bunch of joke teams and ocs Éinín and I came up with… until it wasn’t. Though FOWLverse (which I also call normalverse) was the original, it’s not the main one anymore. The main one is Ad Terra, which is like. A zombie apocalypse isekai but everyone is a gamer and horrifically poorly adjusted to regular society which makes things even worse. I’m writing a webcomic about it!

Éinín and I have come up with around… 20 teams (?I think?) to fill FOWL. Some are more serious and have cool branding (the Busan Royals, the Minnesota Vargr) and some are not (the Sydney Reefers, the Newark Excalibur). Unfortunately, I have not been able to entirely give each team an identity yet (rest assured I will), but I do have several I’ve been focusing on: Chicago Orion, a team built from an old core that was successful in 2016 and never again, Minnesota Mighty, a team of Australians who wiped the floor with everyone on ping but are hopeless on LAN, and Minnesota Vargr, a team of inexperienced players with no expectations that have been wowing the league with the power of friendship and also constantly have insane dyke drama with minnesota mighty.

Ad Terra (the webcomic I’m writing) itself focuses on two former Chicago Orion players, Nyangi and seonjin (gamertag PRinCe). Nyangi is a hot-headed projectile dps prodigy who’s been in the FOW scene since it began and who’s seen little recent success due to his limited hero pool. PRinCe is a player outcast from the early korean FOW scene as the result of a boosting scandal who’s only recently gotten back into the spotlight. Nyangi was benched for the first time in his career for Seonjin soon after joining the Orion… which didn’t end well for either of them. Basically nyangi sucks and is the worst and if you don’t clap for him I’ll blow the building up and seonjin sucks slightly less but has every complex imaginable and anger issues besides. They hate each other irrationally and neither wants to figure out why.

(Not their actual refs but just pics I’ve had saved on my phone. Nyangi on left seonjin on right)

As for my other OCS there’s too many to list, but some of my favorites are Splinter and Sale (two ancient esports figureheads (late twenties) who think the other is an idiot and that they should be in charge), pestle (rose to fame by stream sniping everyone else in the scene relentlessly because she thought it was funny), Akira (white guy from Chicago who lied about speaking korean on his team app and then got signed to an all-korean team and was immediately permabenched when they found out), and LXVIZ and crashdown (surfer dude lesbian and current movie star (read: was an extra in The Shambling Undead) with an ego that have a tumultuous relationship and have been on/off for four years and counting AND are on the same team for some reason). I just think they’re neat

Also Ad Terra itself is a whole other very long can of worms but it came into existence because I wanted to make pestle a horse girl and I love remembering that. That’s all thank you for asking ily OTL

[grimmf0xx]

Hello!

Hi I’m Grimm, This blog has no particular theme, it’s just an old blog I wiped clean to use as my main social media now that the bird website is tanking. This’ll mainly just be me posting stuff about video games I enjoy, characters I enjoy, art I like and maybe some writing every now and again.

High chance I will eventually reblog or maybe even post something NSFW so 18+ only

VIDEO GAMES & CHARACTERS THAT LIVE RENT FREE IN MY BRAIN

OVERWATCH

Been playing this game since the first open beta of Overwatch 1 and whilst some of the dev choices are questionable It’ll always have a place in my heart.

Lifeweaver:

Baptiste:

Symmetra:

League of Legends

Been playing league for ages although with it’s MUCH bigger roster than most other games I doubt I can make a whole image change about the characters I’m attached too, the main handful are,

- Janna - Rakan - Morgana - Sett - K’Sante - Shen

Valorant

I don’t play this game nearly as much as I’d like too but I follow the game closely and when I get that Valorant Itch it’s typically the hyper-fixation for a month or two.

Harbor:

Killjoy:

There are a tonne of other games I enjoy like destiny 2, Pokémon and a bunch of single player games but these games are the ones I find myself sinking most of my play time into.

[askagamedev]

Lightning Mailbag: I didn’t have time edition

With all sympathies to artists and animators, do you think characters clipping into parts of themselves or their clothes will ever be fully solved? Or is this just one of those fundamentally intractable problems that can only be mitigated?

Hope springs eternal, but it's something we just have to deal with for the foreseeable future. Maybe once we figure out quantum computing?

How much does lore and narrative contributes to player's engagement in non story-focused multiplayer games like Apex Legends and Overwatch?

There's usually a small (less than 5%) but hardcore group of players/fans who are very into that sort of thing. Most players (80+%) don't engage with external lore content in games like that because it isn't the focus of the game.

Is it normal to feel cringe about your game after weeks or days or more?

After it’s released and out in the wild? Yes. I always feel like all I can see are the flaws when I play it, even if the players are enjoying the experience.

Which social media platform should I use as a dev?

For your career, LinkedIn. If you’re an indie trying to cultivate an audience, Discord. And if you’re in AAA, I advise against being on social media in general, except for LinkedIn.

On the topic of crossover (specifically when you have characters from different license holders interacting) how does a dev team keep all the license holders happy. For example, in Mortal Kombat 11, Spawn has several specific interactions with Robot Cop in a pre battle chatter. Do both license holders need to sign off on that battle chatter?

Yes.

When working under an NDA, how do you talk about it with friends and family? Realistically, do you let your partner know? Trusted friends? Or is it best to just avoid specifics/the topic generally?

I talk about things in general terms, but I make sure my partner knows not to talk about my work with anyone. Between friends, I will occasionally toss out the term "FrieNDA" for things that are more specific. Mostly, we just know not to talk about that stuff.

Is it common that old builds are getting leaked to the web? Like the Duke Nukem Forever 2001 build?

No.

How much money does it take to start a new AAA game studio?

A lot. It’s usually at least in the low to mid six figures to hire enough talent both to start a company and build enough of a project to pitch to publishers.

Why don't open-world games reuse or add on too old maps? You'd think a new Assassin's Creed, Farcry, Horizon, or whatever else could save effort by remixing and adding on to old maps, yet it rarely if ever happens. Why is that?

Players complain about notable content recycling, especially open world maps.

Is calling a sequel "DLC" offensive to you?

It isn't worth spending attention on feedback like that. I'd rather just say "I'm sorry our offering was not to your liking. Maybe you'll enjoy something else we make in the future."

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[nexttimeisnotthesame]

Update: June’s rust rivals team

Total 20 people per team. Final roster as of 12/5.

hJune (captain)

Disguised Toast (co-captain)

Team members that play Rust as their main game (5):

Trausi (the old man, the OG, EU - Poland)

Albin (the young one, EU - Sweden)

root9r (new, EU - Italy)

Hutnik (EU - Poland)

Sven (Our builder, hJune’s video editor, EU - NL/NO)

Other streamers (13):

itsRyanHiga (THE Ryan Higa, played in all Rust rivals)

Kaymind (new, ex-pro PUBG player)

Natsumiii (Wendy aka the best base mom, played in all Rust rivals)

Abe (variety, played in all Rust Rivals)

vGumiho (new, Gumi, variety)

Sleepy (ex pro overwatch player, played in last Rust rivals)

HyperRat (EFT streamer, played in last Rust rivals)

5up (variety, played in last Rust rivals)

Jummy (new, variety, reactor)

triciaisabirdy (Tricia; pro chef streamer, played in former Rust Rivals)

Repoze (new, don’t know anything about him, DaD player)

Zealand (football related gamer, played in last Rust rivals)

Valair (new, don’t know anything about her, casual (?) rust player)

Much has happened and June detailed the whole process and problems that arised on this post: Twitch Rivals, Blooprint & Teams Not much to say other than 我挺他! I just hope the team have a good time on the event! Actually love this team beacuse majority of them mesh together and I hope the newcomers will fit in well 😊 Playing 100 hours of Rust is not an easy feat but I hope everyone do there best for the team. No more disappearing in the middle of the event and never coming back 🙏

*Jae is also on the event but not on June’s team. Not sure if I will watch his pov because I’m not too fond of the people on his team. But we’ll see.

[time-traveling-fetus]

Before you post this on your angry gamer subreddit, hear me out. I think paid video game loot boxes are vile. They are predatory in nature, designed to exploit players and obscure the real cost of in-game items. I think every country in the world should outlaw them, and I’m glad Overwatch got rid of them. At the same time, Overwatch 2’s monetization is terrible. In the transition to free-to-play, we lost the ability to earn things for free.

My Overwatch account is level 480, which means I earned nearly 500 loot boxes by playing the game. Factoring in the event boxes and arcade rewards and I likely opened close to 600 throughout my Overwatch career completely for free. That means I collected some combination of 2,400 cosmetic items and Credit bundles. If you’re a free-to-play Overwatch 2 player, you only get 20 items from the seasonal battle pass. Overwatch 2 seasons last nine weeks, so it would take you just over 20 years of consistently completing every battle pass to earn the same number of items I got from Overwatch’s loot boxes. If you’re willing to upgrade to the premium battle pass, which gives you all 80 items, you’ll catch up to me in a little over five years - and it will only cost you $500.

What annoys me, personally is that there is no way to earn anything outside of the battlepass unless you get coins. Coins can be earned by completing weekly challenges, and you can earn at most 60 coins per week. I've made significant progress on most of my challenges by playing for two days, but the 60 coin cap is significant. One emote costs 500 coins, so it would take two and a half months to buy it. Epic skins cost 1000, so it would take me nearly half a year. Legendary skins cost 1900, so it would take me EIGHT MONTHS. This is assuming I'm diligent enough to complete every challenge every week, which I definitely will not be.

That item would be the only thing I get to buy in that entire time. Loot boxes would have easily given me much, much more value in the same amount of time. What annoys me is that I paid money for the old overwatch. Did I pay $30 just so I could collect cosmetics? No, but it was part of the product that I paid for. A feature that is very much out of my reach because of the new battlepass system. Now I'm being expected to pay continual microtransactions to receive the same experience