[h1]A love-hate relationship.[/h1]
Is probably the best way to describe Overwatch. I'm not even sure where to [i]begin[/i] with the game, it has a fair bit of good, but it also has a [b]lot[/b] of bad as well.
So I'll focus on a few things:
[list]
[*] Problematic Heroes
[*] Balancing
[*] Matchmaking
[/list]
[h2]Problematic Heroes.[/h2]
The heroes in this game are naturally diverse and varied, but in recent months they've released a hero that breaks [b]all[/b] the rules of the game:
[i]Jetpack Cat.[/i]
Now as you can surmise its a cat in a jetpack, but what makes it so awful and bad is that it breaks the fundamental rule that Overwatch had since day 1: [b]No. Permanent. Flying.[/b] every hero that has the ability to fly is tied to a timer or a resource bar of some kind, but Jetpack Cat seemingly ignores this rule and can fly infinitely [b]and[/b] have a boost mode as well. This by itself is already quite a jarring experience, maps aren't built for perma-flying and it shows:
[list]
[*] The skybox is pretty low, barely allowing them to fly over maps
[*] Jetpack Cat can hide behind buildings indefinitely at a high elevation that you can't reach even with other flying characters, let alone grounded ones
[*] Jetpack cat can quite literally hide under sections of the map that are inaccessible unless you want to die trying (and failing) to kill them with any hero outside of another Jetpack Cat
[/list]
To put it simply: Jetpack Cat is probably the most frustrating hero to fight against in the game as it stands (excluding skilled players on specific heroes). If that wasn't bad enough, Jetpack Cat is a [b]support[/b] hero, so they have the ability to heal themselves as well as their team, but their whole kit enables and encourages her to be the perfect flanker that can't be easily dealt with, with a 225 health pool to boot, a small hitbox, and long range weapons, you'll be struggling with this feline. Her support function is being able to [b]carry teammates[/b] into the air [b]indefinitely[/b], allowing some heroes that were clearly never intended to have high speed to just be zipped around the map because of a tiny cat.
To rub salt in the wound, someone at Blizzard is clearly aware of how annoying this cat would be and went the extra mile to add a [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejbeOEbRaLQ]"taunting" voice line[/url] for players to use, just to add some psychological warfare to the game.
[h3]Is that the only hero?[/h3]
No. There's definitely other problematic heroes but this would be rather long, but as a quick rapid-fire:
[list]
[*] Freja: Damage class that can leap up and pretty much instant-kill you in 0.7 seconds with several explosive arrows that stick to you
[*] Mauga: Tank class that has 2 chainguns, can stomp on you, and heal from shooting you
[*] Zarya: Tank class that can put a bubble around teammates that acts as a shield and also makes her weapon stronger, effectively fueling your own demise and killing you quickly
[*] Roadhog: Tank class that can self-heal back to full on the move, has a hook to bring you into his lethal range (1-shot shotgun), and even at range he has a secondary fire that can snipe you at medium distances.
[/list]
These are heroes that are considered to have a lot of pain points in the community and are seen as problematic (If you play competitive modes, you'll frequently see these banned, especially Jetpack Cat whom had a 70% global ban rate even at the top competitive levels), it makes you wonder that surely Blizzard would do something... Well...
[h2]Balancing[/h2]
...Now with the above heroes mentioned, the logical next step is to think
[quote]"Surely Blizzard would make adjustments so these heroes aren't annoying to play against?"[/quote]
And you'd be right! Except there's one problem:
Blizzard seems to be concerned about balancing at the [b]esports level, [u]not[/u] at the casual level.[/b] What I mean by that is you won't really see nerfs or buffs to heroes unless they're being used in esports competitive play (Like the Overwatch World Championships) where top players will have grinded these heroes to a fine art and have tech levels that you can't grasp, I've seen some of these games and the gameplay is [b]so. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fast.[/b] that if you blink you genuinely might miss some stuff.
The problem with this naturally is the heroes that should be addressed... Don't, and the ones that are perfectly fine for the casual crowd... [i]Get adjusted.[/i] In the latest update (September 8 2026) they have made inconsequential nerfs to a couple of the heroes mentioned earlier, but then they have decided to nerf or buff other heroes that had no issues at all. Some of these changes were 'fine' as they wouldn't make a difference, but others you can clearly tell they were done in response to esports play and not how the playerbase plays them (e.g teleporter distances being reduced, cooldowns for certain heroes being increased, making a [i]literal sound adjustment?)[/i]
This is despite many complaints from the playerbase about many heroes, which you can find either here on the [steam discussions or better yet on the [url=https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/c/general-discussion/6]Overwatch Forums.[/url]
[h2]Matchmaking[/h2]
This is just short, sweet, and simple:
The matchmaking sucks.
There's nothing to sugarcoat, you might be fine initially playing but you'll find yourself quickly playing a lot of games where all you see is this:
[b]DEFEAT[/b]
Why? Well for some reason the matchmaking loves to decide to pit you against [b]very experienced[/b] players. I've had games where I am fighting with or against [b]Top 500 competitive players[/b] in Overwatch, quite literally the best, of the best, and Blizzard thinks I can go up against them [spoiler]I can't. They wreck me or make me look pathetic.[/spoiler] it makes games feel like a genuine gamble and the worst part is you can tell within the first 30 - 60 seconds of a game if you even have a [b]slither[/b] of a chance of playing, let alone winning the game.
It has gotten to the point where people have said the following:
[list]
[*] "Quickplay is the real competitive mode"
[*] "Play competitive if you want balanced matchmaking"
[/list]
This has lead into a LOT of theories that the game attempts to keep your general win/loss ratio at a neat 50%, if you try going above that you [b]BETTER[/b] be John Overwatch and carry your team otherwise you'll be humbled pretty fast, if you try to lose games you don't have to worry because even if you do nothing you might still win on account of having that carry on your team. Put simply: The matchmaking does not feel balanced at all, it is a genuine coin toss, you can tell pretty quickly how games go, and in the 'casual' mode you'll be playing against people that are playing as if $1,000,000 are on the line [b]every. game.[/b]
[h2]So why do you play?[/h2]
Because I do find some fun with it, despite how toxic some people can be (You WILL be finding toxic people, trust me), I do have some small, nice conversations, and Overwatch has a nice feel with its movement that I just haven't really felt in a good while. Plus when you get that natural co-ordination with people you've never met, it genuinely feels great when you get that synchronisation.
I've had some funny moments and [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3766737867]witnessed[/url] some [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3798363609]funny moments[/url] too that were [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3782007315]screenshot worthy[/url] that you just can't replicate or force, they just happen in the wild.
But, it is like I said, a love-hate relationship. There's a few goods, but honestly... There's a lot of bad. [b]If you plan to get into this, you should expect to be constantly saying "FFS!" a lot.[/b] Its a game that shouldn't be taken seriously, yet somehow I keep finding myself doing so.
