Advertisement
Guest User

Developer Update | Experimentation & Hero Pools | Overwatch

a guest
Feb 3rd, 2020
57
0
Never
Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!
text 10.60 KB | None | 0 0
  1. Created on https://www.dvdvideosoft.com/free-youtube-subtitles-download
  2.  
  3. Hi, everyone.
  4. This is Jeff with the Overwatch Team.
  5.  
  6. Really excited to be back here in 2020
  7.  
  8. for our first Developer Update.
  9.  
  10. So, everyone on the Overwatch Team
  11.  
  12. listens to and gets a ton of feedback
  13. about the game,
  14.  
  15. and we love hearing from you.
  16.  
  17. And in the past few months, I would say -
  18.  
  19. this isn't based on science -
  20.  
  21. there are 2 topics that come up the most,
  22. that we hear of the most.
  23.  
  24. One is, "What's the team's philosophy
  25. on balance?
  26.  
  27. And could the team balance the game
  28. more frequently and/or better?"
  29.  
  30. That comes up a lot -
  31.  
  32. a lot of discussion about the balance
  33. of gameplay and hero balance.
  34.  
  35. And then the other thing that we hear
  36. a lot of feedback and comments on
  37.  
  38. is the concept of the meta of the game:
  39.  
  40. "What heroes are played?
  41.  
  42. Are there other heroes that are viable
  43. to be played at any time?
  44.  
  45. And what could the Overwatch Team do
  46.  
  47. to make sure that the meta was moving
  48. along more fluidly and more frequently?"
  49.  
  50. So, I want to spend
  51. today's Developer Update
  52.  
  53. talking about some things
  54. that we're doing very soon
  55.  
  56. that will address these 2 points -
  57.  
  58. balance and the meta.
  59.  
  60. So, let's start with balance.
  61.  
  62. I think everybody's interested in balance
  63. in some way or another.
  64.  
  65. In the past, the Overwatch Team
  66. has faced some criticism
  67.  
  68. for being a little bit slow
  69. when it comes to our balance patches.
  70.  
  71. We've often heard that players want to see
  72. balance more frequently,
  73.  
  74. they want us to try more things,
  75.  
  76. they want us to be more aggressive
  77. with changes,
  78.  
  79. they want us to be willing
  80. to revert changes
  81.  
  82. that the community perceives
  83. as not being good.
  84.  
  85. We have tried to use the Public Test Realm
  86. in the past to test some balance changes,
  87.  
  88. but as you know, things stay on the PTR -
  89.  
  90. the Public Test Realm -
  91. for quite some time,
  92.  
  93. and we don't always make
  94. a lot of dramatic changes
  95.  
  96. once something makes its way
  97. to the Public Test Realm.
  98.  
  99. We have something that I think
  100. is really cool and really exciting
  101.  
  102. in the pipe, and in the works,
  103. that will be coming soon to Overwatch,
  104.  
  105. which is called the Experimental card.
  106.  
  107. So, our main play cards, as you know,
  108.  
  109. there's Quick Play, Competitive,
  110. the Game Browser,
  111.  
  112. which we call our main play cards.
  113.  
  114. Every now and then, coming in the future,
  115.  
  116. you will see a card pop-up
  117. that says "Experimental."
  118.  
  119. This Experimental card
  120. will be some number of changes.
  121.  
  122. They might be related to hero balance,
  123. they might be related to other things.
  124.  
  125. We could be testing changes
  126. to the way one of our game modes works,
  127.  
  128. like the Control game mode
  129. and how it works in Competitive.
  130.  
  131. It doesn't have to be balance-related.
  132.  
  133. But the Experimental card will come up
  134. every now and then
  135.  
  136. when we want to test something,
  137.  
  138. and it will give
  139. all players of Overwatch...
  140.  
  141. Not just players who want to go
  142. to the PTR, but all players,
  143.  
  144. including console players,
  145.  
  146. will be able to use the Experimental card
  147.  
  148. to test changes out
  149. that we're trying as a development team.
  150.  
  151. The really cool thing about
  152. the Experimental card
  153.  
  154. is because it is in
  155. the main game of Overwatch
  156.  
  157. and not some separate Public Test Realm,
  158.  
  159. you'll still be leveling up
  160. your Overwatch account,
  161.  
  162. you'll still get rewards.
  163.  
  164. If we were running something like -
  165. if you remember, way back when -
  166.  
  167. we had D.Va's Nano Cola Challenge,
  168.  
  169. and if you got 9 wins we gave you a skin,
  170. that would apply.
  171.  
  172. If the Experimental card was up,
  173.  
  174. those wins would count
  175. in the Experimental card.
  176.  
  177. So, we feel like players will be rewarded.
  178.  
  179. You don't have to change your behavior.
  180.  
  181. It should drive a lot more players
  182. to helping us test out changes.
  183.  
  184. Also, unlike the Public Test Realm,
  185.  
  186. the point of the Experimental card
  187. is not stability and bug testing.
  188.  
  189. That's not what we're looking for
  190. in the Experimental card.
  191.  
  192. We're looking at gameplay changes,
  193.  
  194. and player reactions
  195. to those gameplay changes.
  196.  
  197. So, we really welcome all of you
  198. to check this out.
  199.  
  200. It's going to take us a few weeks
  201. to get the first Experimental card up,
  202.  
  203. so please be patient with us,
  204.  
  205. but you'll notice it
  206. when we add it to the game.
  207.  
  208. And we really welcome -
  209.  
  210. in addition to our PC players
  211. who have been helping us test
  212.  
  213. on the Public Test Realm -
  214.  
  215. really welcome
  216. the entire console community
  217.  
  218. to now help us try out new
  219. and fun ways of playing Overwatch
  220.  
  221. and providing us with feedback.
  222.  
  223. Along with the Experimental card,
  224.  
  225. we're also going to change
  226. our balance philosophy,
  227.  
  228. which is going to be:
  229. balance more frequently,
  230.  
  231. more aggressively,
  232.  
  233. and be less concerned
  234. with trying something out
  235.  
  236. and maybe pulling it back later.
  237.  
  238. So, that's a change.
  239.  
  240. We're going to try
  241. some pretty aggressive balance changes.
  242.  
  243. We are going to
  244. deliberately target the meta.
  245.  
  246. Before, we used to balance
  247. with stability in mind -
  248.  
  249. stability of the entire game,
  250. all players in mind.
  251.  
  252. Now we are going to balance
  253. more aggressively targeting the meta,
  254.  
  255. and moving you off of the meta
  256. as frequently as possible,
  257.  
  258. which means some heroes might get buffed,
  259.  
  260. some heroes might get some changes
  261. to make them weaker.
  262.  
  263. When that happens,
  264. we might revert it a few weeks later.
  265.  
  266. So, be looking for
  267. this type of balancing to happen.
  268.  
  269. Be looking for changes
  270. in the Experimental card,
  271.  
  272. some of which will never go live.
  273.  
  274. Just because you see it
  275. on the Experimental card
  276.  
  277. doesn't mean
  278. it's going to happen in Overwatch.
  279.  
  280. These are some balance changes
  281. that are going to be different
  282.  
  283. and coming soon to Overwatch,
  284.  
  285. and all of this is based on
  286. what we've been hearing from you.
  287.  
  288. We've been hearing this is what you want.
  289.  
  290. You want us to balance more frequently,
  291.  
  292. you want us to target the meta,
  293.  
  294. you want these changes
  295. to happen more often,
  296.  
  297. and you want us to include you
  298. in the process more.
  299.  
  300. So all of this is designed
  301. to address that feedback.
  302.  
  303. Now, I'd like to talk about Season 21
  304. of Competitive for a minute.
  305.  
  306. Season 21 of Competitive,
  307.  
  308. we are going to try something
  309.  
  310. that's going to be very new
  311. and very different
  312.  
  313. to help move players off of the meta,
  314.  
  315. or to prevent players from stagnating
  316. on any one meta too long.
  317.  
  318. Coming with Season 21 -
  319.  
  320. which begins in March, so you have
  321. some time to prepare for this -
  322.  
  323. coming with Season 21,
  324.  
  325. we will be introducing
  326. to Competitive only -
  327.  
  328. this will not affect Quick Play, it will
  329. not affect any of the Arcade modes -
  330.  
  331. we will be introducing hero pools.
  332.  
  333. Like we have map pools,
  334.  
  335. what hero pools mean is for that week -
  336.  
  337. and the hero pool
  338. will only last for one week,
  339.  
  340. and then there will be a new hero pool -
  341.  
  342. there will be some heroes that will not be
  343. included in the hero pool.
  344.  
  345. For example,
  346. in the first week of the hero pool -
  347.  
  348. let's say Season 21 had just started -
  349.  
  350. maybe Orisa, Sigma,
  351. Mei and Moira are not in the hero pool.
  352.  
  353. So players will have to think
  354. of a new strategy
  355.  
  356. that doesn't involve those heroes,
  357.  
  358. and that will last for one week,
  359.  
  360. and then the hero pool will change.
  361.  
  362. Again, this is Competitive only.
  363.  
  364. This is targeted at
  365. keeping the meta fluid,
  366.  
  367. or the meta from stagnating,
  368.  
  369. and really getting to more hero diversity.
  370.  
  371. Now, we know there are some challenges
  372. with this concept.
  373.  
  374. This is what I would consider
  375. to be something
  376.  
  377. that we would be willing to change
  378.  
  379. if we don't feel like
  380. it's going correctly.
  381.  
  382. We could make the hero pools last longer,
  383.  
  384. we can make the hero pools move faster,
  385.  
  386. we can make the hero pools change
  387. every match.
  388.  
  389. There are all sorts of ways
  390. that we could adjust on this,
  391.  
  392. but, starting with Season 21,
  393.  
  394. we're going to start it with
  395. a weekly hero pool.
  396.  
  397. Very exciting is that the Overwatch League
  398. is excited about this idea as well,
  399.  
  400. and they will be implementing
  401. a version of hero pools as well,
  402.  
  403. and the Overwatch League
  404. will be releasing a blog
  405.  
  406. describing how they approach hero pools.
  407.  
  408. And they were very excited to see
  409. the meta moving more frequently, also.
  410.  
  411. Also, I just want to say how excited
  412. for the 2020 season -
  413.  
  414. which is starting soon
  415. for the Overwatch League - we all are.
  416.  
  417. So, as you can see, there are some
  418. very big changes coming to Overwatch.
  419.  
  420. As always, we are listening to you,
  421.  
  422. and if we feel like any of these things
  423. aren't working out,
  424.  
  425. well, we're always open to change
  426. and iteration.
  427.  
  428. We have that Experimental card,
  429.  
  430. we have hero pools coming to Season 21.
  431.  
  432. Now, that's not all.
  433.  
  434. As always, there's a huge
  435. anti-cheat effort going on.
  436.  
  437. It's in my best interests
  438. and the game's best interests
  439.  
  440. not to discuss the details
  441. of what's happening for anti-cheat,
  442.  
  443. but we have some major things
  444. in the next 2 patches
  445.  
  446. going in to address anti-cheat.
  447.  
  448. And, as always, all of the reports
  449. are super helpful to us.
  450.  
  451. Please keep those coming.
  452. We really love your help with anti-cheat.
  453.  
  454. We have a big Workshop update,
  455.  
  456. which we'll be releasing either
  457. a blog post or a forum post about,
  458.  
  459. so you can read all of the details there.
  460.  
  461. There are some other fun quality-of-life
  462. things coming down the pipe.
  463.  
  464. Pretty soon there's going to be
  465. some great improvements to replays.
  466.  
  467. You're going to be able to pin a replay.
  468.  
  469. So if one of your 10 replays
  470. is very special to you
  471.  
  472. and you want to save it for that patch,
  473.  
  474. you can pin it and always go back to it.
  475.  
  476. And we're working on the ability for you
  477. to share your replays with other players,
  478.  
  479. where they could play your replay
  480. in their version of Overwatch.
  481.  
  482. I think this will be really fun
  483. for content creators in particular.
  484.  
  485. You'll be able to do really cool things
  486.  
  487. with some shared replays
  488. from your communities.
  489.  
  490. I think that will be really great.
  491.  
  492. And we've got some quality-of-life
  493. improvements coming to the Career Profile
  494.  
  495. that some of you
  496. have been asking for for ages.
  497.  
  498. So, Career Profile, it's going to get
  499. a major overhaul for Overwatch 2,
  500.  
  501. but that's way further down the pipe.
  502.  
  503. That's not in the immediate future.
  504.  
  505. But for the current Overwatch game,
  506.  
  507. we want to do a light refresh
  508. of the Career Profile
  509.  
  510. and clean up some things that have been
  511. bothering a lot of us for some time.
  512.  
  513. So, in the meantime,
  514.  
  515. we're going to have some things
  516. like the ability to sort player icons
  517.  
  518. coming to the Career Profile
  519. in the next few months.
  520.  
  521. So, that's a lot of what we're working on
  522. for the live game right now.
  523.  
  524. I know you're going to give us a ton of
  525. feedback and I can't wait to hear it all.
  526.  
  527. We're really excited,
  528.  
  529. I think most of all
  530. for this Experimental card,
  531.  
  532. because it will let so many of you
  533. help us make the game better.
  534.  
  535. Thank you for everything,
  536. and let's hope we have a great 2020.
Advertisement
Add Comment
Please, Sign In to add comment
Advertisement