A year ago, I wrote a blog about my experience with the game after about two months, as it was my first FPS in almost 15 years. I've been playing it regularly for over a year now, and I wanted to revisit the subject, and see if my perception of the game has evolved.
The short answer is that I've come to appreciate the competitive side of the game, and that I still generally enjoy playing Overwatch, despite my extremely limited skill level. The long answer, if you're interested, will be developed below.
A year ago, I expressed my difficulty in finding a main I could use effectively, and it was in trying out Mercy that I finally found my character. 1 year later, and I've become one of the types of player the fanbase hates the most: the Mercy One-Trick + Heal Bot.
The fact is, I'm still extremely bad at aiming at my opponent. I can't anticipate well and my reaction time to what the opponent is doing is too bad. Mercy is the character who allows me to be the most effective, because I can be a good helper for my teammates without being the person who has to do the most kills. .
I feel I've found a better balance between boosting and healing, and I'm trying to reduce my tendency to throw myself headfirst into reviving a friend, but sometimes it's hard to resist the temptation. I think I'm better at it though. I think I've got a better grasp of movement with her, not perfect but it gets the job done. My main fault is that, in an effort to keep up with my team-mates, I tend to find myself open and an easy target for the opposing team.
I still like to take on the Widowmakers in a duel, but I can also help kill tanks by using the glock. Ah, and the Sombras... yeah, I hate facing a Sombra now. They're usually the people that ruin my fun in the game.
Competitively, I'm regularly Gold 1-2. I've gone Platinum for a while now, but Gold is my level. If I were more adept with my shooting I think I could stabilize at Plat 4-5, but that's probably never going to happen.
Mercy is also the character with whom I have the most skins, including my only mythic skin, as well as jade and gold variations of the character's weapons. I'm definitely a one-dimensional Overwatch player, and I don't know if that's ever going to change to be honest.
What happens when Mercy isn't available? Well to begin with I'm a net negative for the team, and I'm that annoying guy who asks the person playing Mercy if she can switch which makes the whole team hate me because they suspect what kind of player I am BUT I have a few characters I try to play anyway.
On the healer side, I've got Lucio or... yeah I'm probably a bronze with Lucio? I don't know, I can't seem to position myself well or move around with him, which is vital for a character as mobile as he is. I think I'll have to take a while to learn the character, maybe see some online tutorials, but right now my level with the character is terribly low.
In of DPS, I have two main options: Bastion and Torbjörn. Bastion, it’s pretty simple, but the grenade and gatling are very satisfying for me to use. As for Torbjörn, his turret covers my aiming shortcomings... but you see the problem, don't you? How can I play a DPS effectively... if I can't aim? Well, the answer is simple: I can't. I know it's a personal problem, the characters themselves aren't bad, it's me that is. I've never really tried the comp as a DPS, but I guess I must be somewhere in bronze 2-3 in there, maybe lower.
For tanks, Reinhardt remains an option I use regularly. I've also rediscovered a desire to play D.Va. From time to time, I play Orisa, and for a while, I also had Roadhog, which I liked to use. As the tank role depends less (usually) on aiming, it's one I feel more comfortable playing than DPS.
Having said that, I have this annoying tendency to dive into the pile without being well aligned with my teammates when I'm playing tank, a fault I'm trying to correct when I'm playing the role. I sometimes have good matches as a D.Va, but that's usually when I'm playing with my friends and we can coordinate better. At best, I need to be Silver 5 as a tank, but I'm probably bronze if I play that role.
I'm always someone who prefers to play in open queue quick play games. If I'm feeling up to it, I'll try competitive games, usually in open queue too. The chaos offered by games without defined roles is something I find particularly entertaining, although the times when I find myself in games with 3-4 tanks are parts that are very unpleasant. I don't understand people who can have a good time with this kind of configuration.
Maybe I'm a masochist, but I like being the only healer on the team, I find it's where I play best. Keeping an eye on my 4 teammates, scouring the battlefield while avoiding enemy attacks, alternating between boosting and healing, gives me a lot of satisfaction.
I play role queue quick play games from time to time, and even if I don't find it as exciting, it's still Overwatch, so I can have a good time with it. Mystery characters? Given my lack of versatility, playing this mode is a very bad idea for me.
There were various events, but I'd say that Mirrorwatch was my favorite, because the new powers brought to the characters made the games a lot of fun in my opinion, and I wouldn't mind if certain powers were brought back for characters in the normal game, like the shield for Widowmaker for example.
I still don't have a favorite mode or map, honestly. Whether it's Escort, Control, Hybrid, Push, Flashpoint or Clash, I'm more or less guaranteed the same level of personal satisfaction.
I always try to be polite to my opponents. I always say “glhf” before each game, and I say “gg wp” after each game... except when I see that the opponent is toxic... Well, I say that, I sometimes do fake innocence in this guy, saying “gg wp, even you ______”. Sometimes I get insults here and there, but generally players are nice to me when I'm nice to them. And even when someone is horrible to me, I'm at a stage where it doesn't really bother me anymore.
That said, my experience with non-gaming fandom is very limited. I watch very few Youtubers talking about the game, I don't talk to fans on Twitter, Reddit or other networks. So I don't really have any positive or negative experience of it, and I don't know if it's a good thing that I keep my distance so much.
Overwatch 2 is the only free game I've ever spent money on... well, that was for the Mercy Breast Cancer awareness skin, but there you go, I can't say another free game has grabbed me as much as this one. Apart from that, I refuse to put any money into the game... not that I have a lot of money to spend, but that's another story.
So I've been playing the game for a year now, and I don't intend to stop. It's a game I love immensely, despite the fact that I'm not particularly good at it or that it's a genre I'm a fan of. I hope I can do better and improve, but even if I can't, I think I'll still be around for years to come.
Comments (1)
As long as you're having fun, that's all that matters.