Why I'm not playing Overwatch... Anymore

Excuse the clickbait-y title, but it's a question I find myself asking myself a lot lately, more accurately, since the Lunar New Year Event and now even more so with Brigitte's release. I've had a lot of games on my mind. But even though I love Overwatch, it hasn't occurred to me, for almost over a month now, that I should pop back in for a looksee.

Who's Brigitte you ask? This girl right here.

I play 5 of the 7 Blizzard titles in Battle.net (oops, Blizzard App) right now, and the only two I'm not playing are World of Warcraft (WOW) and Starcraft Remastered. So I've experienced Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone and Overwatch. Overwatch being special because I actually tried it on the Free to Play Weekend before actually making the purchase.

A list of Blizzard's current franchises on the Blizzard App

But out of the 5 that I have in my games library, I only find myself gravitating towards Heroes of the Storm (HotS) and just recently again, Diablo 3 (D3), after a 2 season hiatus. But never Overwatch. (Starcraft's a longer story but the TL:DR of it revolves around personal incompetence and the difficulty to maintain a high enough APM, self-loathing and multitasking problems. Why?

So here's what I've gotten to so far, after long, pondering sessions on the toilet seat (TMI, I know but not untrue) and multiple thinking gifs to demonstrate the amount of time I spent thinking about this subject, here's what I've gotten so far.

Just a heads up, I'll be using HotS and D3 a lot for comparison because I know those franchises a lot but just to shake things up, I'll also use Counter Strike Global Offensive (CSgo), to the degree of knowledge I have about it, as a game for comparison as well.

Player Incentives - Progression and Unlockables

What Overwatch lacks is the features that bring the player back to game daily, features which other games include in the form of Daily Quests and so on. The only form of progression you have, at the time of this post, is leveling up your account, which by doing so awards you a single, measly, loot box.

How it feels like after opening box after box of disappointments

You could also include the seasonal currency you get that allows you to purchase gold weapons but I've tried competitive in HotS and almost burned myself out of the game so I'll leave competitive to the players that actually go for that kind of thing and enjoy it.

And what do you get from that one measly loot box after leveling up?

4 cosmetic items with a 18.2% chance for Epic items and 7.4% chance for Legendary items. Which by the standards of the last Overwatch Anniversary Event means you have a 1.85% chance of getting the skin you want cause all of them are legendary (this isn't even including the probability of getting those legendaries in the sea of all the other legendaries), which are mostly what people want from the Loot Boxes anyway. And you only level up after playing 5 extremely long games, which take around 15-20 minutes per game, if not, you have to play up to 10 games, should your matches last between 5-15 minutes. Pair this with salty or foul-mouthed players that are pros at the blame game, the very apparent performance gap you and your teammates have against your opponents and unfair 5 vs 6 matches you'll have due to a missing teammate, there's only so much a person can take TO LEVEL UP ONCE. All for working towards a box whose contents you have no control over.

me, 100%

In Heroes of the Storm, you have a main account level, just like in Overwatch, each individual hero you use has their own level as well, the more you use a hero, the more they level up. Each time a hero levels up, you're awarded a Loot Chest (Overwatch - Box, HotS - Chest) and your account levels up as well, so your account level is the cumulative level of all the heroes in your roster. The difference here is that HotS also has Daily Quests, which once you complete award you Gold which you can use to buy new heroes. Daily Quests are what bring the players coming back day after day, and as your completing your daily quests, you're leveling up your heroes along the way. AND you can reroll bad Loot Chests using your hard earned Gold, which also gives you more incentive to check in every day. 

Overwatch's Lunar New Year Event

Overwatch's main attraction, which brought even yours truly back for a year or so, are different events based around real world celebrations or in-game crucial moments. The latest example would be the Lunar New Year Event for Year of the Dog. During which, new or unique limited time game modes are introduced as well as new limited time in game items are available which can be obtained from... LOOTBOXES!!! Overwatch allows you to buy specific items you want with Credits (or Coins), an in-game currency you get by getting duplicates from Loot Boxes. But for these limited time items, the cost is tripled that of a normal one of the same rarity. And should you get a duplicate of the event item, you're awarded the same amount of Credits as a normal item. Sure you get ONE complimentary Loot Box, courtesy of the Overwatch Team, but really, how much does that really add in the long scheme of things?

wait... Whut?

The incentives available in Overwatch to keep a person playing are very little, and the main events that are supposed to help with attracting players to continue playing do nothing to solve this problem. HotS uses a much more organic approach, by providing small, incremental rewards that keep a player engaged and invested. And these in-game items have no effect whatsoever in how well your character plays, they are simply cosmetic items that allow you as a user to customize the character to how you see fit. Seems very trivial, I know, but as Dota 2 and CSgo have proven, it's a lucrative business model.

Overwatch's Business Model

Heroes of the Storm's Business Model

Here's a diagram of how the business models of both games look. In Overwatch, there is very little you can work for as compared to HotS, which, judging by how interwoven the different currencies and ways of obtaining them are, makes playing Heroes of the Storm more rewarding. AND HOTS IS THE FREE-TO-PLAY GAME HERE.

Speaking of cosmetic items (nice segue, I know, I'm working on it)

Visibility and Accessibility of Cosmetic Items

Cosmetic items are what drive players to invest hundreds of hours on Loot Box hunting, they are a form of reward players get for their hours spent on a game. But for a game like Overwatch, you hardly get to look at the character skin you worked so hard for in game. The only times you get to the see the full skin while playing are when you die (which is from the person who killed you's point of view) and if you a get the play of game. Everyone else sees your hard-earned skin all the time you're in their vision range. 

One of my favourite Mercy skins, but also which I sadly do not own

This applies to Highlight Intros as well, since it only plays if you get Play of the Game, if you're a support player, that means no Highlight Intros like 99.9% of the time. Sprays are also hardly visible as there are so many different levels on Overwatch and so many facades, it's hard to notice which wall has a spray on it. That being said, a well-placed spray is still funny when you do actually stumble upon it.

... then back to salt

So I've selected the skin...

But I don't see most of it

In Heroes of the Storm, because of how the game is, you can constantly see skin you chose. The effects and such are always visible, and though I don't constantly go ohhh and ahhh at the changed effect or skin, there are those moments when I hearth back to base, I sit back and admire the amount of work put into the design of the skin which lead to me grinding to get it for myself.

Skin's right there

The same goes for sprays as well, it's laid out, on the ground for everyone to see. Banners too, which ultimately remind the players what they lack and then as they've worked hard to obtain it, the reward of their labours.

You plant a Banner if you capture a camp or objective, and it even has you name on it!

Sprays are there for all to see, completely visible for a duration of time, and I'm not including mounts

But Heroes is played from a birds eye view, Overwatch is from a first person point of view, these differences don't apply. Indeed they don't but the fact that it exists doesn't help Overwatch's case. Now compare Overwatch to CSgo, the same point of views and visibility but CSgo allows players to buy and sell skins they don't use. Which adds another method of acquisition for players that can't splurge on 50 Loot Boxes in one sitting. When you allow different and simpler avenues for players to get what they want, it encourages them to work towards it, given it's not as steep of a climb. 

Glad to know I can spend 10 cents or 300 dollars on a skin

I have to admit, being able to spend 8 cents on a cosmetic item in Dota 2 was what got me buying different in game items, which when you add up how much I've spent in total, it could easily amount to around 30 ringgit OR MORE. Now I'm not saying that Overwatch is bad for making the skins not visible and such, but the point I'm making here is that the visibility of the item affects how much the players want it. In order to counter this, they have to give players other ways of obtaining the skin.

Amount of In-Game Content

As a game that costs as much as it does, it should have other game modes that cater towards the single player experience. Because all games now require an always-on internet connection, to combat pirating and whatnot, I'm going to let that one slide. But Overwatch's primary gameplay experience revolves around its multiplayer experience, so there's very little you can do if you're on your own.

you, if you're looking for single player content

Overwatch delivers a solid multiplayer experience, don't get me wrong, but it's those times where that multiplayer aspect fails where the other features come into play to keep you enjoying the game. A game mode where all you have to focus on is the growth of one character you love and not care about what other people do, progression. Something that Diablo 3 definitely delivers. 

The game allows you to collect items and level up your character, and you keep at it, simply because you know you can get your character to a better spot,

better damage,

and better gear.

If not, give them goals to work towards, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, in small increments within arms reach. A reason to keep playing the game they first fell in love with and wasted 2 days of their life, not doing anything productive in the real world because of the free to play weekend. Opening each loot box, watching with glee at the new skins they got to equip. Spending the first few Credits they got on a colour variation for a character they really connected with just because they liked the character that much. Entering a game with teammates all going through the same thing and treating each other nicely, because no one had ranks back then, everyone was just starting out. And how everyone just cheered when a teamfight went perfectly with 5 strangers you didn't know but all came together because they enjoyed the game so much.

But then again, how could you think Overwatch would have single player content? Like have you seen the posters?

There's no "I" in Overwatch, *checks Overwatch* Oh, thank god

So I'm not going to play Overwatch for now, but if there's anything I've learned from playing Overwatch, you'll just have to wait and see. Because things could always take a turn for the better.

THAT'S ALL AND HAVE FUN PLAYING THE GAMES YOU ENJOY!!!

Reminiscing and Graduation

Finally, after 4 (and a half) years, I'm done with my Architecture Degree~ And though it was really tough, like seriously, if you dunno what to take and you're a person that hates working constantly, don't take architecture... I've got to hand it to my friends for helping me get through it, so to repay them, I'm going to post dumb photos I managed to capture of my friends in this post. Because that's how you repay friends, especially close ones, you post dumb photos of them, all conveniently in one post, online, ready for blackmail in the near future. But I love them so they'll forgive me even though I literally labeled the album "Dumb Photos of Friends" (right guys?). Let the shaming commence!

Semester 3:

Some of the few photos I have of my old studiomates, we were doing our assignment for Engineering Survey, where we learned about Land Surveying and Geomatics.

There's Aiman, and we're at the jetty waiting to go on to boat to explore the river and see the eagles feeding and rock formations.

This is us on the boat doing the thing I said we were going to do.

My friends on the other boat and we were acting like we were racing to see who's first even though we weren't the ones driving the boat.

We went to Kilim Geoforest Park in Langkawi then Datai but I dunno where the other photos are =(

Semester 4:

Because our project was based around Tea, our lecturer brought us to a Tea House in KL so inquire about tea and methods of preparation.

Yeah, we sat down anywhere we could and acted like we owned the place but we didn't buy anything because it was expensive, haha

And there's Aiman again!

Because it was Tea, of course, for our studio trip we HAD to go to Cameron Highlands to the BOH Tea Plantation, there's Coet looking all deep and stuff gazing into the landscape.

We wanted to capture experiences, hence, sketching and taking photographs

I just got a new camera before this semester, hence the selfie with Syafiq and Ain

... and Azim Malik

Dell and Farah doing I'm not so sure what anymore

Ain with her photogenic scarf demonstrating the difficulty in navigating the hilly terrain, and workers climb this plantation everyday!

When night came, we planned to do a barbeque but since it took a while to cook, we ended up posing and taking photos, the lighting and the smoking made everyone look extra bad***

The next day we went to visit the BOH Tea Plantation, they had a factory, a walk through the history of BOH and a tea house (which was what we were gonna design). Andy, Rose, Faris, Ain and Jimmy all wanted to be in the shot.

I asked everyone if I had to bring a sketchbook, they all said no, so I didn't bring a sketchbook, then what happens? They all take out sketchbooks and draw.

Our third and last day in Cameron, we visited a park which names escapes me and I was taking pictures of the flowers when these three came along.

I thought this was embarrassing photos of friends but oh well.

When all was said and done, we displayed our work, and I wanted to take a photo of it, at least that's what I wanted to do, then these two came along, hahahaha.

Yasmin intended to take a "sleeping duck face" photo and I wanted to document the photo taking process, hence, this photo.

When I had free time or wanted to ask for extra advice, I'd come to meet these cool people, there's Nurin, the only one invested in the photo taking.

This was taken near the end of my 4th semester, I was lying on the bed resting before packing my things when my stuff fell on my face, so what do you do? Take a picture.

Semester 5:

For Semester 5, we went to Pangkor for our project which was a Tourist Information Center.

Boat ride pic with Zarith Lisa caught on camera.

We wanted a bite to eat so a camera magically appeared and we casually all looked at the camera at the same time and someone happened to press the shutter button (yeah, that's exactly what happened)

It was a 30 minute boat ride, and everyone wanted a picture of them at the edge of the boat so I had to take a snap ;)

Including yours truly =D

When we finally reached our chalet, we went for a walk along the beach and found a tree with hammocks.

Not a bad way to watch the sunset, I might add.

Semester 7:

Semester 6 was when I went for industrial training so I there weren't many photos of the different places I went, for Semester 7 we went to Kuching, so there's bound to be some photos of that!

We were out and about doing our site study and I wanted to take a photo and Yasmin's like "Curse you!" and Dell's like "I don't care..."

To get from the waterfront to Kampung Gersik, we took a boat to ferry us across the river (which was the quickest way)

The next day, we went to the Cultural Village, and Aiman told me her love of Skittles, because that's totally related to culture and we're always gonna be able to go to the Cultural Village but we'll only get Skittles in Sarawak #priorities

Obligatory selfie on the traditional Iban Kampung House balcony.

Coet and Hanis ready for a quick photoshoot.

Syafiq and Nik on the bus so I took a picture because why not?

During our free time, we went for walks along the waterfront, so I took a photo of Lisa and Wani while I was at it.

Back in our faculty in Puncak Alam, when you let your friend look at your phone and they decide to test the front camera.

Syafiq was lying down on the floor because that's what you do when you have nothing even though your work is piling up so I was like, "Let's eternalize this image!"

Man a lot happened during my 7th Semester, we went to visit Tasblock for our Construction Technology Course and it was 12 noon so everyone was hogging the shade provided by that wall.

Close up to what you might have seen if you looked real close, I appreciate our friendship Nikky, just throwing it out there, for no apparent reason.

Ain and Coet were "matchy matchy" so *snap*

The three of us went out from afternoon to night, from Sunway to Ikea just to release stress from our workload. Sunway happened to have Lego versions of characters to rest our hands on.

Me trying to contain my joy from seeing all the food at Ikea

Because I went out the whole day, when I came back my car was clamped for parking in the student parking... yeap, it's illegal. So my friends had to send me all the way to my dorm on top of driving all the way back to their house at 11pm at night.

The next day, all of us waiting for our cars to be unclamped.

Our other trip to Ikea, Coet and Ajay thought wearing fur rugs passed as wearing fur coats.

I was in my 7th Semester, they were in their 8th so I wouldn't be able to see them again next semester =(   Lisa, Anna, Sam and Darrell

Miss you guys!!!

Farah forcing people to take ice cream because we had already bought a bunch and didn't want it to go to waste.

The mascots for our event, (from the left) Khalid, Ain, Coet and Farah

Semester 7 was probably my favourite semester, it was great meeting everyone again after our one semester apart.

Semester 8:

Semester 8 was more grounded, we didn't go anywhere far for our field trips because the lecturer wanted us to make frequent visits to our site, so it had to be somewhere easily accessible. The furthest we ventured was Putrajaya. Farah and Alia on the rooftop.

This University building had a green roof so we all took the opportunity to take pictures. Aishah and Nurin.

Around this time was Ramadhan, the fasting month so this was one of our Sahur (meal before the fast) sessions before the day. Nik, Syafiq and Khalid in the shot.

Semester 8 was a tough one, so after our Crit Session, Jimmy decided to take a nap, under the table.

To celebrate Aniq's birthday, we gathered at Domino's before he arrived, and because it took a while, I took photos, Dell doesn't care, Farah has strong feelings, Syafiq's talking to Nik and Jimmy's just staring at me... Dunno why tho.

Graduation:

Then, 1 year later, after all that happened, I would go back to Shah Alam for my graduation.

I managed to take a photo before we entered the hall, although a bit blurry. Me, Hanis and Yan

I went to grab my parents so my mum took this picture after.

And.... the photo shoot I missed, but I don't care, as long as I have a picture of you guys to remember and look back on whenever I feel like it, without you guys, I dunno if I'd ever survive those 4 years. Thanks guys!! And we should totally hang out whenever I go to KL! =D

That's all and have fun with your friends! You'll never know when you'll get to see them again!!!