Another Game Down

[Solarian]

I always like to keep my options open, keep my eyes peeled for something that might be fun while I wait for Star Citizen to come along. I am a relatively new backer- but that wasn't because I wasn't excited for the game, I had just spent my gaming money elsewhere.

I decided to change all of that and dedicate myself to Star Citizen and stop putting money out to all these random games that I play for a week and quit.

Enter Overwatch.

Like many people, I guessed it would be free to play. Nope. And from the looks of it they will end up charging for new heroes in the future too.

All of this might be premature, but This Is Proof Enough For Me.

 

[Azmodeth]

huh, never heard of this title.

 

[vindslav]

It was unrealistic to assume that they were going to release it as F2P. It would have been nice, but there would have been no way for the company to make money off it as they have pretty much ruled out asthetic customisation. They don't want to go down the hats route of TF2, so an entry fee to, I suppose, pay for the servers. As far as I can see, Blizzard will be hosting, (Blizzcon 2014 Q&A) and nothing so far about being able to privately host, which they kinda skirted around when they were asked about.

A big surprise though is that it is going to be on PS4 and Xbone as well, that is interesting, especially for Blizzard. I suppose Diablo established their intent, still a surprising move.

 

[Solarian]

I was expecting something along the lines of HOTS or moba's in general.

The game IS more of a Moba - in first person shooter mode.

 

[Serious Table]

No, the game's closer to TF2, they've just added additional abilities through a character kit, instead of giving each class/hero 3 weapons. It's not very far divorced from TF2 at all. The FPS that's more like a MOBA is Battleborn.

I'm thinking it still looks like it could go F2P, considering the box they're selling sounds like a founder's pack; the exact same thing happened for Heroes of the Storm. But, we'll find out today.

 

[vindslav]

Yeah, time will tell but I honestly do not see a problem with an entry fee.
I find it odd that people have become so expectant of games to be F2P, which is a model to get a person in, so you can try it and then, if you like it, spend a stupid amount of money on (hopefully) things that do not effect the game itself. Blizzard does not have anything to prove. They are well known for making games that, although not unique in concept, are extremely polished and well executed. $60 to gain access to a game, and access to developer hosted servers appears to me like a really damn good price.

Not all games should be on a F2P model, and I think people should stop expecting it.

Now, if you want to complain about prices, the Virtual Ticket, for fucks sake, what the actual fuck is going on there? Every year, 'oh, you can't get to Anaheim? What a shame, we will take an entry fee anyway' How many years has it been now, and people with active accounts still don't get a freebie? They refer to Blizzcon as a gift to the fans, that gift is just cash on fucking delivery! Bastards, fuck it, I want the Ilidan pet...

 

[Serious Table]

$60 to get access to a multiplayer-only online FPS is an absolutely outrageous price, especially considering the games that the game is going to compete against are already Free-to-play.

If the cost of the game itself is actually more reasonable, say $20, then I'd be happy to pay that without an issue. And expecting Overwatch to be Free to play isn't that outrageous, either: look at the trend Blizzard is currently establishing with their most recent releases: Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, all eSports friendly and all free to play. And I've heard that Hearthstone is having an absolutely stupid amount of success. They seem to be pushing eSports very heavily of late, with fully-produced competitions and shows about 3v3 arena and 6v6 Rated Battlegrounds for WoW, the Hearthstone tournies that have been running, Heroes of the Storm evolving into a big eSports presence, and now we have Overwatch, which is just asking to become one.

Blizzard has nothing to prove, but they're a company that likes to make money. Putting Overwatch at $60 is not the move of a developer that knows how to make money.

 

[Solarian]

$60 to get access to a multiplayer-only online FPS is an absolutely outrageous price, especially considering the games that the game is going to compete against are already Free-to-play.

This pretty much TLDR it for me.

Blizzard has said they like the free to play model, they have a pair of very successful games using the model - the real question is why they changed for Overwatch.

Oh that's right. Consoles - those fucking things.

 

[JBWill]

$60 to get access to a multiplayer-only online FPS is an absolutely outrageous price, especially considering the games that the game is going to compete against are already Free-to-play.

Not disagreeing with your point, but it's $40. The $60 price point is the "Origins Edition" which comes with assorted extras. Pricey (probably pricey enough to keep me from buying it) but not nearly as outrageous as, for example, Titanfall.

 

[Solarian]

Not disagreeing with your point, but it's $40. The $60 price point is the "Origins Edition" which comes with assorted extras. Pricey (probably pricey enough to keep me from buying it) but not nearly as outrageous as, for example, Titanfall.

40 or 60 is, in my opinion, just too high of a price point for a game that is competing in a market where there are free to play options available. If they dropped that to 20 it may have been reasonable (for the standard) 40 for the deluxe.

 

[JBWill]

40 or 60 is, in my opinion, just too high of a price point for a game that is competing in a market where there are free to play options available. If they dropped that to 20 it may have been reasonable (for the standard) 40 for the deluxe.

I don't disagree that $40 is too much, just pointing out that it's way less unreasonable than many have been claiming :)

Personally I'd consider $30 a fair price - to their credit despite it being online only there does seem to be a decent amount of content and everything I've heard thus far points towards them not charging for future heroes.

 

[Solarian]

I don't disagree that $40 is too much, just pointing out that it's way less unreasonable than many have been claiming :)

Personally I'd consider $30 a fair price - to their credit despite it being online only there does seem to be a decent amount of content and everything I've heard thus far points towards them not charging for future heroes.

Regardless, I am done with them. I will play hearthstone, maybe throw a game of HOTS in there. But aside from that I am done.

 

[vindslav]

$60 to get access to a multiplayer-only online FPS is an absolutely outrageous price, especially considering the games that the game is going to compete against are already Free-to-play.

If the cost of the game itself is actually more reasonable, say $20, then I'd be happy to pay that without an issue. And expecting Overwatch to be Free to play isn't that outrageous, either: look at the trend Blizzard is currently establishing with their most recent releases: Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, all eSports friendly and all free to play. And I've heard that Hearthstone is having an absolutely stupid amount of success. They seem to be pushing eSports very heavily of late, with fully-produced competitions and shows about 3v3 arena and 6v6 Rated Battlegrounds for WoW, the Hearthstone tournies that have been running, Heroes of the Storm evolving into a big eSports presence, and now we have Overwatch, which is just asking to become one.

Blizzard has nothing to prove, but they're a company that likes to make money. Putting Overwatch at $60 is not the move of a developer that knows how to make money.

It is a different genre, and despite the fact that the Blizz fanbois and girls will still flock to it like the zealots they are, the game really is trying to appeal more outwards to the people who are currently looking at Battlefront, and if you wish to stick with the Blizzard title arguement, then look at Starcraft, a game with the same sale model, which is also presented as an esport title. The only real difference between Starcraft and Overwatch in this sense is that SCII has a campaign, but it also has a higher pricetag to match it.
They announced today that they are bringing out skin customisations, 5 being with the Origin pack. This game has a line up of 21, and if you go off what the lead designer is stating, they are not extending that line up, as such, being dependant on the inflow of cash generated by additional game assets like Hearthstone, or the adoration of asthetic customisation in Heros, is somewhat out of the question. A $40 or $60 entry fee, for a AAA title, with in house servers is really not a bad deal, and from what it seems, the only future content a player will have to purchase is the skins, not future maps, which I very much hope they stick with. If you see this as an affront, meh, so be it, but a $20 pricetag on a game that will have in house servers is just a stupid business model, and the games that get away with it are those that have servers hosted by third parties.

I am just going to throw this out there, but the $40 entry fee, is $10 cheaper than the season passes for both CoD and Battlefront.

 

[Liszt]

They want to focus more on new modes and expanding gameplay over creating new heros. 21 Heroes with various abilities in a FPS is a lot. I do not see new heros coming into the fray anytime soon. Multiplayer FPS games need some sort of barrier to entry, whether it is a paywall or something else is not my decision. If you have an unlimited amount of people funneling into a FPS game, cheats become a problem that brings a community to its knees (At least in FPS games).

The gameplay has been reviewed over and over. The movement is phenomenal and the skills are fairly balanced, so far. Stop judging a game when it has a July release date. Also, Blizzard said that they would be doing an Open beta test weekend at some point. You do not need to buy the game to try it out. Reserve judgement and be patient.

/rant

 

[Solarian]

I will not pay for a game like that. It's a placeholder, not a game I would play for long term. Regardless of game play.