Overwatch beta returns today

Thrax

1. Anyone that was previously in the beta still has access. Note: access to the 3-day free weekend doesn't count. You had to be in the actual beta last round for that to carry forward.
2. New beta invitations are being sent. Check the Battle.net app and see if you can install Overwatch; don't wait for an email--it may never come.
3. All stats have been reset.
4. Private matches are now possible. Yes, Icrontians vs. Icrontians.
5. Game now has a king of the hill mode. One conflict point per 3 rounds; best of 3 wins. This format is called Control.
6. There are two control maps.
7. New experience gain: vanity item rewards. #hats
8. All heroes generate ult charge at a slow and constant rate, now.
9. Some other crap.

BUT IT'S BACK.

dark_arches

I'm convinced I'm just not going to get a beta invite. I find it a little annoying that I attended Blizzcon the past two years and signed up at both demos and still no beta.

EDIT: Got my invite minutes ago. No longer bitter.

RahnalH102

Booted up PC a couple minutes ago.
Left to get a drink.
Come back to my rig all ready to go.
Continue new habit of checking Overwatch section for install button.
IT'S THERE!!
Proceed to internet to share fangasm.
Excitement dies down a bit when I remember it will be awhile for me to download it.

DontCallMeKelso

@RahnalH102 said:
Booted up PC a couple minutes ago.
Left to get a drink.
Come back to my rig all ready to go.
Continue new habit of checking Overwatch section for install button.
IT'S THERE!!
Proceed to internet to share fangasm.
Excitement dies down a bit when I remember it will be awhile for me to download it.

That was a roller coaster ride of emotion

dark_arches

As a side note. There are a lot of Icrontians of whom I am not battle.net friends with so feel free to add me darkarches#1556

UPSLynx

Played a few hours last night (SO GOOD TO BE BACK), few things I noticed.

The balance changes are awesome, but boy, they're gonna take some getting used to. The game feels much more even now, where as before there were certain heroes that, when put into play, pretty much guaranteed a win for the team using them. Here's the biggest tweaks I noticed:

• Torbjorn's turret got a MAJOR nerf. Previously, you'd collect scrap metal and upgrade his turret from lvl 1, to 2, to finally 3. Exactly like TF2. Before the patch, dug in defense with a level 3 turret would be impossible to overcome without drastic measures (like a dive in ult or something to that effect). Post-patch, a level 3 turret can only be achieved with Torbjorn's ult, and it's only active while the ult is active. So once your ult comes to an end, the turret goes back to level 2. This works incredibly well, as it forces you to save your strongest turret for clutch moments. Also, it frees up your scrap metal for deploying armor, which never happened pre-patch because players wanted to spend all their scrap on the turret.
• Mei has been buffed and it's awesome. Previously, she felt like she was 100% crowd control with no actual offense. Now, she is a formidable fighter.
• D.Va feels weaker, but I can't confirm that with evidence. Her primary attack doesn't seem as effective as before, and her ult (where she nukes her mech) seems either weaker or has a smaller area of effect. She's still viable though, so shrug emoji.
• Mercy's ult finally feels like it works the way it should. Pre-patch, they were tweaking it one way or another, and it seems like now they've found a perfect balance. She now casts it very quickly, but needs to be stationary for a beat while she casts it. Those being revived will then go into a stasis for about 3 seconds before they spawn back in. This gives them a chance to collect themselves, also gives the enemy a chance to notice and adapt. It works well without feeling OP.
• Reaper doesn't feel like the one man team OP machine he used to. Good. Unfortunately, Hanzo is a problem.
• It seems very difficult now for support players to hit the top four scoreboard at the end of the round. Previously, I'd scoreboard playing Mercy just with revives alone, but I've yet to do that since. Dunno if they tweaked it, or if I'm just rusty, but it definitely seems more difficult.

More stuff. And the unlock system RULES. Very happy with how they've implemented it.

The King of the Hill mode is a lot of fun. It sets up games for really close finishes, and it's been a blast to play the few matches I got in on it.

I'm thrilled with these updates. They're hitting all of the right beats with this game so far.

RahnalH102

Whenever I get into a new Blizzard game, I like for "the little things" that Blizz always puts in. It's my personal way of judging if Blizzard put in their genuine effort into the game. Just a sort of personal seal I expect them to put on their stuff. I've found tons so far, and I haven't gone past the practice stage. The sprays referencing both another Blizzard IP and a famous 3rd party game series are my fav so far.