TL;DR: Any recommendations for a game like Overwatch that actually functions? XDefiant was promising, but it doesn’t have “roles” that don’t require shooting, so my friend got frustrated.
As it turns out, it is actually possible to make friends as an adult. Who knew?
She likes MOBAs and such, and I mostly go for shooters so Overwatch was an obvious choice.
The gameplay is fun, and it gives us both something we enjoy, but there are some glaring issues that are best described by just describing my own experience in the game.
First off, the game requires you to win 50 matches in quick play before you’re allowed in ranked. With both of us working full-time, having spouses and whatnot, and dealing with 3 random teammates, that took forever.
I finally got to ranked, she already had a rank. The game “predicted” my rank to be basically the same as hers. Even so, all that’s available are “wide matches”. Average wait time is between 20-30 minutes.
So we started a co-op campaign in Baldur’s Gate 3.
We still would like to find a competitive game to play together, so basically a functional Overwatch.
And that brings us here. Any ideas?
I kind of quit Overwatch after they sucked the soul out of it and called it a sequel. It’s not entirely a replacement, but as a fun shooter to play with friends/ family, I’ve mostly moved to playing Deep Rock Galactic. In some ways it scratches the itch: various classes/ roles, weapons, abilities, cooperation and teamwork to accomplish objectives, clicking heads and making things die, and purely cosmetic skins. It doesn’t quite have the satisfaction of a good back and forth grudge match (on account of being a PvE game), but the community is super chill, the game design about as far from predatory as you can get (while there are a handful of exclusive fomo items, it’s mostly just annual anniversary hats, or gifts to commemorate steam award nominations and such, there’s no collection interface to mock you or rub it in for not having them), and the devs are just all around great. Bonus points for being able to spin up or join missions pretty much whenever.
Same, friends and me went to DRG instead. While of course it gets rote after a whole the procedural generation helps, and it’s the chill background game to play while voice chatting that Overwatch 1 was in its early days before its balance shifted to high-end competition.
Heh… It’s not designed for it, but I’ve had some pretty grudge-like experiences joining public games, as some teammates turned out to be hostile.
To be clear, I don’t recommend that experience. It’s not fun to be antagonized with deliberate friendly fire throughout a mission, bullied by a group when you eventually shoot back, and left for dead when the ship leaves. (It’s easily avoidable by playing with friends, of course.)
Aww man I’m sorry to hear that. I can’t say I’ve ever had that experience, but hopefully it’s been the exception and not the norm for you.