Overwatch Has Made Me Love Multiplayer Again

If you were to rank all of Overwatch's heroes in terms of sheer quirkiness, then Lucio might wind up claiming the top spot. A support hero with potentially devastating offensive power when used properly, everyone's favorite Brazillian DJ has the potential to completely turn the tides of battle with proper positioning and ability knowledge. His main weapon, the Sonic Amplifier, has two distinct firing modes, each mapped to a specific mouse button (or trigger for those of you playing on console).

The Sonic Amplifier's primary firing method is a close-to-medium range automatic barrage of soundwaves, and even though this weapon is relatively weak, its sheer accuracy allows for you to pick up eliminations left and right with clever aiming. Lucio's secondary fire is far more interesting, as it's a knock-back blast that operates on a cooldown, making it perfect for taking out snipers that you sneak around. On maps that feature opportunities to plummet to one's death, there's nothing more satisfying (or frustrating) than having Lucio push you off of the stage while you attempt to line up a headshot. Oh, and if you're in a situation where Roadhog, Reaper or D.Va is wreaking close-range havoc, this is an exceptionally useful skill
At the time that I'm writing this, I've completed 101 matches in Overwatch's current beta. It's affected my normally rigorous workout schedule, my level of contact with friends and family and the number of hours of sleep that I've gotten. When I booted up Overwatch short Story to pull that statistic from my Career Profile, I had to consciously force myself to exit the application in order to finish this article. Yes, I have a genuine Overwatch problem, and it's kind of the greatest thing ever.

With Overwatch, the charming hero shooter from Blizzard, launching this week, we want to make sure that you’re as prepared as possible to help your team dominate. Overwatch’s main focus is clearly on the interplay between its dynamic characters, so in order to become competent, you’ll need to understand how every character works. Throughout the week, we’ll be publishing guides on each of the twenty-one launch heroes, three at a time, with the hopes that you’ll be able to recognize certain patterns on the battlefield.
When it comes to characters with a high skill-ceiling, Zenyatta resides near the top of the list. A glass cannon with the ability to heal teammates, a good Zenyatta has the opportunity to completely shift a match in his team's favor, which is certainly a strong case for giving him a shot. Let's get his downsides out of the way right off of the bat: everyone's favorite robotic monk sports a mere 150 hitpoints and doesn't have any movement-based abilities or perks, making him an easy target when in the thick of battle. Still, his main weapon, the Orbs of Destruction, do a great deal of damage for a Support hero, as they can either be fired one-by-one with extreme accuracy, or charged up and fired (with the amount of orbs that are fired based upon how long the secondary fire button is held for). If you're the type of player that is really good at aiming your shots, consider giving Zenyatta a shot, as he is an absolute blast when played proficiently.

Perhaps it'll be a bit easier to collect my thoughts on Overwatch once the beta period is over, thus giving me a bit of time to ruminate on what has been the best surprise of my time here at Hardcore Gamer to date. Right now, I find myself stuck in a mode of childlike wonder that rarely comes along and the last thing I want to do is ruin this through academic over-analysis. I haven't had a multiplayer experience that has come along and completely enraptured me quite like this in seven years; on top of all of this, any semblance of being jaded as a result of playing too many games has all but vanished as a result of Blizzard's impeccably polished arena shooter. Since you all probably would like to see a bit of negative criticism in here to balance out the single most glowing article I've written this year, however, I'll leave you with this: I really don't like the feeling of knowing that I already need to write off hundreds of hours of my life.

When D.Va's mech is out of hitpoints, she ejects and is able to roam the stage as a quick 150 HP hero equipped with a Light Gun, which is accurate at all ranges but isn't super strong from a damage perspective. The main point of the Light Gun is not necessarily to get kills, but to survive and build up D.Va's ultimate meter in order to get a brand new mech. Unlike when her mech explodes, D.Va's default ultimate, Self-Destruct, allows her to eject from her mech, causing a massive explosion and giving her the opportunity to instantly summon another. What's more, this ultimate can be used in combination with her Boosters, creating a massive, horrifying moving explosion of destruction.

Solider: 76 is the standard first-person shooter character in Overwatch. Still, despite being a fairly normal, by-the-books character, his normalcy not only stands out in this zany cast of heroes, but it also allows him to be one of the most accessible heroes of the entire group. Equipped with the Heavy Pulse Rifle, a fully automatic assault rifle that excels at medium range, Soldier: 76 is outstanding at sitting back behind tanks and dealing massive amounts of damage. In addition to the standard firing mode, which is also super successful when shot in bursts, the Heavy Pulse Rifle also allows Solider: 76 to fire Helix Rockets, a triple-headed set of explosives that fire without an arc. Unfortunately, for as powerful as the Helix Rockets are, they have a pretty massive cooldown, so make sure that you use them only when advantageous, as you risk letting your foes know that you're without your most powerful weapon.