Editorial: Tips for new Overwatch players

Tips for new Overwatch players

          With the holiday season there always comes a rush of what I like to call the Christmas Noobs. A Christmas Noob is usually any player with a level far lower than the rest of the team and is generally less skilled due to the smaller time they’ve had playing. Overwatch is no different, so I’ve compiled a small list of a few easy tips to help new players become better at the game.

          The most important thing you can do in Overwatch is find the character that fits you best. It can seem pretty overwhelming at first, being presented with 23 entirely different characters at first with little to no knowledge of how they actually work. That’s why the first step is also the most important: before you jump right into the thick of it, make sure you take a few characters for test spins.

          A good way to do this while at the same time gaining experience for what the actual game will be like is to play matches against AI instead of using the small training map. The training map is mostly used to allow yourself to become more acquainted with the controls of the game rather than a place where you can master the characters. Several of the characters' more unique abilities won’t work on the training dummies like they would on actual heroes in-game.

          So you’ve joined up a bot match and you’ve now been presented with a hefty list of characters to choose from. What you’ll want to do is just try as many characters as possible, trying to find one that fits your preferred playstyle. Because each Overwatch character is different, it helps to know exactly what kind of character you enjoy playing. Do you prefer a low-health character that can deal a lot of damage, or a character that works better at disrupting the enemy team with turrets or traps? Maybe you like playing sniper, healer, or a giant brute with loads of health? Regardless of how you play, there’s something for everyone in Overwatch. It’s also integral to try and learn at least 2 or 3 different heroes, so you can choose a character that matches up with the current objective. For example, Torbjorn is terrible at playing offensively, but he excels in Defense mode. Knowing more than one character guarantees that you have more options to choose from depending on the current situation.

          Once you’ve figured out which character is your favourite, it’s time to enter your first match. In Quick Play, only one of each character is allowed per team, and while I would recommend for higher level players that have mastered more characters to wait until others have chosen to pick a character that matches up with the rest of the team composition, for new players that don’t know as many characters, I’d actually recommend grabbing whichever character you know the most first to ensure you’re not stuck running around trying to learn a brand new character while trying to hold a point at the same time. It’s also vital you take note of any yellow notice bars to the right of the screen that will notify you of any problems with your team composition (“Too Many Snipers” and “No Healers” are common ones) and try to pick a character that matches up with whatever is currently missing from the team.

          One final tip is one that Overwatch itself never tells you and is something that I only discovered while playing one day. Sometimes you’ll find that the character you’re playing is, for whatever reason, just not working for whatever you’re trying to do. If that’s the case, you can return to your spawn point and switch. While this is a normal occurrence in Overwatch, there is one important thing you need to remember before you switch: your Ultimate ability. If you don’t know, each character has an Ultimate ability, a gamebreaking superpower one-off move that often turns the tide of battle. It’s vitally important to use a character’s ultimate before you change, because whenever you switch the Ultimate meter is automatically set back to 0% and you’ve gotta build it up all over again. I usually say that if the meter is at 75% or more, try to wait to use whatever your Ultimate is and switch after you’ve fired it off. It might mean life or death for your entire team.

          Those are just a few little tips that might help you new players be better at Overwatch, and maybe a few things that older players don’t know yet. All in all though, please remember that it’s just a game that’s meant to be fun for everyone, and try to be patient with anyone less skilled than you. Overwatch is a game all about team work, and if the team doesn’t work together, that payload is never gonna get moved.

Song of the Week

          Christmas may be over, but that’s not stopping me from using the Overwatch Christmas main menu theme this week! The event was called “Winter Wonderland” after all, and last I checked it was still winter.