I noticed today it was on sale on the PSN store for $20. The game itself always seemed neat to me, but I never got around to picking it up. With Overwatch 2 having the PVP modes transfer in to Overwatch 1 (I think?), does the game have longevity left in it?

Or...is it too late? Will I just get rolled by other players? I should note, I don't really have a group I'll be playing with, but just hopping in with randoms.

Any thoughts or suggestions or greatly appreciated!

There has. Never. Been a better time to get into Overwatch.

Seriously though, you should be able to hang in Overwatch provided you have some experience with online shooters. The community on all platforms is going pretty healthy, and like you mention the Overwatch 2 multiplayer stuff will be included with your OW1 license, so there’s no real reason to wait for the sequel.

To start, I recommend doing some matches against a bot team to get your legs. Pick one or two heroes you find interesting and learn how their abilities work, as well as their role on the team as a tank, damage, or support character. Once you have the basics down you should be more than equipped to help your team in a real match and the rest is just learning the nuances of the game. The nice thing is that Overwatch is balanced such that you rarely get stomped or spawn killed like you would in a Call of Duty, so you should have a decent enough time even as you go up in skill.

It's perfectly reasonable to get in now. Overwatch is designed to be friendly to people of all skill levels. It'll take you a bit to get used to the different characters - I'd definitely recommend trying everyone eventually (the arcade modes like Mystery Heroes can be a good way to do that, or just go into the practice room if you prefer).

The only caveat I'd make is that if you did wait for Overwatch 2 then there would probably be a bump in people playing. But we still play regularly and have no trouble getting into matches, so it's certainly still very active (across all skill brackets).

I'd say definitely stay away from ranked and try to pair up with people atleast partially familiar with the game through a Discord or something. The game doesn't tutorialize alot of the nuances so you'll want to do some research on your own with some recent beginner-friendly guides. Just go into training and find acouple characters that feel comfortable, and go from there. I know I like to flank and have some mobility, so Tracer/Genji were easy go-tos for me, Pharah was my main to focus on taking down turrets, and I got decent time in with Mercy/Lucio for when we needed supports.

I haven't played the game in acouple years at this point.

If you looking to play casually try the arcade mode - specifically 6v6 Mystery Heroes (standard objectives but everyone gets a random hero) and Hero Gauntlet (gun game but with heroes) are a ton of fun.

I would recommend starting with Training > Practice Range to try out heroes and their abilities on practice bots. Then jump into quick match.

Expect to get rolled in the competitive (rank) mode until you put in a lot of time.

It's not too late in a skill sense, but at this point I would just wait for overwtach 2.

If you haven't bought it by now, I'd assume you have never been SUPER interested in it. If I was in that position I'd feel like I could hold out for a while longer. Just my 2 cents.

I believe that Overwatch 1 and 2 will have the same pool of multiplayer modes so they don't split the playerbase, so if you're curious why not. It is a heavily team based game, so I would recommend finding some duders with the site to play with starting out, rather than trying to learn hot team strats as you go, but as long as you aren't in competitive people tend to be fine about it. Plus Halloween is coming up and that's where the best skins live.

I think it's a great time. They've made more options available in the competitive modes so you don't have to stick to strict team make ups or you can queue up for a specific role if that's your thing. I've played Overwatch a ton over the last couple years and its been a great game for me to get into heavily for a few weeks and then take a break and come back to. They have a lot of events that make you want to jump back for skins or different game types. Give it a shot! Tarheels2302 on PSN if you ever want to play.

@tarheels2302: thank you! I'll add ya next time I hop on. My PSN is getwhatyagive

I haven’t played in a long time, but I have some general thoughts.

Quick play is the way to go starting off. I had some good times in competitive, but I’ve also had bad experiences with it to the point I just said “Naw”.

While not necessarily an exact science, the hero difficulty rating can help guide new players. There’s basically two things to consider: 1) How a character plays in general, and 2) How to play then well. Here’s an example:

1) Solider 76 is a guy with a pretty accurate gun. He can also sprint, which makes him faster than some characters. They also have a rocket attack, an area of effect healing ability, and an ultimate that is basically an aim bot.

2) Because he can deal decent damage and can do some healing, they are a pretty good overall character. Since they have decent range and an accurate weapon, they are good to pick off some characters well (such as Pharah when she’s flying or other weaker characters). Their ultimate is good particularly when you have a good angle on characters with nothing blocking your way (like a tank’s shield) or when people are caught out in the open with nowhere to hide.

There’s a ton of variety, there should be a character to new people’s liking. Maybe start off with a more simple character while you are getting the hang of things. If you don’t like one character or they are not clicking for whatever reason, try somebody else. The act of getting into the game I think should be simple enough just with how many characters they have. There’s also so a few different modes between quick play, competitive, and the more gimmicky stuff that I would imagine the player base will be pretty even, even after all of these years.

If you wanna play shield simulator 2020 , sure

Was obsessed with Overwatch when it came out, played it almost religiously.

Dunno what happened that i stopped (could be related to some rage inducing stuff) but I guess I'll give a go again to see what's new.

I also just got the PS4 version after having played a fair amount of the PC version. This is what I enjoyed doing most on PC:

And if you want to avoid super serious people who yell at you for having a good time, stay out of ranked. Save that for when YOU get serious about it.

edit: Also I'm a rager and this game doesn't affect me that way. And when I do feel it coming on, I'm able to stop playing before it happens; instead of forcing myself against the grain (like in Battlefield, for example) and then literally rage quit and smash a controller.

Mystery Heroes is good to play a lot of at the beginning. In order to have success with OW you have to have a decent understanding of all the heroes' abilities, not just yours. Also, pick a hero with a lot of self-healing and escape abilities as your main to start with so that you don't die constantly. Moira, Roadhog, or Mei would be good.

For me, it was too late to play Overwatch back around the time they added Doomfist. The game was so unbearably toxic, and the content drip wasn't compelling enough. I remember being very interested in how they were going to build up the lore, but they totally backpedaled after releasing a few CGI shorts. The game has no real story, and it doesn't make sense that they're all fighting each other. I know that's just extra stuff, but also the game itself became more stressful than fun over time, whether I was winning or losing.

@shaanyboi: They don’t need to worry about ranked. Last time I played you needed to be level 25 to play ranked. By the time you hit 25 you should know most of the heroes and what is expected of ranked play.

As for if it’s cool to jump in now; totally! Overwatch is a pretty chill game and I think it’s maintained it’s accessible nature. There are people in the community who take the game too seriously and can be dicks, but that’s most games.

I've always found Overwatch easy to jump in and out of (especially on PS4 where the apparently toxic chat isn't a going concern) and as they've streamlined it, taking out other categories and whatnot, I think it's been a great boon to newcomers, but it DOES make the game a little harder to get truly good at.

The game started by treating each character more as a weapon than as an actual character, so you'd want to change and adjust your playstyle as the match went on, but that wound up being a bit much for most people (myself included) so most major patches have felt more like streamlining. Also people LIKE getting good with a single, or a few, characters, so now it feels a bit more like a fighting game with the diversity of abilities.

In that way: you not only need to know your characters, but others as well. That said: get good with at least one supporter and you'll always find your way into a group. I started with Lucio, personally, he still does decent DPS, and his passive buff/healing encourages you to learn to be maneuverable.