This year's Blizzcon may have been a bit different than Blizzcons of years gone by, but it still brought about a wealth of information about upcoming Blizzard releases, including Overwatch 2 and a potential for AI teammates. This is great news, if true, for players of the game who prefer to fly solo, rather than in a group, an option not available in the original Overwatch.
Blizzard's massively successful MOBA first hit PCs and consoles back in 2016, and was met with near-universal critical acclaim. Praise was largely levied at Overwatch's replayability value, its ever-expanding and comparatively diverse cast of characters, and its approachability for players of every skill level, thanks to its ranking systems. But while the game's developers intended for players to always participate in teams of other human players, that practice did cause a number of issues that are more or less impossible to satisfactorily address. Gamers who couldn't fill a six-person team with their own friends were put into games with complete strangers — strangers who could leave in the middle of a round, leading to a major disadvantage for their team, or strangers who could be potentially toxic or offensive in chat, which diminishes the experience for everyone involved.
While Blizzard is working to address those issues, particularly concerning toxicity in chat, it doesn't take away from the fact that a pretty sizeable swath of the game's fanbase would prefer to tackle rounds alone, for any number of personal reasons. And although Blizzard never intended Overwatch to be played in such a way, the will of the players is ultimately king, which may have fueled Blizzard's potential decision to change its tune for Overwatch 2. Game director Jeff Kaplan certainly seemed to agree, during a behind-the-scenes panel interview at this year's Blizzcon, with other key figures on the Overwatch team. The sequel, according to Kaplan and reported by Game Rant, will retain its co-op heritage, but will include friendly AI units. These were meant to address the first game's original issues with human players dropping out of a battle mid-play by immediately supplementing the team they left behind, but this could also hint that prospective solo players may be able to fill their team's ranks with AI allies instead of human ones.
The usage of AI as full-fledged teammates hasn't been confirmed by Blizzard, but nor has it been denied, and frankly, it would be a massively positive addition to Overwatch 2. Taking Blizzard's personal feelings about how Overwatch is meant to be played out of the equation, it would make the game more accessible and more appealing to gamers out there who want to engage in PvE battles on their own, or are tired of being trash-talked or left at a disadvantage if a teammate decides to up and bail. It also wouldn't eliminate the option to compete with entirely human teams, and it might even diminish wait times with groups, since any open slots could be filled by AI allies instead of forcing players to wait for the right number of free players to join up.
Overwatch has always prided itself on its diverse cast, but after over four years, it needs to start diversifying its gameplay as well. While an update to the first game certainly wouldn't go amiss considering the lengthy wait still in store for the sequel, players may not be so keen on Overwatch 2 if it ends up looking and playing exactly like the original, disadvantages and all.
Source: Game Rant
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