Overwatch Should Have Balance Patches Every 60 Seconds
A few years ago I was playing Overwatch, and someone had set up a custom server where they had randomly changed the stats of all the weapons and abilities. Some weapons/abilities were much weaker, some much stronger, and some were super overpowered to the point of being ridiculous.
The flow of the game went like this:
- One player would find an overpowered strategy involving one or more strong weapons and abilities, and start doing really well using their new cheese.
- After two or three minutes, the other players would catch on and start using the OP strategy themselves.
- Finally, five minutes later when the server admin realized that everyone was using the same OP weapon/ability, he would nerf it into the ground and buff some other random weapon/ability for the players to chance across.
It was absolute bedlam in these matches, as players were cycling through all the heroes every few minutes trying to search for buffed weapons. Then, when someone found a really OP strategy, everyone would catch on and exploit it themselves until it got nerfed by the server owner. It made for some of the most memorable Overwatch matches I’ve ever played.
And here’s the thing - it could all be automated as a game mode, given enough control over the game code. The server could automatically randomize weapons’ stats, then when the weapon is being used too much that match, nerf it and buff a weapon that’s rarely used. Maybe that’s too complex for Overwatch’s user-scripting system (though maybe not, honestly) - but it could make for a neat indie game concept.
It would also make a great mod for Unreal Tournament, and perhaps even Team Fortress 2.
So when I say “Overwatch Should Have Balance Patches Every 60 Seconds”, I’m mostly joking, but also kind of not. It would make for a really entertaining casual game mode.
Someone get on it. It’s too fun to have an FPS game with weapon stats that mysteriously change around all the time.
