Overwatch 2 Director Apologizes, Explains What Led To Hero Mode's Cancelation | MMORPG.com

System · May 2023

Overwatch 2 Director Apologizes, Explains What Led To Hero Mode's Cancelation | MMORPG.com

Overwatch 2 Director Aaron Keller took to the official Overwatch blog to apologize for - and explain why - the promised PvE Hero Mode in the hero shooter was canceled.

Read the full story here

Dattelis · May 2023

This is essentially like watching a P2P/B2P game going f2p. Only thing that's changed from 1 to 2 is a smaller team size and the business model. Might as well just drop the 2 and call it a patch.

LTBK · May 2023

It's all nice and dandy, until one realizes, for example, the lack of mention of how they knew a year ago that the PvE mode wasn't going to be what was promised, yet still used it to promote the game and waited until now to drop the bomb. And that also includes "removing" the "pre-patch" game that people literally paid for, literally for no reason now.

It doesn't matter how much they try to spin it, the fact is that they knew what they were doing. The main reason for adding that 2 for what was literally just a patch was simply to change the monetization model. And they aren't giving up on their promises because of that lame excuse of "not living to our quality standards", but because they found out that the current low effort model works wonders for their wallets. We're talking about the same company that has Diablo Immoral (it's not a typo) under its belt.

Many people had their suspicions when Jeff Kaplan left Blizzard in 2021. The man wasn't perfect, but at least it was clear that he had passion for the project. Maybe this was why he left, after all.

Angrakhan · May 2023

That was a lot of words to explain incompetence. If the team isn't focused and unified then that's a failure of leadership plain and simple. I was hoping that project titan would see the light of day now that Destiny had left the building, but I guess not.

Kratier · May 2023

all these people will be there day 1 with their 90 dollar copy of diablo 4

Angrakhan · May 2023

Kratier said:

all these people will be there day 1 with their 90 dollar copy of diablo 4

I'm guessing your logic is: because the Overwatch leadership is bad, you shouldn't buy Diablo 4. Maybe in some alternate reality that makes sense, but you lost me in this reality. You realize they're entirely different development teams, right? Maybe not.

[Deleted User] · May 2023

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mitech616 · May 2023

Apologies aside, they still failed to deliver on what they promised and fans should hold them accountable. Overwatch 2 isn't a sequel, isn't even a new game. It's basically a patched version of the original and they played their fans for fools in a variety of ways since its "launch".

They cut their dev team size and don't have the chops to deliver anything new that isn't cosmetics. It's a sad state of affairs that seems more common these days.

Babuinix · May 2023

Development changes along the years,,,. Who would have thought.

Slapshot1188 · May 2023

Babuinix said:

Development changes along the years,,,. Who would have thought.

When it's a free to play game that can certainly change anything they want. It would be a shame if they sold thousand dollar packages and changed the game drasticly or something. Or maybe not even have released their PvE portion of the game after a decade. That would be quite a shame...

Warlyx · May 2023

expect OW to get the Hots treatment soon

Kyleran · May 2023

Slapshot1188 said:

Babuinix said:

Development changes along the years,,,. Who would have thought.

When it's a free to play game that can certainly change anything they want. It would be a shame if they sold thousand dollar packages and changed the game drasticly or something. Or maybe not even have released their PvE portion of the game after a decade. That would be quite a shame...

Developers not delivering the game that was sold, sort of the gaming equivalent of a good rug pull, who would have thought?

Kyleran · May 2023

Broken quoting system

Kyleran · May 2023

Angrakhan said:

Kratier said:

all these people will be there day 1 with their 90 dollar copy of diablo 4

I'm guessing your logic is: because the Overwatch leadership is bad, you shouldn't buy Diablo 4. Maybe in some alternate reality that makes sense, but you lost me in this reality. You realize they're entirely different development teams, right? Maybe not.

Same senior management for both teams right? Yeah, good chance something in D4 won't turn out so well.

Also, who do you think made the decision to rug pull on O2's Hero mode, wasn't the developers I'm pretty sure.

Then there was Diablo Immortal, yep, same senior management there too.

This just isn't the Blizzard of years gone by....

Jaguaratron1 · May 2023

pretty sure they were disappointed by how few people sprung for OW2 packages and projections showed that a PvE mode post launch wouldnt pull people back let alone generate sales to new players.

Its bewildering to consider how they expected this to go

achesoma · May 2023

TianlanSha said:

@Angrakhan

What's your logic? Diablo 4 is going to be a POS with cartoon graphics. It's online-only, you can't play all by yourself without internet connection. When they shut down the server, the game gets bricked. That online-only greed move aside, the game is just a mediocre ARPG with a poor and contrived story. The story of the world of Sanctuary ended with Diablo 2 and whatever books were written for it, everything after that is not canonical. Diablo 3 is not a Diablo game, it's another online-only powered by greed POS that has cartoon graphics like a Disney Pixar movie that has a BS story invented so they can make a new game and make more money.

The original story writers are long gone so whoever wrote Diablo 3's story was pulling out of his buttcheeks. Diablo 4 is also not a real Diablo game, the story is also trash and the graphics also look like a Disney Pixar movie. Nothing will look dark and scary like Diablo 2 did. Even the monsters had that 90s fantasy art style that made everything more simple and yet so scary, especially the Ghoul monsters in the Catacobms. Now the graphics look like a game made for 8 year old kids on mobile phones and the monetization of Diablo 4 and its gameplay are of a mobile game, hence why it's online-only - so the consumerists have constant access to the P2W cash shop and so Activision in their greed can shut down the game whenever they want. No stupid consumerist should be allowed to play the game they bought and should own by right after the greedy swines at Activision decide to shut down the servers.

Good thing there is a Diablo 3 server, although I tried playing it, but I don't want to play an online-only Diablo knockoff and the gameplay is really stupid and boring, especially with the cartoony graphics.

JeroKane · May 2023

Angrakhan said:

Kratier said:

all these people will be there day 1 with their 90 dollar copy of diablo 4

I'm guessing your logic is: because the Overwatch leadership is bad, you shouldn't buy Diablo 4. Maybe in some alternate reality that makes sense, but you lost me in this reality. You realize they're entirely different development teams, right? Maybe not.

Well, the Diablo 4 leadership is bad too. So not much difference there.

Lack of vision and direction. Lack of competence ( see the hilarious backlash of the last Open Beta weekend, where their rebalancing attempt (read desperation) made everything worse, not better ).

Sorry to say, but Diablo 4 is going to crash and burn. Yes many sheep will buy Diablo 4, but the honeymoon period will be very short and there won't be many left soon after.

Blizzard is just a mess and in utter shambles right now. They no longer have good leadership. Lack true vision, direction and most important of all, they lost many veteran/experienced developers who moved on to greener pastures.

Uwakionna · May 2023

Ehh, I have gripes about D4's mechanics and endgame design, but I'm not exactly convinced it's gonna crash and burn.

My reservations about the cash shop and the way they are tiptoeing around evoking not selling "power" has me a little skeptical, but that's something that has to be seen with live when the full cash shop and content is on display, as well as when they update it down the line.

I don't think the game is in danger over it's core gameplay/design though. The thing could have a half-baked plot and people would still enjoy it. Just look at the original D3 plot and the Starcraft 2 plot. Those were both terribly written, but I'm sure plenty enjoyed them regardless. A lot of things can slide with players if they are engaged enough in a particular loop within the experience.

JeroKane · May 2023

Uwakionna said:

Ehh, I have gripes about D4's mechanics and endgame design, but I'm not exactly convinced it's gonna crash and burn.

My reservations about the cash shop and the way they are tiptoeing around evoking not selling "power" has me a little skeptical, but that's something that has to be seen with live when the full cash shop and content is on display, as well as when they update it down the line.

I don't think the game is in danger over it's core gameplay/design though. The thing could have a half-baked plot and people would still enjoy it. Just look at the original D3 plot and the Starcraft 2 plot. Those were both terribly written, but I'm sure plenty enjoyed them regardless. A lot of things can slide with players if they are engaged enough in a particular loop within the experience.

At least in Diablo 3, the classes were fun to play and so was the gameplay loop. Real Money Auction House and terrible loot tables tailored to said RMAH, is what made the game tank and fail after launch..... which they luckily came around with later on, by removing said Real Money Auction House and fixing the loot tables. The game became much better after that and I played it for years.

Diablo 4 on the other hand, is just a disappointing mess. Classes, terrible balance to the point of being hilarious, skill trees are terrible/not fun! Game play not fun and story disappointing. Endgame design, etc, etc.
The fact, they didn't allow anyone to play beyond Act.1 in teh betas is fishy and troublesome in itself and worrisome about the state/completeness of the game beyond Act.1. Especially how they handled the desperate rebalancing act of some of the classes in the last Open Beta weekend that blew up in their faces. Gives me clear indication the devs have no clue what they are doing, not even understanding the classes they created themselves. Which is really troublesome. Especially so close to release.

Kyleran · May 2023

JeroKane said:

Uwakionna said:

Ehh, I have gripes about D4's mechanics and endgame design, but I'm not exactly convinced it's gonna crash and burn.

My reservations about the cash shop and the way they are tiptoeing around evoking not selling "power" has me a little skeptical, but that's something that has to be seen with live when the full cash shop and content is on display, as well as when they update it down the line.

I don't think the game is in danger over it's core gameplay/design though. The thing could have a half-baked plot and people would still enjoy it. Just look at the original D3 plot and the Starcraft 2 plot. Those were both terribly written, but I'm sure plenty enjoyed them regardless. A lot of things can slide with players if they are engaged enough in a particular loop within the experience.

At least in Diablo 3, the classes were fun to play and so was the gameplay loop. Real Money Auction House and terrible loot tables tailored to said RMAH, is what made the game tank and fail after launch..... which they luckily came around with later on, by removing said Real Money Auction House and fixing the loot tables. The game became much better after that and I played it for years.

Diablo 4 on the other hand, is just a disappointing mess. Classes, terrible balance to the point of being hilarious, skill trees are terrible/not fun! Game play not fun and story disappointing. Endgame design, etc, etc.
The fact, they didn't allow anyone to play beyond Act.1 in teh betas is fishy and troublesome in itself and worrisome about the state/completeness of the game beyond Act.1. Especially how they handled the desperate rebalancing act of some of the classes in the last Open Beta weekend that blew up in their faces. Gives me clear indication the devs have no clue what they are doing, not even understanding the classes they created themselves. Which is really troublesome. Especially so close to release.

I guess at days end D4 will sell an ass ton of copies in the early going which is all they probably care about really.

They can always try to fix any problems later like every other studio seems to be doing post launch these days.

Just don't count on any promised future content or game modes on being delivered, at least if Overwatch 2 taught gamers anything.

Babuinix · May 2023

Slapshot1188 said:

Babuinix said:

Development changes along the years,,,. Who would have thought.

When it's a free to play game that can certainly change anything they want. It would be a shame if they sold thousand dollar packages and changed the game drasticly or something. Or maybe not even have released their PvE portion of the game after a decade. That would be quite a shame...

Funny cause that it seems they did just that

bcbully · May 2023

There are exactly 1069 people world wide that pve in multiple games. This is why.

[Deleted User] · May 2023

The user and all related content has been deleted.

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Overwatch 2 Director Apologizes, Explains What Led To Hero Mode's Cancelation | MMORPG.com

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

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