Overwatch

[Crusty]

All this talk about tickrates is mostly nonsense without knowing more about how the game operates. There are all sorts of variables that need to be understood before a complete picture of hit registration is understood.

1. Server tick rate/engine FPS
2. Server send/receive update rates
3. Client side engine FPS/tick rate
4. Client side send/receive update rates
5. Hitscan or projectile simulation?
6. Is the server authoritative or does it merely confirm hits suggested by the client?

Saying the game operates at a 20hz tick is not very descriptive or accurate and there is already confusion in the this thread between people saying it's 20 server updates per second or it's that the client sends 20 updates to the server per second.

The reality of it is that is much more complicated then simply 'how fast the server updates'. For instance, the server might send out updates at half the rate the game engine ticks, or the clients might send out updates immediately without any waiting for engine tick. The server could even broadcast damage/hits in realtime and only send environmental updates on a scheduled server update message.

 

[HumblePie]

All this talk about tickrates is mostly nonsense without knowing more about how the game operates. There are all sorts of variables that need to be understood before a complete picture of hit registration is understood.

1. Server tick rate/engine FPS
2. Server send/receive update rates
3. Client side engine FPS/tick rate
4. Client side send/receive update rates
5. Hitscan or projectile simulation?
6. Is the server authoritative or does it merely confirm hits suggested by the client?

Saying the game operates at a 20hz tick is not very descriptive or accurate and there is already confusion in the this thread between people saying it's 20 server updates per second or it's that the client sends 20 updates to the server per second.

The reality of it is that is much more complicated then simply 'how fast the server updates'. For instance, the server might send out updates at half the rate the game engine ticks, or the clients might send out updates immediately without any waiting for engine tick. The server could even broadcast damage/hits in realtime and only send environmental updates on a scheduled server update message.

All that is answered in the Dev talk youtube video link I posted.

Client upload rate = 60
Server send rate = 21 (not 20)

Client is authoritative on registered hits except when the server has already registered a certain defensive ability command by the other user. For example Tracers blink ability. If you shoot a Tracer on your screen that looks to be standing still, but the Tracer has activated their Blink during that time, the server overrides the shooting client's hit and no damage is done.

Hitscan vs projectile doesn't matter at all except for how the player has to aim at what they are seeing on their screen since the game is client side authoritative in almost all scenarios.

What most people are actually complaining about are two things really, the latency favoring the shooter and latency involving special abilities.

My post above with a problem I had with McCree I went back and rewatched the video. Turns out on my screen I should have stunned Mercy, but when I watched what happened a few seconds after my flashband landed in her face, she had actually flew off to another person using her defensive ability. The server basically overrode the flashbang doing a hit on my screen by confirming that the defensive ability took precedence here. That was my mistake for not realizing what had happened in that scenario when I watched it previously because the flying off part didn't occur to me and seemed to happened much later after my flashbang had landed on my screen. Which explains why when I found that Mercy again about 30 seconds later by herself in a corner the flashbang I used that time worked perfectly as there was no way for the character to use it's escape ability at that time.

Not all escape/defensive abilities yet are considered trump by the server. I know Pharah's rocket jump certainly isn't although it is proposed by the devs to eventually be so.

 

[s44]

Only thing not mentioned is Basic melee attacks which is 25 damage regardless of the hero.

True, though Torb and Reinhardt's hammers are 75 (they're leftclicks though).

 

[Circuit1]

Dude I've been having so much fun with this game. Blizzard did a great job of making the game feel good. Like I can just log on do well when I pop my ult, even if I'm bad.

 

[Crusty]

All that is answered in the Dev talk youtube video link I posted.

Client upload rate = 60
Server send rate = 21 (not 20)

Client is authoritative on registered hits except when the server has already registered a certain defensive ability command by the other user. For example Tracers blink ability. If you shoot a Tracer on your screen that looks to be standing still, but the Tracer has activated their Blink during that time, the server overrides the shooting client's hit and no damage is done.

Hitscan vs projectile doesn't matter at all except for how the player has to aim at what they are seeing on their screen since the game is client side authoritative in almost all scenarios.

What most people are actually complaining about are two things really, the latency favoring the shooter and latency involving special abilities.

My post above with a problem I had with McCree I went back and rewatched the video. Turns out on my screen I should have stunned Mercy, but when I watched what happened a few seconds after my flashband landed in her face, she had actually flew off to another person using her defensive ability. The server basically overrode the flashbang doing a hit on my screen by confirming that the defensive ability took precedence here. That was my mistake for not realizing what had happened in that scenario when I watched it previously because the flying off part didn't occur to me and seemed to happened much later after my flashbang had landed on my screen. Which explains why when I found that Mercy again about 30 seconds later by herself in a corner the flashbang I used that time worked perfectly as there was no way for the character to use it's escape ability at that time.

Not all escape/defensive abilities yet are considered trump by the server. I know Pharah's rocket jump certainly isn't although it is proposed by the devs to eventually be so.

I'll definitely give it a watch, I always enjoy figuring out how the game engines work.

My biggest point was that 'tick rate' simply does not tell the entire picture, which you obviously grasp, my comments were mostly directed at everyone else

 

[WiseUp216]

Picked this up yesterday on a whim. Pretty cool so far. Lots of heroes to learn.

No 21:9 support is a bummer. This is the first game I've played with my new display that doesn't do ultrawide.

My name is TimeToWiseUp#1266 if anyone wants to add a total noob.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Yep, lack of 21:9 is annoying and just lazy. Played a round with pontifex, great heals and buffs from him as mercy. I'll add you in the a.m. Wise

 

[lupi]

so what does genji have that allows him to charge a turret and take no damage?

 

[Vivendi]

so what does genji have that allows him to charge a turret and take no damage?

He can deflect shots back at enemy team.

 

[Zeze]

so what does genji have that allows him to charge a turret and take no damage?

He does that 2 second swipe-swipe in front of him that deflects all bullets.

Ability with cooldown
With lightning-quick swipes of his sword, Genji reflects an oncoming projectile and sends it rebounding towards his opponent.
Duration: 2 seconds
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Headshot?: YES (deflected projectiles can headshot)
Default Hotkey: E
Genji's Deflect is a very powerful ability, it can deflect bullets and projectiles right back at the enemy, potentially taking them out very quickly with their own bullets. Deflect can be used to shield attacks away from Genji for basic protection as he parkours around the map to reach his flanking destinations. Deflect only works if you see the projectiles in view as they are coming at you, it will not work for projectiles coming at you from behind.
It's important to know that deflected shots will go in the direction of Genji's crosshair, so you will need to aim the deflected shots back at another enemy to take full advantage of Deflect. This means you should start getting into the habit of immediately keeping your crosshair on an enemy every time you use Deflect. Deflected bullets can also headshot enemies, so keeping your crosshair on enemies heads is ideal.
Bullets or projectiles that have travel time (such as Pharah's rockets), will be Deflected back with the same travel time. This means you must aim the Deflection as if you are firing the weapon that you are deflecting. You should also study up on which weapons do headshots so you know whether or not to aim back at the head with the Deflection.
Deflect Does Not Work On
Deflect doesn't work on any channeled weapons, including:
Symmetra's Photon Projector beam
Winston's Tesla Cannon
Zarya's short range beam
Mei's frost stream
Symmetra's Sentry Turrets
Also melee attacks cannot be deflected but they will be blocked by deflect.
Deflect is very powerful against these enemy ultimates:
McCree's Deadeye
Pharah's Barrage
Reaper's Deathblossom
Soldier 76's Tactical Visor
Bastion's Tank Form
Mei's Blizzard - (a deflected Blizzard drone will result in a Blizzard for Genji's team)
Zarya's Graviton Surge - (a deflected Gravity bomb projectile will result in a Graviton Surge for Genji's team). NOTE: A Graviton Bomb will act just like one of Zarya's charged particle shots except it will be black in color instead of red.
Molten Core - (turrets will still attack a Deflect and take damage from the deflections, but a level 3 turret can still take Genji out easily). You are usually better off waiting until Molten Core is over so it will turn back into a level 2 turret, which is much easier to deal with.

 

[videogames101]

so what does genji have that allows him to charge a turret and take no damage?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=genji+abilities

 

[Vivendi]

He does that 2 second swipe-swipe in front of him that deflects all bullets.

Just not a simple deflection, he actually sends them back at the enemy team. A stupid Bastion got our whole team killed because he didn't stop shooting Genji.

 

[Jumpem]

Yep, lack of 21:9 is annoying and just lazy. Played a round with pontifex, great heals and buffs from him as mercy. I'll add you in the a.m. Wise

I's not laziness. They do it to keep the 21:9 owners from having an unfair advantage.

 

[Mutilator]

I's not laziness. They do it to keep the 21:9 owners from having an unfair advantage.

I am getting so ****ing tired of seeing people parrot that around I'm about to lose it. 21:9 is no more of an advantage over 16:9 as 16:9 is over 4:3. Either EVERYONE should have black bars or NO ONE. Period.

And because I have better things to do I'll just post up the first pic I found for proof.

Maybe I'm just extra irritated because I'm one of the ones who ran it at 21:9 3440x1440 fine when I first launched it (open beta) in the morning only to have black bars when I came home that night.

 

[pontifex]

Yep, lack of 21:9 is annoying and just lazy. Played a round with pontifex, great heals and buffs from him as mercy. I'll add you in the a.m. Wise

Hey, thanks. I wasn't sure I was doing a very good job as I kept getting killed.
1st time I was stupid and stood on top of the bus in that match and got head shot by a sniper. wasn't expecting the sniper...

hard to stay out of fire when trying to run round and heal/buff, lol

I then switched to Lucio using his heal song, but not sure how well it worked...

I feel like I have no idea how to play the characters in this game. but then it seems like you need to use team work and no one seemed to be working as a team (i didn't have my headset on so not sure if that would have helped.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Hey, thanks. I wasn't sure I was doing a very good job as I kept getting killed.
1st time I was stupid and stood on top of the bus in that match and got head shot by a sniper. wasn't expecting the sniper...

hard to stay out of fire when trying to run round and heal/buff, lol

I then switched to Lucio using his heal song, but not sure how well it worked...

I feel like I have no idea how to play the characters in this game. but then it seems like you need to use team work and no one seemed to be working as a team (i didn't have my headset on so not sure if that would have helped.

It does, I try but often when I'm playing the kids are in bed so can't always talk.

It really takes quite a few matches to get the hang of the heroes (note: not to be good), plus it helps watching others (you can spectate matches too). And there's always youtube

 

[s44]

I am getting so ****ing tired of seeing people parrot that around I'm about to lose it. 21:9 is no more of an advantage over 16:9 as 16:9 is over 4:3.

I'm not sure what point you think you made, but the pictures (and your statement) prove exactly what your critics are saying. No one thinks 4:3 is or is supposed to be on par with 16:9; there is, as you admit, an advantage to wider FOV. 16:9 is standard, and 4:3 is there as a "gimp yourself if you want/have to" option like using a controller on PC. This works because the vast, vast majority of the playerbase has access to a 16:9 display.

If a higher-FOV aspect ratio were added, everyone who cared about winning and losing would have to either letterbox or buy new niche monitors. Blizzard isn't going to make the standard setup a suboptimal one.

 

[Cappuccino]

wow so many nerds talking about 21.9 and ticks who Redactedand have fun you nerds...





No profanity in tech.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[JSt0rm]

games ok. I enjoy the gun play in dirty bomb better.

 

[Mai72]

wow so many nerds talking about 21.9 and ticks who redacted and have fun you nerds...

lol. We are nerds because we care.

 

[HumblePie]

Reading on some of the hacking scene of this game. Seems Blizzard grew some balls with their banning process. Reading the story of a hacker who has had 5 accounts banned thus far in his attempt to make some hacks for the game. Seems Blizzard doing IP, OS key, and HWID bans. Meaning that you basically need a new computer if your account is banned for hacks as well as a new IP. the new IP is easy, but the computer is a pain lol.

Anyhow, still several working ESP/wallhacks out for official sale now as well as some AutoIt trigger bots out there that are relatively easy to find. The AutoIt bots Blizzard won't be able to do much about, but am liking that Blizzard has some balls on banning for cheating with this game by the sounds of frustration of some hacker sites/blogs I've read about this game.

 

[NoSoup4You]

I've faced a couple of obvious hackers but overall it hasn't been too bad. I mean, nearly all the ultimates in this game are like mini-hacks themselves so you kind of get conditioned to accept outrageous deaths anyway.

I'm bummed that I can't seem to do well consistently on Genji anymore though, I was so much better with him in the Open Beta for the obvious reasons. Everyone now stops firing when they see the reflect skill is up, and then a second later I'm dead.

 

[HumblePie]

I've faced a couple of obvious hackers but overall it hasn't been too bad. I mean, nearly all the ultimates in this game are like mini-hacks themselves so you kind of get conditioned to accept outrageous deaths anyway.

I'm bummed that I can't seem to do well consistently on Genji anymore though, I was so much better with him in the Open Beta for the obvious reasons. Everyone now stops firing when they see the reflect skill is up, and then a second later I'm dead.

need to save your dash then for escapes if you going in with reflect. Genji is all about the mobility and catching a couple of key heros with reflect. Should be looking to go after widowmakers, bastions, tracers, and reapers mostly. If you have your ult up then you can take down some of the tanks like Reinhart and Roadhog. Always go for the healers like any one else though.

Genji doesn't do nearly as well against McCrees though which is the flavor de jour right now.

 

[Worthington]

Solo queue makes me want to cry.

 

[Aikouka]

1st time I was stupid and stood on top of the bus in that match and got head shot by a sniper. wasn't expecting the sniper...

Sounds like you were on Kings Row. The best thing is for someone with a climbing ability or any sort of vertical capability (even Junkrat), to get up to the scaffolding at the top. From up there, you can see the entire front area, and that makes it easy to spot if there are any snipers in the distance. What's surprising is that other maps (especially Watchpoint: Gibraltar) make it easier to see outside without needing specific heroes. Even if the maps have small windows (like Dorado), you can usually see the typical sniper perches.

I feel like I have no idea how to play the characters in this game. but then it seems like you need to use team work and no one seemed to be working as a team (i didn't have my headset on so not sure if that would have helped.

Out of all of my solo queuing (during release), I think I've had two games where people have used voice comms. Honestly, it's the most frustrating thing for me. It almost feels like the difference between what WoW was like during vanilla (more social) and now (more automated). An example of where I would've liked a little communication was during an attack on Hollywood. I was playing Junkrat and avoiding getting in the sniper's crosshairs. Well, it turns out that a McCree had killed the Widowmaker, but since I was too busy to watch the killfeed, I had no idea! Normally, when I take out a static defense or a defense-oriented thing (Bastion, turret, Widowmaker, etc.), I'll call it out.

I've faced a couple of obvious hackers but overall it hasn't been too bad. I mean, nearly all the ultimates in this game are like mini-hacks themselves so you kind of get conditioned to accept outrageous deaths anyway.

I'm bummed that I can't seem to do well consistently on Genji anymore though, I was so much better with him in the Open Beta for the obvious reasons. Everyone now stops firing when they see the reflect skill is up, and then a second later I'm dead.

I think you may be making a fatal error when playing with Genji. See... Genji doesn't work as well in pub games for one very specific reason: Genji is more of a glass cannon. He does NOT do well going up against a team by himself or even a few players (unless said heroes are weak against Genji). Genji (and arguably Tracer) tends to thrive when your team can take the enemy's attention away from you. It also really helps when your aim is good as Genji's damage is kind of slow and steady, but also very precise. You also need to attack from a distance, which makes it harder.

Of course, if you're Seagull, you can probably ignore what I said about avoiding 1 vs 2+ fights.

EDIT:

Solo queue makes me want to cry.

Yeah, solo queue is pretty meh. As I mentioned above, I'm not keen on the lack of communication.